Giant Axe
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| Giant Axe | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Giant Axe |
| Location | Lancaster, Lancashire, England |
| Built | 1905 |
| Opened | 1905 |
| Owner | Lancaster City Council |
| Operator | Lancaster City F.C. |
| Surface | Grass |
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Giant Axe is a football ground in Lancaster, England, and the current home of Lancaster City F.C. The ground is located just downhill from Lancaster railway station, and is overlooked by Lancaster Castle and the Lancaster Priory Church.
[edit] Giant Axe
Although Lancaster played their first two home games at Quay Meadow, located behind the buildings on St Georges Quay, they moved to their present ground Giant Axe in 1905 soon after there formation. Giant Axe is located just downhill from Lancaster railway station, and is overlooked by Lancaster Castle and the Lancaster Priory Church. The reason for the idiosyncratic name is that when the ground was first built it was the centrepiece of a sports club, the exterior wall of which was, when viewed from above, the same shape as an axe head. In those early years, tennis was also played at the ground, and the football pitch was at the centre of a huge circle of grass called 'the sixpence', which also featured cricket pitches. The ground has been the club's home since the early days, but was renovated in the 1990s, and now features a stand of modern plastic seating. The ground is a typical non-league ground with the focal point being the 500-seat Main Stand that stands adjacent to the clubs changing, refreshment and toilet facilities. At one end of the ground is the newly built, but open, Club End Terrace, an older smaller covered terrace, The Shed stands at the opposite end of the ground. The other side of the ground is The Long Side, a small open terrace which also plays host to a raised corporate box and the dug outs which means that as they are situated opposite the changing rooms, the coaching and playing staff have to walk across the pitch to get to their location. The reason behind this is that when the dug outs were situated in the main stand they were constantly getting flooded whenever heavy rain appeared making it nigh on impossible for the managers, coaches and substitutes to take up their position. The club took the decision to move the dug outs to the other side of the pitch in the 1990s.
There have been plans to improve the general layout and facilities of the ground in order to bring it up to Football League standards, but with the club's financial implications placed on them these plans have had to be put on hold for the time being.
