Citadel FC

[CaleyD]

Using the Map that Gringo found earlier in this thread and then overlaying it on to a modern day map as best I could, it would seem that Lotland Street runs right through the centre spot of the old Citadel Football Ground.

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[SMEE]

I thought someone said it was close to the abetoir..........which was right behind the pub on shore street (name escapes me for now) pretty much was it not?

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

Photo from 1928

[img width=500 height=345]http://invernessthistle.co.uk/images/2ndXIcitadelfc1928.jpg

[CaleyD]

The Slaughter house (as it was at that time) would've sat just of the right hand corner of where I have marked the ground.

[SMEE]

There was definately a dead animal place behind the pub in 70s-80s

[Scotty]

There was definately a dead animal place behind the pub in 70s-80s

Wasnt it a tanner or something ? always reeked to high heaven.

[SMEE]

Yup, it honked, espesh in summer. Av just remembered the name of the pub............its The CITADEL :017: How could i have forgot that!!! :029:

[CaleyD]

Having rechecked the maps, sorted out the scale and matched up every remaining landmark I can - I reckon I'm pretty spot on with my placing of the ground.

Looking at some of those maps I can't help but wonder what archaeological delights might be lying below our very feet every time we walk from the Innes to the TCS!!!

[DJS]

Actually, I think part of the old slaughter house remains.

I was down that way today a couple of times and immediately behind the tyre shop on Lotland Street is a largish stone building on the same alignment as the slaughter house in the maps.  Being made of stone, I think it would have had to have been there prior to the demise of Shore Street Park in the 30s.   On CaleyD's plan, though, it would roughly sit in the town end penalty area of the ground.  So perhaps we need to move Shore Street Park in roughly a straight line to just the other side of Lotland Street.

Staying with the 1932 map it shows an interesting insight into the birth of Dalneigh.  Houses have been built on Bruce Gardens, Smith Avenue and Dalneigh Crescent but Victoria Park is still there.  Interestingly, this map (and the 1930 one) show paths through the Park on the line of what became Maxwell Drive and Lindsay Avenue.  I wonder were there paths on these lines or do these lines just represent the proposed creation of these streets.  A very ornate bandstand too, the foundations of which may be in someone's back garden.

[Charles Bannerman]

As it happens I've just returned from a Rotary Club talk from Councillor Dave Henderson who gave a showing of the old slides originally collected by the legendary Inverness local historian Joseph Cook.

One of these showed Cromwell's Tower towards the end of the 19th Century and the slaughterhouse (or "abattoir" if you want to translate that into more contemporary English :015:) is clearly visible behind the tower. It's a pity that the slide didn't have a bit more scope since it may have included the Citadel ground. I must take the opportunity to ask Dave if any of the other slides has any detail of the ground in it.

I would imagine that the slaughterhouse was bound to have smelled of animal decay and it would have been worse in earlier days since there was also a tannery by the riverside opposite the old baths. That apparrently stank to high heaven as well and a SW wind would have blown that pong in to join that from the slaughterhouse.

There was also a sequence of slides from the 1860s onwards showing the Meeting Park and Victoria Park (now Smith Avenue, Maxwell Drive, Bruce Gardens etc) on the opposite side of Glenurquhart Road. You can see how that area developed with the construction of the Bishop's palace (Eden Court) on one side and steady changes in Victoria Park on the other. Dalneigh, as viewed from Tomnahurich, is just a farm and in the main was not really developed until the 50s.

It was a bit scary to realise that I remembered much of the dertail in the old slides (suspension bridge, the Duff Street slums where my mum used to threaten we'd go and live if I was bad, Castle Tolmie etc) and I also remember being at one of Jo Cook's lectures when I was a youngster.

[CaleyD]

Charles, I have a vague memory of being told that Dalneigh was developed at the end of WWII, and was done partly to house families of returning soldiers who wanted to move North and away from the bigger cities.  I know that many of the older neighbours are not "native" to Inverness and many served together during the war, so their may be something in the story.

[Charles Bannerman]

CD... there was a severe nationwide shortage of housing immediately after the war, made worse by a rapidly growing population of baby boomers. One of the solutions to this was the Prefab and permanent council housing estates also went up all over the place. I would imagine that the recently elected Labour government, with all its Welfare State ambitions like the NHS, would also have had public provision of housing high on its list of priorities.

Much of Dalneigh seems to be from the fairly immediate post war period although some parts like Dalneigh Road and Laurel Avenue may have predated the Swedish houses such as the one which we moved into (and which was not split new) in 1958. There may have been an element of returning soldiers from big cities but I do remember Dalneigh as being predominantly Invernessian and certainly the influx was nothing like central belt oil workers into Alness in the 70s.

As a result of all this, Dalneigh Primary School was built in the 50s (and its architectural first cousin Hilton to cater for a parallel development there) and when I was a pupil at Dalneigh from 58-65 it had two classes in ever year plus a senior remedial class giving a total of around 600 pupils. If younger readers are questioning my totals, 40 odd to a class was commonplace then!

Inevitably there were lots of young families then but as time went on the same people tended to stay there, no longer with primary aged kids so the roll of Dalneigh School shrank into the 70s.

[The Mantis]

I can confirm from my booklet that you're pretty spot on CaleyD.

The stand was on the shore (SW) side, and the slaughterhouse would be just a few yards from the SE corner flag.

The club spent their last few years in debt and their final season was in the 36-7 season in the North 2nd II league ( they last played in the HL in 34-5) when they went out with a flourish and beat Caley and Thistle on the way to winning the Inverness Charity Cup.

