It is also a conference, meeting, and events venue, as well as the only Premiership Rugby ground with its own cenotaph, the setting for a ceremony every Remembrance Weekend.

Franklin's Gardens was described as the "Champs Elysees of Northampton" and trams ran from the town centre every few minutes, the fare being one penny.

On 9 October 1920, a two-page advertisement appeared in the Independent offering 15,000 shares in a new company, Franklin's Gardens Sports and Pleasure Co Ltd.

The company prospectus proposed to turn the site into a sports complex, allowing the Saints to play at the Gardens in return for a percentage of the gate.

The 1966/67 season began with the opening of the Peter Haddon-designed Sturtridge Pavilion, marked by a floodlit game between the Saints and an R E G Jeeps XV.

Originally, the pavilion was designed with a vacant terraced ground floor to allow supporters to watch games from there but, in the end, an indoor conference and dining room was preferred.

[4] During the 1976/77 season, the club acquired a 4-acre (1.6 ha) training pitch at the back of the ground on a 60-year lease and, in November 1977, the committee pulled off its biggest coup by buying Franklin's Gardens outright for £30,000.

Previously, the ground had a combination of permanent and semi-permanent stands surrounding the pitch, as well as the Sturtridge Pavilion to the north.

The redevelopment involved extending the South Stand over the lake in the village area of the ground to make room for additional seating, seven new boxes, a premium members' club, another bar, and extra toilet facilities.

It completed the horseshoe in the summer of 2002, and was opened in November 2002 by five club legends: former captains Ron Jacobs, Don White, Gary Pearce, David Powell and Vince Cannon.

This is to the north of the ground and is the newest stand, built in 2015, which replaced The Sturtridge Pavilion, completing the redevelopment of Franklin's Gardens.

This stand takes the name of the Barwell family, who were influential in making Northampton Saints one of English rugby's leading clubs at the turn of the professional era in the mid-1990s.

This stand houses the members' bar, corporate facilities, control room, the Sturtridge Suite and approximately 2,000 seats.

The 1966/67 season kicked off with style with the opening of the Peter Haddon designed Gordon Sturtridge Pavilion, marked by a floodlit game between the Saints and an R E G Jeeps XV.

The supporters' village lies behind the Cinch Stand and acts as a multi-functional social/communal area, as well as offering a variety of food and drink options.

The village was initially used as a car park and storage area after the construction of the new South Stand in 2001, which also involved the partial draining of the pond.

By 2015, the village included a number of food stalls, a marquee, a bar and several seating areas, as well as a large screen.

[13] Saints purchased the land to the south and south-west of Franklin's Gardens in 1977 in order to convert it into a training area for the club.

The Northampton Saints High Performance Centre was constructed between 2022 and 2023 and aims to provide an all-weather, indoor training area for players.

Further development on the existing ground would be compromised by the Beacon Bingo hall which sits in close proximity to the Barwell Stand.

In late October 2024, the Saints received planning permission to build on land at the western edge of training pitch 3.

[19] On 4 June the Churchill Cup was opened with a double header of fixtures as Canada defeated Italy 'A' before eventual winners England Saxons breezed past the USA.