Lillie Bridge Grounds

Although geographically near to present day Stamford Bridge, there was never direct access, there being the 13 acre now defunct Western Hospital site between the two.

[3] The ground was the scene in its day of many sports including athletics, boxing, cricket, cycling and football, and hosted the FA Cup Final in 1873.

This coincided with the development on the north side of Lillie Bridge, of John Robinson Whitley's 1887 Earl's Court Exhibition Grounds.

From 1867 to 1887, the annual athletics Varsity match between Oxford and Cambridge Universities were held here before moving to Queen's Club on the ground's closure.

Many World Records were set at Lillie Bridge, including for example, 6' 2.5" in the high jump in 1876 by Marshall Brooks in front of a crowd of 12,000.

Location of the Lillie Bridge Athletic Ground, adjacent to the railway line close to West Brompton station. (Click to enlarge).
The then newly opened Stamford Bridge can be seen a little to the south (" London Athletics Club "). Detail from Charles Booth 's 1889 descriptive map of London.
Lillie Grounds
steps to the old canal basin to the North of Lillie Grounds