Club Background
Chippenham Town and Yeovil Town (First Team) have minimal history. There’s been one previous competitive fixture, an FA Cup tie at Huish Park. Apart from that a smattering of pre-season Friendlies at Hardenhuish Park are the only other meetings. (See We’ve Met Before, below.) The Glovers’ Reserves, both as Yeovil & Petters United pre-War and Yeovil Town post-War, did come across Chippenham a lot as both club’s had sides bobbing around various divisions of the Western League for decades, but the meetings became rarer and the WL fixtures of 2000-21 may well have been the first time Yeovil’s Reserves had come up against the Bluebirds since the beginning of the Eighties.
The club lays claim to a foundation date of 1873, though the earliest documentary evidence found isn’t until a newspaper report of a match versus Melksham on 17th December 1984 which the article suggests was its first fixture. And it would be another ten years after that before Chippenham joined a league, becoming founder members of the Wiltshire League in 1894.
Another ten years on, in 1904, the club joined Division Two of the Western League but wasn’t competitive so left after two seasons. Thereafter it remained in County football through to 1930 – moving to Hardenhuish Park during that period (in 1919) – at which point it had another shot at regional football, again joining the WL at Division Two level. This time they stuck with it much longer and remained in that league through to 1965.
Have found no confirmation, but it seems fairly reasonable to assume, that the club had hit serious financial problems at this point given it resigned from the Western League and returned to County level football for the next three seasons. When next re-emerging, in 1968, it was to play in the Hellenic League for five campaigns before returning to the Western League yet again in 1973.
In 1980-81 the Bluebirds were Champions of Western League Division One and promoted to the Premier Division, remaining there rarely troubling either end of the table until 2000-01. The period around the turn of the Millennium saw a change in fortunes for the club. In May 2000 it had got to Wembley in the Final of the FA Vase but lost to Deal Town 0-1. That disappointment was swiftly put aside with back-to-back promotions, a second place finish in 2000-01 taking them up to the Southern League Division One West, where they finished runners-up again in 2001-02 and were into the Southern League Premier Division.
A 5th placed finish in 2002-03 suggested they would cope well with this sudden rise but unfortunately for them the following campaign was a very poor one just at the wrong time: finishing second from bottom Chippenham was one of the few clubs in the division that didn’t disappear off to join the Conference South being newly formed for 2004-05. Still, the restructuring did leave behind an SLPD where the Bluebirds were now a rather bigger fish in a smaller pond and would regularly make the play-offs over the coming seasons. However they kept falling at the penultimate or ultimate hurdle, losing to: Hednesford Town 0-1, 2004-05 Final; Bedford Town 3-2, 2005-06 Final; Halesowen Town 2-1, 2007-07 Semi-Final; Nuneaton Town 2-1, 2009-10 Final.
All these near misses may have taken their toll as the club then drifted into mid-table obscurity for the next six seasons as managers came and went. It was Mark Collier and assistant Tom Jones who finally got Chippenham out of the SLPD after 15 seasons spent there, into what was by then called National League South, as Champions by 11 points in 2016-17.
In NLS Chippenham has generally been the most middling of mid-table teams with 13th, 13th, 14th and 13th places finishes, the exception being 2021-22 when squeaking into the last play-off position on the final day of the regular season. Dartford was beaten on penalties after a 0-0 draw in the opening round but the Bluebirds went out 0-1 in extra-time to Ebbsfleet United at the semi-final stage.
