Copenhagen House Grounds in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

also known as the 'Old Cope' was opened 24 September 1850 and was the leading venue for professional athletics until it closed in December 1853 after severe storm damage. Initially consisting of a 200-yard straight, an oval gravel track was added, opening on 17 March 1851, thought to be one third of a mile in length, enclosing a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

pitch. The name derives from the fact it was once the location of the Ambassador of Denmark's residence in the 17th century. This area was later known as Copenhagen Fields, and lay adjacent to the

Metropolitan Cattle Market The Metropolitan Cattle Market (later Caledonian Market), just off the Caledonian Road in the parish of Islington (now the London Borough of Islington) was built by the City of London Corporation and was opened in June 1855 by Prince Albert. ...

, now

Caledonian Park The London Borough of Islington is short of large parks and open spaces, given its status in recent decades as a desirable place of residence. In fact, Islington has the lowest ratio of open space to built-up areas of any London borough. The lar ...

. Whilst much of the site has been built upon, Market Road Gardens, an open space directly above the tunnels, are a present-day surviving remnant of the Fields. When the Great Northern Railway was built in 1850, a tunnel was built underneath the fields, taking its name from them:

Copenhagen Tunnel The Copenhagen Tunnel is a railway tunnel in London, United Kingdom, that is situated approximately down the East Coast Main Line from London King's Cross railway station. It comprises three twin-track bores, of which only the central and wes ...

. The Copenhagen Grounds hosted some of the earliest professional

Lancashire catch-as-catch-can Lancashire wrestling, commonly called Lancashire catch-as-catch-can or Lancashire style, is a folk wrestling style that originated in the historic county of Lancashire in North West England. It became notable as the least restrictive and most ...

championships, where wrestlers competed for the prestigious Copenhagen Grounds Silver Belt. One of the first

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

for the mile was set there; Charles Westhall in 4:28 on 26 July 1852.

References

runtrackdir.com, Peter Lovesey

Caledonian Park
{{coord, 51.5465, -0.1235, type:landmark_region:GB-ISL, display=title Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Islington