Aston Villa History of The Beautiful Name - Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Founding of the Football Club 1874-2024

This is a captivating pictorial history map that traces the history of the famous name through rare antique maps and images back to 1820 where one such map shows the building "Aston Villa" from which the great clubs name was taken.

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This
is a captivating pictorial history map that traces the history of the
famous name through rare antique maps and images back to 1820, where
one such map shows the building "Aston Villa", from which
the great clubs name was taken. Also featured is part of a rare 1833
map showing the first "street" to be cut through the Manor
of Aston - named Villa Street, after the imposing landmark Georgian
Villa, “Aston Villa”, located on the junction of Heathfield
Road and Lozells Road. Another feature shows the arrival of the
Wesleyans, and the building of their chapel in 1865. in 1872 young
fellows of the chapel formed a cricket team. Keen enough on their
cricket in the Summer months, they establish Aston Villa Football
Club in 1874 to play the new game of Association Football, so they
could be together in the Winter months.



Aston
Villa's earliest games were played on the then famous "sports
meadow", part of the great leisure complex opened in 1872, is
featured on the work. Also featured is the "Wellington Road
ground", Perry Barr, the first football home of Aston Villa,
from where they played between 1876 and 1897.



In
1888 Aston Villa director William McGregor became the founding father
of the Football League, with Aston Villa being one of the twelve
founder clubs. One year later in 1889, back down at the Aston Lower
Grounds, the famous sports meadow became lost to housing. Dovehouse
Pool is drained and in its place the owners of the leisure complex
build a cycle track with a central sports ground.



In
1897 Aston Villa leave Wellington Road, Perry Barr, and move to the
Aston Lower Grounds, the sports ground gradually became known as
"Villa Park"



To
the top left and right are rare images of match action from Villa
Park, to the centre of these images is a rare match action picture
captured from a 1901 "home" First Division game, against
arch rivals Small Heath, later to be named Birmingham City.



The
heading to the top of the work quotes "By the turn of the 20th
century Aston Villa - the greatest name in football in every sense -
had become of the most powerful sides in the country - They had
secured the league title 5 times since the start of the league
in 1888, and won the F.A Cup 3 times".



The
heading at the bottom of the work quotes " The City of
Birmingham with sinewy arms and sooty face, was forging its name in
brass and iron as the workshop of the World, when one Winters night
in 1874 a few young men stroked their whiskers and bestowed on a new
born football club a name unique in sporting history".