History

“Eight Parcels of Land”

In 1927 Yeovil Borough Council wanted to provide additional recreation ground in West Ward. Councillor W E Tucker offered two fields off Mudford Road. The purchase price of £1,700 was raised by private donations and a loan. The sale was completed in March 1929.

To turn these two fields into Playing Fields £2,100 was needed and the National Playing Fields Association was approached for a grant. The Carnegie UK Trust offered a grant if the Council would abide by the conditions imposed by the NPFA. The Council agreed and a Declaration of Trust was signed and sealed in July 1930.The land would be used in perpetuity as public recreation and playing fields. £300 was granted by Carnegie UK, £100 by NPFA. Mudford Road Playing Fields opened with great ceremony in June 1931.

In February 1946 William Rogers offered to sell to the Council the undeveloped portion of his land at Marsh Lane. The council refused. Later that year he offered to give them the land at the entrance then all of the land. The gift with two covenants was accepted- the Council must erect and maintain a fence and the land must not be used for any purpose other than that of public open space or recreation.

A mistake was made erecting the fence resulting in the purchase of a thin strip beside the right of way the following year.

In 1954 the paddock behind houses towards the bottom of Mudford Road was bought. Potatoes were grown for a few years and hard tennis courts opened in 1963.

Land the other side of the Marsh Lane footpath was bought in 1959.In 1998 a Community Sports Centre was planned but failed to get funding. Some of the land was sold for the Doctors Surgery which opened in 2003.

At the start of 1963 the farm lying on two sides of MRPF, Lower Stone Farm, was bought.

The Council had long wanted at least part of it to extend the facilities, had refused planning permission for houses and were going to compulsory purchase. In the end they paid the price of building land for it.

In 1970 the Pitch and Putt opened-with much larger greens than planned due to a “misunderstanding”. The following year the Playing Fields were renamed Yeovil Recreation Centre, Hollands Park and Yeovil Sports Centre being two rejected names.

To enable the long requested Athletics Track to be built on the preferred of three sites Somerset County Council sold a small piece of their land at Little Hollands for £1 in1970.

A small strip of land to the north of the current pedestrian entrance was bought in 1972.

In 1932 a cottage was built for the groundsman. A clock was erected over its front door in 1937.Over the years the cottage was improved and extended and eventually occupied by the park keeper. In 2003 it was sold despite being on the land funded by the NPFA on the condition that no land would be sold.

History of The Rec compiled by Vivien Cornelius.