Hilton Park
Leigh, Greater Manchester, England
Hilton Park, Leigh, England — opened 1947, 1,237 rugby league games hosted, home of Leigh RLFC / Leigh Centurions (1947-2008; demolished).
Sourcing caveat: The record attendance for the 1953 Challenge Cup tie against St Helens is given as 31,326 by Wikipedia and as 31,224 by sportnetwork.net — both figures are reported here rather than silently picking one. A third-party AI-generated source (Grokipedia) additionally claimed the ground was renamed after a "James Hilton" in 1959 and hosted a Great Britain 39-0 France Test in 1964; neither claim could be corroborated against Wikipedia or sportnetwork.net, so both are omitted here rather than published unverified.
Ground facts
| Opened | 1947 |
| Home club | Leigh RLFC / Leigh Centurions (1947-2008; demolished) |
| Closed | 2008 |
| Demolished | February 2009 |
| Site today | A 103-home residential development (built 2019-2021) |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 1,237 |
| Top recorded crowd | 17,000 |
| Capacity | 10,000, including about 2,000 seats (final years) |
| Test matches hosted | 1 |
| Floodlights installed | 1953 (cost £4,100) |
| Surface | Grass |
| Years used | 1947–2008 |
| Location | Leigh, Greater Manchester |
Name history
- Kirkhall Lane — 1947, informal name from the adjoining road before the ground was formally named
- Hilton Park — 1947-1995/96 and 2007-2008, named for former club chairman Jack Hilton
- The Coliseum (at Hilton Park) — 1995/96-2007, adopted alongside the club's rebrand to Leigh Centurions; reverted to Hilton Park by 2007
Rugby league history
Leigh's home for 61 years, opened in 1947 on Kirkhall Lane and later renamed Hilton Park after former chairman Jack Hilton, who was instrumental in securing the site. Set the club's long-standing attendance record of 31,326 (cited elsewhere as 31,224 — see caveat) for a Challenge Cup tie against St Helens in March 1953. The ground also hosted touring international sides from Australia and New Zealand between 1948 and 1982, and was shared from the mid-1990s with football club Leigh RMI/Leigh Genesis, briefly rebranded "The Coliseum" alongside the rugby club's own rename to Leigh Centurions. Leigh moved to the newly built Leigh Sports Village for the 2009 season; Hilton Park was demolished in February 2009 and the site redeveloped as housing. Leigh's current club, since renamed Leigh Leopards, plays at that separate Leigh Sports Village ground.
Also used by football club Leigh RMI (later Leigh Genesis) from the mid-1990s until closure in 2008; hosted a live-televised FA Cup replay against Fulham in November 1998, attendance 7,024.
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 19 November 1954 — Australia v New Zealand, attendance 6,000
Pre-dates the site's structured match-by-match records for these competitions, so listed here as sourced facts rather than linked match pages.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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