Wigginton Road
York (Wigginton), North Yorkshire, England
Wigginton Road, York (Wigginton), England — opened 1885, 1,544 rugby league games hosted, home of York RLFC (the men's team plays as "York Knights"; also historically known as York City Knights).
Ground facts
| Opened | 1885 (York RLFC's early home here is documented on Wikipedia under the name "Clarence Street" (in use 1885-1989), not "Wigginton Road" — but rugbyleagueproject.org's own match database attributes the bulk of York's home fixtures across that span (1,544 games) to a venue it labels "Wigginton Road" (this entry's current_name), while separately listing a much smaller "Clarence Street" venue (25 games, mostly representative/touring fixtures). Wikipedia's own Clarence Street article notes the ground was "bounded by Wigginton Road and Haxby Street ... virtually opposite Wigginton Road cricket ground" though "almost always called after nearby Clarence Street" — strong evidence these two names describe the same physical site rather than two different grounds. This write-up follows the better-documented Clarence Street history, flagging the naming split explicitly rather than silently picking one name.) |
| Home club | York RLFC (the men's team plays as "York Knights"; also historically known as York City Knights) |
| Closed | 1989 |
| Demolished | after 1989 (exact year not identified in sources found) |
| Site today | Housing |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 1,544 |
| Top recorded crowd | 8,529 (Record attendance around 14,600 (sources vary: 14,631 vs 14,689) for a Challenge Cup tie against Swinton, 10 February 1934) |
| Last rugby league match | York 26-17 Hunslet, 26 March 1989, attendance 2,904 — the ground's final match |
| Years used | 1901–1990 |
| Location | York (Wigginton), North Yorkshire |
Name history
- Yorkshire Gentlemen's Ground, Wigginton Road — early 1880s, York RLFC's first fixed venue, on/near this site
- Wigginton Road Cricket Ground (shared tenancy) — 1883-1884, a one-year tenancy before the club was asked to leave
- Clarence Street — 1885-1989, on a plot leased from the York Lunatic (Bootham) Asylum; the name most sources use for this ground
Rugby league history
York's rugby league club moved through several early homes before settling in 1885 on a plot leased from the York Lunatic (Bootham) Asylum at the end of Clarence Street — a site bounded by Wigginton Road, which is how rugbyleagueproject.org's fixture database refers to it. The ground was the club's home for 104 years, hosting well over 1,500 recorded first-team fixtures, and set its record attendance in a Challenge Cup tie against Swinton on 10 February 1934. Financial pressure and rising safety-compliance costs forced a sale in the late 1980s; York's last match there was a 26-17 win over Hunslet on 26 March 1989, and the club relocated first to Huntington (Ryedale) Stadium and eventually to today's LNER Community Stadium. The site was redeveloped as housing.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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