In the early 1890s, a group of Swindon businessmen joined together with £700 to buy and develop 5.5 acres (22,000 m2) of land.

The County Ground played host to its only first-class cricket match in 1967, when a combined Minor Counties cricket team played the touring Pakistanis,[3] which the tourists narrowly won by 23 runs.

[4] Three years later Gloucestershire first used the County Ground as an outground when they played Sussex in a List A one-day match in the John Player League.

[1] Further one-day matches were hosted there in the 1973 Benson & Hedges Cup when the Minor Counties South cricket team hosted Gloucestershire, followed a decade later by Wiltshire playing two one-day matches in the 1983 and 1984 NatWest Trophy, in which the record attendance of 3,500 was set.

In 1988, Warwickshire were due as visitors, in addition to Worcesteshire against the Minor Counties cricket team in the Benson and Hedges Cup, however the pitch was damaged by weedkiller and the fixtures were moved to Bristol and Haden Hill respectively.