Qualla: Priestfield Stadium

Priestfield Stadium: Introduction

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The original uploader was ChrisTheDude at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0. In 1899, dock workers from the Chatham yards built a second stand at Priestfield in their off-hours, in exchange for beer and cigarettes. This is a real and verifiable line in the history of Gillingham Football Club's home ground. It is also a fair summary of how Priestfield Stadium came together over a hundred and thirty years - in fragments, by improvisation, paid for in shares and supporters' fundraisers and, when nothing else worked, in barter. Today the stadium seats just under twelve thousand, holds four stands all built since 1997, and is still scheduled for replacement by an owner who first promised a move two decades ago.

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Image: The original uploader was ChrisTheDude at English Wikipedia. | CC BY-SA 2.0

Priestfield Stadium: Sheep on the Pitch

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit David Anstiss, CC BY-SA 2.0. New Brompton Football Club, the founding name of the Gillingham side, formed in June 1893 by issuing fifteen hundred one-pound shares to buy land in Gillingham. The ground was initially called the Athletic Ground, then Priestfield Road after a nearby road, and finally just Priest...

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Image: David Anstiss | CC BY-SA 2.0

Priestfield Stadium: Storms, Sondes, and Steady Growth

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit ChrisTheDude at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. By 1908 the ground had eight hundred seats and terracing at the Rainham end. In 1912 the club renamed itself Gillingham, formed its first Supporters' Association, and used a bank loan of 1,570 pounds to put up a proper grandstand. A month after the stand opened, a storm tore the ...

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Image: ChrisTheDude at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Priestfield Stadium: Scally's Renovation

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Steve Daniels, CC BY-SA 2.0. When Paul Scally bought the club in 1995, the ground was famously run-down. Over the next decade he rebuilt nearly all of it. A new Gordon Road Stand opened in 1997 at a cost of two million pounds - supporters initially voted to call it the Paul Scally Stand, and Scally turned th...

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Image: Steve Daniels | CC BY-SA 2.0

Priestfield Stadium: The Brian Moore Stand and the Sloping Terrace

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Steve Daniels, CC BY-SA 2.0. The fourth and final side was the Town End, demolished in 2003. A temporary stand was raised in its place, named after the late Brian Moore - the football commentator who had been a lifelong Gillingham supporter. It is still a temporary stand. The old Town End had a feature few g...

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Image: Steve Daniels | CC BY-SA 2.0

Priestfield Stadium: Tenants and Footnotes

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit ChrisTheDude, CC BY-SA 3.0. Priestfield has hosted clubs other than its own. In 1895, Woolwich Arsenal played a Second Division home game here against Burton Swifts because the Football League had closed Arsenal's own Manor Ground for five weeks after crowd trouble. A century later Brighton and Hove Albion ...

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Image: ChrisTheDude | CC BY-SA 3.0

Priestfield Stadium: The Move That Hasn't Come

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Steve Daniels, CC BY-SA 2.0. Paul Scally announced in September 2003 that 'there is no future for the club at the Priestfield'. The club outlined plans for a new ground at Cuxton in 2004, abandoned them, and then in 2017 Scally identified Mill Hill, east of the A289 Yokosuka Way, as his preferred site. Each ...

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Image: Steve Daniels | CC BY-SA 2.0