We’ve Met Before
Previous Results for Yeovil Town First Team vs Chippenham Town
| 31/07/1990 | Away | Frnd | W | 2-0 | 150 | ||
| 11/10/1997 | Home | FAC3Q | W | 4-0 | 1762 | Pickard, Birkby, Hannigan, Kemp | |
| 02/08/1999 | Away | Frnd | D | 0-0 | 400 | ||
| 30/07/2002 | Away | Frnd | D | 0-0 | 563 | ||
| 14/07/2003 | Away | Frnd | D | 0-0 | 704 | ||
| 21/11/2023 | Away | NLS | D | 1-1 | 1326 | Hyde 76 | |
| 12/03/2024 | Home | NLS | L | 1-3 | 2838 | Fisher 41 | |
Results Summary For Yeovil Town First Team vs Chippenham Town
| Home | Away | Overall | ||||||||||||
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 4 |
Club Statistics
RECENT RESULTS
| 09/09/2023 | Maidstone United | Home | NLS | L | 0-2 | 604 | ||
| 16/09/2023 | Hungerford Town | Home | FAC2Q | L | 1-4 | 308 | Bradbury 80 | |
| 23/09/2023 | Weymouth | Away | NLS | D | 1-1 | 1099 | McClure 35 (pen) | |
| 30/09/2023 | Truro City | Away | NLS | W | 2-0 | 169 | McClure 13, 68 | |
| 07/10/2023 | Dartford | Home | NLS | L | 1-4 | 671 | Windsor 52 | |
| 21/10/2023 | St Albans City | Home | NLS | L | 1-2 | 494 | McClure 32 | |
| 28/10/2023 | Welling United | Away | NLS | D | 0-0 | 487 | ||
| 04/11/2023 | Eastbourne Borough | Home | NLS | W | 4-2 | 508 | Bradbury 43, 72, McClure 52 (pen), Fasanmade 90+30 | |
| 07/11/2023 | Farnborough | Home | NLS | W | 2-1 | 452 | Ellison 14, Bradbury 48 | |
| 11/11/2023 | Chelmsford City | Away | NLS | D | 2-2 | 791 | Ellison 26, Windsor 71 | |
| 14/11/2023 | Weston-super-Mare | Away | NLS | POSTPONED | ||||
| 18/11/2023 | Basingstoke Town | Home | FAT2R | W | 1-1 | 354 | Fasanmade 90+10 (3-2 on penalties) | |
| 21/11/2023 | Yeovil Town | Home | NLS | |||||
LEAGUE ATTENDANCE STATISTICS
Highest League Attendance: 761
Lowest League Attendance: 452
Average League Attendance: 589
CURRENT LEAGUE SEQUENCE STATISTICS
| Games Without A Win: | 1 | Games Without A Home Win: | 0 | |
| Games Without An Away Win: | 2 | Games Without Defeat: | 4 | |
| Games Without A Home Defeat: | 2 | Games Without An Away Defeat: | 6 | |
| Games Without A Draw: | 0 | Games Without A Score Draw: | 0 | |
| Games Without A No-Score Draw: | 3 | Games Without Scoring: | 0 | |
| Games Without Conceding: | 0 | Home Results Sequence: | LLLWW | |
| Away Results Sequence: | DWDD | Overall Results Sequence: | LDWLLDWWD |
Club Information
Address : Hardenhuish Park, Bristol Road, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN14 6LR. (Current sponsorship name: The Thornbury Surfacing Stadium – as no one ever calls it.)
Telephone Number : 01249 650400
Email : Contact here (got a swift reply from the club secretary when used this route)
Chairman : Neil Blackmore
Club Secretary : Derek Crisp
Team Manager : Gary Horgan
Capacity : 3,000
Seated : 300
Covered Terrace : c. 1,000
Surface : grass
Record Attendance : 4,800 v Chippenham United, Western League, 1951.
Colours : shirt blue with black trim, shorts blue, socks blue
Nickname : The Bluebirds
Programme :
Ticketing
This is a segregated match. Away fans will be in the School End which is to the North-West end of the ground. There will be no access for away supporters through the main entrance of the stadium. Huish Park is handling the away ticketing for this fixture so head to the Yeovil Town ticket portal. Seated will appear as the default, you’ll need to change the menu if wanting standing. Information via the ticket office is our total allocation is around 800. (Update 01/11: any seating has already gone.) The remainder of the away allocation is standing on an uncovered terrace.
