Kenilworth Road

Kenilworth Road is a football stadium in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. It has been home to Luton Town Football Club since 1905 when they left Dunstable Road. The ground has also hosted women's and youth international matches.

The 10,356 all-seater stadium is situated in Bury Park, one mile (1.6 km) west of the centre of Luton. It is named after the road which runs along one end of it, but the official address is 1 Maple Road. Kenilworth Road hosted football in the Southern League until 1920, then in the Football League until 2009, when Luton were relegated to the Conference Premier. It has hosted Football League matches once more since 2014.

The ground is known for the artificial playing surface which was present from 1985 to 1991, the unusual entrance to the Oak Road End, and the five-season ban on away supporters that Luton Town imposed following a riot by visiting fans in 1985. Floodlights were fitted in 1953, and the ground became all-seated in 1986. The record attendance of 30,069 was set in 1959, in an FA Cup sixth round replay against Blackpool.

Luton Town F.C.

Luton Town Football Club /ˈluːtən ˈtaʊn/ is an English association football club based since 1905 at Kenilworth Road, Luton, Bedfordshire. Founded in 1885, it is nicknamed "the Hatters" and affiliated to the Bedfordshire County Football Association. Its first team is contesting the fourth tier of English football, League Two, during the 2015–16 season. The club's history includes major trophy wins, several financial crises, numerous promotions and relegations, and some spells of sustained success. It was perhaps most prominent between 1982 and 1992, when it was a member of English football's top division, at that time the First Division; the team won its first major honour, the Football League Cup, in 1988.

The club was the first in southern England to turn professional, making payments to players as early as 1890 and turning fully professional a year later. It joined the Football League before the 1897–98 season, left in 1900 because of financial problems, and rejoined in 1920. Luton reached the First Division in 1955–56 and contested a major final for the first time when playing Nottingham Forest in the 1959 FA Cup Final. The team was then relegated from the top division in 1959–60, and demoted twice more in the following five years, playing in the Fourth Division from the 1965–66 season. However, it was promoted back to the top level by 1974–75.

Kenilworth

Coordinates: 52°20′28″N 1°33′58″W / 52.341°N 1.566°W / 52.341; -1.566

Kenilworth (pronounced /ˈkɛnᵻlwərθ/) is a town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England, approximately 6 miles (10 km) southwest of Coventry, 4 miles (6 km) north of Warwick and 90 miles (140 km) northwest of London. The town is on Finham Brook, a tributary of the River Sowe, which joins the River Avon about 2 miles (3 km) east of the centre of the town. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 22,413.

Kenilworth is notable for the extensive ruins of Kenilworth Castle. Other local sights include the ruins of Kenilworth Abbey in Abbey Fields park, St Nicholas' Parish Church and Kenilworth Clock.

History

A settlement existed at Kenilworth by the time of the Domesday Book of 1086, which records it as Chinewrde meaning "farm of a woman named Cynehild".

Geoffrey de Clinton (d. 1134) initiated the building of an Augustinian priory in 1122, at the same time as he initiated the building of Kenilworth Castle. The priory was raised to the rank of abbey in 1450 and suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. Thereafter the abbey grounds next to the castle, were made common land in exchange for common land that Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester used to enlarge the castle. Only a few walls and a storage barn of the original abbey survive.

Road

A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places that has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by foot or some form of conveyance, including a horse, cart, bicycle, or motor vehicle.

Roads consist of one or two roadways (British English: carriageways), each with one or more lanes and any associated sidewalks (British English: pavement) and road verges.

Roads that are available for use by the public may be referred to as public roads or as highways.

Definitions

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines a road as "a line of communication (travelled way) using a stabilized base other than rails or air strips open to public traffic, primarily for the use of road motor vehicles running on their own wheels," which includes "bridges, tunnels, supporting structures, junctions, crossings, interchanges, and toll roads, but not cycle paths."

In urban areas roads may diverge through a city or village and be named as streets, serving a dual function as urban space easement and route. Modern roads are normally smoothed, paved, or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel. Historically many roads were simply recognizable routes without any formal construction or maintenance.

Luton

Luton (ⁱ/ˈluːtən/ LOOT-ən,local /ˈluːʔən/) is a large town, borough and unitary authority area of Bedfordshire, England. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 258,000. It is located 20 miles (30 km) east of Aylesbury, 14 miles (20 km) west of Stevenage, 30 miles (50 km) north-northwest of London, and 22 miles (40 km) southeast of Milton Keynes.

Luton is home to League Two team Luton Town Football Club, whose history includes several spells in the top flight of the English league as well as a Football League Cup triumph in 1988. They play at Kenilworth Road stadium, which has been their home since 1905.

London Luton Airport, opened in 1938, is one of England's major airports. During the Second World War it doubled as an RAF base.

The University of Bedfordshire is based in the town.

The Luton Carnival, which has traditionally been held on the Whitsun May bank holiday, is the largest one-day carnival in Europe. It has for the past two years been held on the Sunday instead. In 2012, it was moved to July to coincide with the Olympic Torch Relay and celebrations.