Old Photos of Twickenham

Here is a selection of images of Twickenham from the past. They should give an idea of what the place was like and how it has developed.


Church Street 1900


Twickenham station around 1900

Twickenham Kings Street 1909, in this you can see the tram tracks that used to run through the high street.

Twickenham Stadium 1915, with horses grazing on the pitch.

Twickenham Stadium 1924

Twickenham Stadium 1929

Church Street 1930

Twickenham Stadium 1935

Kings Street 1955, you can now see that tram tracks have been replaced by over head power lines for electric buses.

London Road 1955

Twickenham Centre 1960

Twickenham Stadium 1971

Twickenham stadium 1971, new roofing.

Mini study of my seat

As a season ticket holder at Harlequins I use the same seat during every fixture I attend. This image shows my seat highlighted in red


This is mine and my fathers seats that we have owned for the past two years. It is located in the top row of the stadium's East stand which is the largest stand in the ground. Running the length of the stands facade behind are seats are 25 boxes for corporate hospitality. These are separated from the seated spectators by metal railing that gives of a visual division between public and private.


This is a close up photograph of the material of my seat. The scratches on the back rest show that this seat had been used many times before me


This image gives off a sense of the energy of the environment surround my seat on match days


The panoramic gives you an idea of my view of the game on match days


This photo shows a sense of the public and private relationship between my seated position and the boxes behind me

Comparison with Twickenham Stadium

Twickenham Stadium began life as a humble cabbage patch before being purchased by the Rugby Football Union for just over £5.500 in 1907. In 1906, Harlequins were invited to use the new national stadium's facilities in Twickenham by the RFU. The ground displayed its First game in 1909 between Harlequins and other local side Richmond. In the early days only a few internationals were played at the stadium throughout the season and the ground remained as the Headquarters of the Harlequin Rugby Football Club up until 1963 when the Quins acquired an athletics ground with 14 acres just over the road which became the Twickenham Stoop Stadium in later years. To day Twickenham Stadium is the home of English Rugby and seats an impressive 82,000 spectators making it the largest dedicated rugby union venue in the world.

On November the 21st 2009 I attended the autumn international between England and New Zealand. These photos were taken throughout the day and work as a good source of comparisons to the Twickenham Stoop.


This image shows shoppers coming into contact with spectators in a busy Church Street.


On Twickenham Stadium match days a large percentage of roads in the area are closed off to vehicles. This is to prevent over crowding between spectators and other members of the public. This procedure is not necessary for Harlequins games as the Stoop's capacity is a good 68,000 smaller than Twickenham.

This photo taken on the London Road shows the positioning of barriers in an attempt to divide the flow of pedestrians.

One key source of transport that is heavily relied on on match days are the trains. This demand means that additional services and platform exits as well as open barriers are used.

Here you can see the swarms of spectators from the train station flooding onto the roads surface.

Another procedure that is put in specifically on international match days is large quantities of police on foot and horseback to monitor crowds.

The only point where the flow of spectators cross paths with traffic is at the Whitton roundabout which is intersected by the A316. Here Police are used to alternate the movement of vehicles and pedestrians.

From this point its just a straight journey to the stadium gates.

Security is an incredibly important feature at the stadium with the venue being the 5th biggest terrorist threat in the country.

All spectator movement at Twickenham goes on behind seated areas. This prevents in stand disturbance during the entertainment.

The stadiums atmosphere is enclosed emphasising the power and emotion of the occasion.

This photo was taken after the match of the Twickenham Stoop Stadium from the exterior of the upper tear.

After the match crowds are directed how to continue their journey by large electric boards positioned in the road's centre.

Maps of Twickenham from history

This shows a map of Twickenham from 1912. The red highlighted area outlines the stadium grounds today. Even though the stoops construction did not commence until 1997 the ground has been the home of Harlequins rugby since 1963. Just north of the site you can see the outline of an early Twickenham Stadium started in 1907.


This map was dated around 1940. Again you can see where I have outlined the stadium's site 20 years before actual purchase. You can see that to days site overlaps with what use to be a sewage works which no longer exists as far as I am aware.

This final map is from 2008. It shows a clear outline of the stadium's site beside the river bank. It now sits adjacent with Richmond Upon Thames College and is still accessible by the Chertsey road visible in the 1940's map. Another prominent feature in both diagrams is the train station which has become one of the key routes of transportation to the ground to day.

stadium materials