Note: there are no walk-up sales at the ground to away fans on the night.
Prices :
Adult: £15.00
Concession (Senior Citizen, full-time student, serving member of Armed Forces): £11.00
Junior (16-18): £5.00
Child (5-15): FREE (when accompanied by paying adult)
Disabled: Not a concept that seems to have struck anyone at Chippenham Town as needing much addressing. The one single thing pertaining to or relevant for fans with disabilities have found mention of is that Bluebirds Bar does have a disabled adapted toilet. How useful that will be for away fans when segregation will be excluding us from that area is a moot point.
Official Away Travel
The Green & White Supporters’ Club is running away travel to Chippenham on Tuesday 21st November, 7.45 p.m. kick-off.
Details are as follows:
Members: Adult £14; Concession £14
Non-Members: Adult £17; Concession £17
Coach departs Huish Park: 4.00 p.m.
To book, call Paul Hadlow on 07736 044570 (after 6.00 p.m. please) or email him on paulhadlow@outlook.com.
If you are getting in touch by email, please make it clear which match you are booking for and that you give your full name, the names of people that are travelling and a contact telephone number.
You may be asked to pay a £5 deposit to reserve your seat.
Directions To The Ground
General
Chippenham is an old market town of around 37,000 towards the North-West corner of Wiltshire. Huish Park to Hardenhuish Park is between 55 and 60 miles depending on the route chosen. The stadium is rather buried inside a complexity of sports venues such as athletics, bowls, cricket, hockey, netball and tennis as well as football.
By Road
From Yeovil basically head up the A303 to Mere; at which point one can select to drop off onto the B3092 (which is a slightly shorter in terms of mileage but has a lot of chopping and changing of roads subsequently) or stay on the A303 for another five miles and then drop off onto the A350 northwards which takes one all the way to Chippenham.
The two options join up again at Chequers Roundabout. Take the A350 (West Cepen Way) exit (still going northwards). Stay on the A350 through the next roundabout and then after about one mile at the next (Bumpers Farm Roundabout) take the third exit onto the A420 (Bristol Road). Keep on the A420 through a double mini-roundabout and about 500-600 yards further on there’s a turning on the left up to the ground and whatever parking might be available.
Parking
Although Google Maps has a “Chippenham Town FC Car Park” marked (see above, By Road) as far as can establish it doesn’t belong to the club but is general parking for the multitude of sports facilities hosted on the site. The club, to be fair, lays no claim to it on its website. In fact can find no reference at all there concerning the parking situation. Again looking at Google Maps (aerial view) there is a hard surface car park in the centre of the site near the football stadium, but this has under 50 marked bays so the chances of it being available to ordinary fans on a matchday is likely close to zero. There’s also an unsurfaced ‘rough ground’ area closer to the main road (which looks like people park their cars there) and might be able to take 30 or 40 vehicles.
The host club has stated (thanks to supporter Ray Des Smith for the info via Facebook) that the car parking at Sheldon School (off Hardenhuish Lane, SN14 6HJ) will be available for fans to park on the night. The school is to the north-west of the stadium and the walk round by road is 0.7 of a mile so around 15 minutes. However there appears to be a couple of tracks that cut through woodland at the edge of the park between the school and the ground, a much shorter route that is (partially) lit at night.
Apart from the above situation the town’s public car parks are scattered towards the centre of town and around the train station, so variously between half a mile to a mile away, or it’s hunting for on-street along the residential roads closer to the ground.
By Rail
Chippenham Railway Station is on the Great Western Main Line (London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads or South Wales) and also has services that link onto the Wessex Main Line running down to Southampton. All the trains that stop at Chippenham are operated by GWR (Great Western Railway).
From Yeovil the obvious route is out of Pen Mill with a change at Bath Spa or Westbury depending on service. However, as users of that line will well know, services back end feebly early – one couldn’t see even half the match and still get back to Pen Mill the same night. From Yeovil Junction one can get out (one or two changes depending on service chosen) and (the important) actually back the same night. The 22.09 out of Chippenham will return you to the Junction (at 00.36) but does rely on three changes actually connecting up properly.
For London and South-East Glovers you’re not realistically going to see the whole game and have time to get to the station for the 21.42. However the service after that, the 22.27, gets into Paddington at 23.56 which is likely early enough for onward connections to most parts of the capital, though will be hit or miss for onward travel to more distant destinations in the South-East.
By Bus
The main provider of bus services in and around Chippenham is Faresaver (though other companies are available). While in theory there are plenty of services going along the A420 (Bristol Road) the vast majority are ‘school’ services or have petered out and ended by late afternoon. The X31, which starts and ends at Chippenham Bus Station and also calls at Chippenham Railway Station on its runs between Chippenham and Bath, is the only one have found that looks potentially useful. There’s two services an hour during the day falling to one an hour from early evening. The nearest stops to the stadium are Hardenhuish Avenue or Woodlands Road.
By Taxi
A selection of Chippenham taxi companies can be found here.
Web Resources
Web Sites
Chippenham Town Football Club – Official Website.
Blue Army TV & Radio – official YouTube channel for Chippenham Town.
Bluebirds Fans Forum – unofficial message board.
Social Media
ChipTownFC – Chippenham’s official Twitter account.
Local Press
The Wiltshire Gazette & Herald – has a section, CTFC, dedicated to coverage of Chippenham Town.
WiltshireTimes – appears to reproduce exactly same stories as the above.
Food & Drink
General
With Hardenhuish Park stuck out towards the North-West edge of the town there are no pubs particularly close to the stadium. The closest (if one knows how to navigate the side roads and alley path shortcuts) at about half a mile is possibly The Kingfisher (SN14 0JL) to the West of the ground, an estate pub owned by Wadworth. However, as one would expect, the bulk of hostelries are in central Chippenham, which means around a 15 minute walk from those on the northern edge of the centre up to around 25 minutes from those towards the southern edge.
Club Bar
A new clubhouse, Bluebirds Bar, opened in 2020. There’s two hand pumps as well as six or seven different keg lines. On the very rare occasions segregation is imposed the bar will not be open to away supporters according to the club’s website. Our match has been segregated and away fans won’t be allowed into the clubhouse. There will also be no alcohol served in the away area, soft refreshment only.
Local Pubs
Bridge House: Chippenham’s Wetherspoon on the south bank overlooking the River Avon. Reopened December 2021 after extensive flood damage (yep, it’s that close to the river) it’s relatively small as Spoons go, and purpose built as part of the Borough Parade shopping centre rather than an adapted building. Decked outside area. As with most Spoons has no parking of its own but the shopping centre car park is less than 100 yards away. Opens from 8.00 p.m. every day, closing at midnight Sunday to Thursday and 1.00 a.m. Friday & Saturday. 0.8 of mile from stadium, so a little under 20 minutes walk.
The Bridge House, Borough Parade, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 3WL. Tel: 01249 450980. Map: Bridge House.
Flying Monk Tavern: Couldn’t be much more central, right in the heart of the town. Formerly The Buttercross Inn (it stands close by the town’s 16th Century Buttercross which was sold off for £6 in 1889 to some big-wig for a gazebo in his garden but rescued in a state of total disrepair and restored to its rightful place in 1995), a Free House with eight hand pumps. Windrush Ale by North Cotswold Brewery is the regular with the other seven occupied by four always changing beers and three ciders from small independent producers. There’s nine or ten keg taps on a tap wall at the rear of the bar. From the little evidence can find these appear to tend towards the macro-industrial rather than the micro-craft. There’s also a selection of Belgian bottled beers. Opens at noon every day, closing 11.00 p.m. Monday to Thursday, midnight Friday & Saturday, 6.00 p.m. Sunday. 0.8 of mile from stadium, so a little under 20 minutes walk.
Flying Monk Tavern, 6 Market Place, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 3HD. Tel: 01249 460662. Map: Flying Monk.
Old Road Tavern: Nearest pub to the railway station (exit on the North side) around 100 yards away. Six hand pumps with three or four carrying changing offerings from smaller (but generally ‘traditional’ rather than ‘craft’ style breweries). Keg is the likes of Amstel, Red Stripe and Wolfpack Lagers. Large garden to rear including heated shelter. Appears to sometimes do food but get the impression it’s from pop-up outside providers and only when events are on. Open from noon every day, closing 11.00 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and midnight Friday & Saturday. 0.6 of a mile so a bit under 15 minutes walk from the stadium.
Old Road Tavern, Old Road, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 1JA. Tel: 01249 247080. Map: Old Road Tavern.
Prince of Wales: Only micropub in Chippenham, with the website having an up to date list of what’s on tap, that opened 2018. Has up to ten changing ‘craft’ keg lines (unusually for a micropub doesn’t carry any cask beer, the hand pumps being removed at end of 2022), three ciders (which does usually include still cider as well as keg) and around 30 different canned beers (10% discount if taking away) in the fridge. No food except bar snacks. Couple of tables with chairs on pavement outside. Opening hours: 4.00 p.m. – 10.00 p.m. Tuesday to Friday; noon – 10.00 p.m. Saturday; 2.00 p.m. – 8.00 p.m. Sunday. North of the Avon, 0.6 of a mile so a bit under 15 minutes walk from the stadium. Note: CARD payment only, no cash.
The Prince of Wales, 8 Station Hill, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 1EG. Tel: None found. Map: Prince of Wales.
Three Crowns: Already an independent pub focused on real ales, ciders and perry, it was acquired by Broadtown Brewery in May 2023 so naturally also features its beers now. The main bar carries beers on seven hand pumps, usually three or so by Broadtown and the rest guests from other small independent breweries. A smaller bar has four hand pumps dispensing three ciders and a perry. Keg is the likes of Madri (a “Spanish” lager brewed on the Costa Burton-On-Trent by Molson Coors), Erdinger, Beavertown (Heineken) Neck Oil and Bones Lager and Orchard Pig (Magner’s) Reveller though occasionally something more interesting sneaks onto one of the fonts. Has four Beer & Cider Festivals a year, but nothing coinciding with our visit sadly. Does pork pies and filled rolls as the food option but generally only at weekends. Dart board, limited outside seating, small car park to rear. Opening: 4.00 p.m. – 11.00 p.m. Monday to Thursday; noon – midnight Friday & Saturday; noon – 10.30 p.m. Sunday. Furthest pub in this guide from the ground, being on the southern edge of the town centre: 1.1 miles, so around 25 minutes walk.
The Three Crowns, 18 The Causeway, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 3DB. Tel: 01249 449029. Map: Three Crowns.
Likelihood the Natives Will Understand You: Some may disagree, but don’t consider Wiltshire West Countree. Furriners them be; and with dang peculiar ways, I’ll be bound.
Top-Tip: There’s a Chippenham in Cambridgeshire. Don’t go there by mistake. Has a pub, a cricket ground and a bowling green but (as far as can tell) no football club. And even if there were it’s not the Chippenham we’re playing.
Local Amenities: Not a lot. If want a decent night out in the area head for Bristol or Bath (but definitely not Swindon).
Other Points Of Interest: There’s an annual festival of remembrance for Eddie Cochran who died in a car crash, on the A4 Bath Road as it passes through Chippenham at Rowden Hill, on the way back to London after a gig at Bristol Hippodrome in 1960. And that’s about it really. It’s a not unpleasant but also not especially interesting market town that has outlived its historical purpose and usefulness. England is full of not unpleasant but also not especially interesting market towns that have outlived their historical purpose and usefulness.
[No responsibility is taken for any inaccuracies. This page is entirely the product of bias and prejudice. ]