After they disbanded there was talk of reforming the club, but the war came along, and after 1945 people had forgotten all about them.

The booklet I have is about 28 pages, by George Campbell (b 1931) and printed and presumably published in Canada by Touchline Publications in 1990.

At this time, Mr Campbell was living in Brantford, Ontario, and was involved in 'soccer' there.

[Scarlet Pimple]

I remember playing in the building sand on Fairfield Road close to the Bumbers Lane where they had started to build the houses in Dalneigh. That was about 1946 to 1950 or thereabouts.

[Charles Bannerman]

Just in case anyone is in doubt, Bumbers Lane is an alternative title for Balnacraig Road, linking Fairfield Road with Telford Street along the back of the Howden End. The it named after "The Bumber" who was headmaster of Merkinch Primary School in the early years of the 20th century. It was unmetalled until about the 1970s - I certainly remember going through the potholes and the puddles on my way from Dalneigh to Telford Street on Saturdays in the early-mid 60s.

I'm interested to hear SP talk of the beginnings of Dalneigh in around 46-50. That presumably would be Lilac Grove or possibly Hawthorn Drive. I suspect at the other end Laurel Ave and Dalneigh Road would also be on their way up with the Swedish Houses not too far away either.

Inverness was no different from the rest of the country inasmuch as there was a chronic housing shortage to which the response was a massive building programme, including the prefabs which we hear a lot about on this thread.

It seems remarkable that, hard on the heels of a war which had crippled the country economically, the post war Atlee government managed to fund so many of the Welfare promises of the Beveridge Report and came up with the NHS, Council Housing etc etc. There was definitely post war austerity but at the same time so much was done in so many respects. I'd be intrigued to know how they financed it.

[canuck]

Charles, Lilac Grove was built by the Scottish Housing Development in 1951/2. We were the first occupants of #20 in 1952. Hawthorn Drive was possibly built prior to 1951.

Other characters who lived in ''The Grove"either mentioned in your book or on this website include Mike Shewan, Rod ''the mod'' Mac Donald, Lawrence Spence. Charlie Cuthbert, Jimmy (Hutchie) Hutchison. Bobby Noble and last but by no means least - Danny and Vicky Fridge.

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

Photo that shows modern day area including ICT stadium.  For those that are overseas and may be interested there are a number of good aerial photos of many parts of Inverness on the Scotavia Images web-site.

[img width=500 height=332]http://www.scotaviaimages.co.uk/gallery/albums/scotavia/Inverness%20Longman%20North.jpg

Photo from Scotavia Images web-site

[Charles Bannerman]

I was in the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden yesterday and managed to uncover a copy of George Campbell's Citadel booklet. Unfortunately I only got to it shortly before I had to leave but I did manage to get a quick look through and very interesting it was too.

Apart from the Citadel content, I couldn't help but smile at the final page on the future of Inverness football. This was clearly written in June 1990 since it regretted that, with the calling in of the receivers at Clach, another Inverness football team had gone the way of Citadel. Clearly the deadline had just missed the dramatic 11th hour rescue! The same passage also reflects on the possibility of a merged Inverness team bidding for Scottish league membership and comments that, whilst the powers within the SFL might like the idea, the attitude of fans would surely mean that the realisation of such an idea was a long way away!

They seem to have in the library there all the books that I'm aware of ever having been written about Inverness football, including the very rare "Hub of the Hill" Thistle booklet.

Other items of local interest include a display which includes an Inverness Thistle sign and keeper's jersey big enough to have been Jimmy's (!), a 1997 Div 3 Championship mug and the programme for the original July 1994 friendly v St. Mirren which - a true sign of the times - on the front cover more or less says "Caledonian FC" in bold blue with a little apologetic red "Thistle".

There are also about 6 minutes of audio from Renzo Serafini describing his footballing experiences as an Italian internee on the Isle of Man after Churchill told his men to "collar the lot".

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

Hampden Exhibition

[The Mantis]

and the programme for the original July 1994 friendly v St. Mirren which - a true sign of the times - on the front cover more or less says "Caledonian FC" in bold blue with a little apologetic red "Thistle".

The first few programmes were like that. It appears that the new board were not very organised in that department and requested the jounalistic talents of 'Dots' and your pal, a certain Mr L. Cannon  :015:

[caley100]

Had a wee dig through me stuff and confirmed my thoughts that i have a copy of that programme,  just realised its no 1!

A season ticket cost ?50 and a reminder inside the cover that home fans must enter the ground via the 'howden end'  ahhhh... the memories!!!

I also see we had a friendly vs Bolton Wanderers  on the following wednesday..canna mind the outcome of that one, but i was there, any help?

[Charles Bannerman]

and the programme for the original July 1994 friendly v St. Mirren which - a true sign of the times - on the front cover more or less says "Caledonian FC" in bold blue with a little apologetic red "Thistle".

The first few programmes were like that. It appears that the new board were not very organised in that department and requested the jounalistic talents of 'Dots' and your pal, a certain Mr L. Cannon  :015:

Mr. L. Cannon??  :symbol_question:

By the way I think John McGinlay played for Bolton that night. I also think it was just before that game that the Rebels painted the gents' urinals (sorry... tautology... I've never seen ladies' urinals!) black and red.

The programme in question can be seen to the left in the photo which TBB linked to.

[Guest TinCanFan]

What other English teams have ICT played other than Bolton, Blackpool and Sheffield United?

[Charles Bannerman]

QPR.

[mainstander]

Rangers.  :015: