Feethams was one of English football’s strangest grounds. For 120 years, anyone heading to watch Darlington F.C. had to pass through a set of Twin Towers, then walk the full perimeter of a working cricket outfield just to reach the terracing behind the goal — a layout no other Football League ground ever replicated.
The ground stood on Victoria Embankment in Darlington from 1883 until Darlington’s final match there in May 2003, and it was demolished three years later. But the site’s story didn’t end with the bulldozers, and what actually replaced the old football pitch is very different from what’s commonly reported — this guide covers the full history, the Twin Towers, the ground’s most famous match, and what stands there today.
Quick Answer
Feethams was Darlington F.C.’s home ground from 1883 to 3 May 2003, sharing its Victoria Embankment site with Darlington Cricket Club, who had played there since 1866. Supporters entered through the 1913 Twin Towers and walked around the cricket outfield to reach the football terracing. The football stands were demolished in February 2006 after an arson attack. The cricket ground remains active today; the old football pitch is now occupied by Feethams House, a government office building.
Where Was Feethams, and How Did the Shared Ground Work?
Feethams sat just south of Darlington town centre on Victoria Embankment, close to the River Skerne and a short walk from Darlington railway station. Cricket had been played there from 1866, formalised by a 1903 trust deed that designated the land for “cricket and other athletic exercises” — a clause that would matter decades later when the football ground’s future was decided. Darlington F.C., formed in 1883, built its football ground on an adjoining plot of the same site, giving Feethams a genuinely dual identity almost from the start.
The football ground held around 8,500 spectators across four sections — the West Stand, an all-seated East Stand added in 1997, the Polam Lane End (South Terrace) and the home terrace known as the Tin Shed, facing the cricket ground. It was a compact, old-fashioned venue that changed relatively little in its final decades, which was part of what made it so beloved by regulars and so unusual to first-time visitors.
The Walk Around the Cricket Pitch
The ground’s defining quirk was structural, not cosmetic. After buying a ticket and passing through the Twin Towers turnstiles, football supporters didn’t step straight onto the terraces — they had to walk around the full perimeter of the cricket outfield to reach the football section on the far side. It was a genuine oddity in English football, born simply from two clubs sharing one plot of land rather than any deliberate design.
The layout even shaped matchday ritual: because reaching either goal end meant a walk around the cricket square anyway, many Darlington regulars used the same route to swap ends at half-time, trooping around the pitch to mass behind whichever goal the team was now attacking — a tradition that lasted the ground’s entire 120-year football history.
The Twin Towers of 1913
The Twin Towers entrance, built in 1913, became Feethams’ signature landmark and the image most associated with the ground. They predate the far more famous Twin Towers of the old Wembley Stadium, which opened in 1923 — a point of pride Darlington supporters have never let go of.
For generations of fans, passing through the towers was matchday ritual in itself: the threshold between the street and the ground, and the last thing many supporters saw of Feethams as they filed out for the final time in 2003.
The 1907 Rout of the Netherlands
Feethams’ most notable single match wasn’t a Darlington fixture at all. In 1907, the ground hosted an England Amateur international against the Netherlands, which England won 12–2. It remains, to this day, the heaviest defeat in the Netherlands’ international football history, a record that has stood for well over a century and gives an otherwise modest north-east ground a genuine footnote in the sport’s international history.
Why Darlington Left Feethams
The move away from Feethams was driven by finances, not the ground’s charm running out. The 1997 rebuild of the East Stand, required to bring the ground up to modern all-seater standards, left the club with costs it struggled to sustain. When businessman George Reynolds took control of Darlington in 1999, he judged Feethams too old and too expensive to keep repairing, and instead committed the club to a new 25,000-seat stadium — funded largely through high-interest borrowing.
That stadium, now known as the Darlington Arena, opened in 2003 but rarely drew crowds beyond a few thousand, leaving Darlington saddled with debt on a ground built for a division the club was nowhere near reaching. Reynolds left the club in early 2004, Darlington entered administration soon after, and the financial strain that began with the move away from Feethams eventually contributed to the club’s expulsion from the Football League in 2012 — a cautionary tale often cited alongside the ground’s own history.
The Final Match and Demolition
Darlington marked 120 years of football at Feethams with a send-off against Leyton Orient on 3 May 2003, coming from two goals down to draw 2–2 in front of a capacity crowd — a fitting, defiant farewell. A supporters’ exhibition the previous summer, featuring hundreds of photographs and memorabilia, and the book Farewell to Feethams helped preserve the ground’s memory as the club prepared to move on.
The empty football stands stood for nearly three years afterwards until an arson attack left the structure unsafe, and the football ground was demolished in February 2006. Crucially, only the football side came down — the adjoining cricket ground, protected in part by that 1903 trust deed, was untouched.
What’s at Feethams Today
The cricket ground is still very much alive: Darlington Cricket Club continues to play there, on the same land it has occupied since 1866, making it one of the longer continuous sporting tenancies in the north-east.
The former football pitch had a slower afterlife. Plans to sell the site for housing were drawn up around 2013–2014 but never proceeded to completion. Instead, the site was redeveloped as Feethams House, a five-storey office building completed in 2020 as part of the Darlington Economic Campus — notably becoming the first HM Treasury office located outside London. Where terracing once stood behind the Twin Towers, civil servants now work.
Visiting Feethams and Darlington FC Today
You can still watch cricket on the historic ground today via the official Darlington Cricket Club site, which lists fixtures and membership details for the Feethams outfield. The football side of the site is now office space and isn’t open to visitors.
Darlington F.C. itself moved on from the ill-fated Darlington Arena and currently plays home matches at Blackwell Meadows, shared with Darlington Rugby Football Club, while a permanent new stadium remains in planning. Fixtures, tickets and matchday details are on the official Darlington FC website.
Feethams, Darlington FAQs
Why did fans have to walk around a cricket pitch to enter Feethams?
Feethams was a shared site: Darlington Cricket Club had played there since 1866, and Darlington F.C. built its football ground on the adjoining land from 1883. After coming through the Twin Towers turnstiles, football supporters had to walk around the cricket outfield to reach the terracing on the far side — a quirk of the dual-purpose layout that lasted the ground’s entire 120-year football history.
When was Feethams demolished?
The football stands and terracing at Feethams were demolished in February 2006, roughly three years after the last match, following an arson attack that left the empty structure unsafe. The adjoining cricket ground was unaffected and remains in use.
What was the capacity of Feethams?
Feethams had a football capacity of approximately 8,500. It was Darlington F.C.’s home from 1883 until the club’s final match there, a 2–2 draw with Leyton Orient on 3 May 2003.
Why did Darlington FC leave Feethams?
The move was driven by money, not preference. Costly 1997 renovations left the club financially strained, and new owner George Reynolds decided in 1999 that Feethams was too old to keep repairing, committing instead to a new 25,000-seat stadium (the Darlington Arena) funded through expensive borrowing — a decision that later contributed to the club’s financial collapse.
What is on the site of Feethams today?
The cricket ground is still active and used by Darlington Cricket Club. The former football pitch, after stalled housing plans in the early 2010s, was instead redeveloped into Feethams House, a five-storey office building completed in 2020 that became the first HM Treasury office outside London.
Where does Darlington FC play now?
Darlington F.C. currently plays home matches at Blackwell Meadows, ground-sharing with Darlington Rugby Football Club, following the club’s financial troubles at the Darlington Arena. A new permanent stadium for the club is in the planning stages.
Did England play a match at Feethams?
Yes. In 1907, Feethams hosted an England Amateur international against the Netherlands, which England won 12–2 — still the heaviest defeat in Dutch international football history.
Is Darlington Cricket Club still based at Feethams?
Yes. Darlington Cricket Club has played at Feethams continuously since 1866, and the cricket ground was unaffected by the 2006 demolition of the adjoining football stands.
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