Earliest meeting: Monday 22nd January 1849
Final meeting: Monday 22nd January 1849
Enville is a small Staffordshire village which lies between Stourbridge and Bridgnorth. It has a rich history and was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 when known as Efnefeld. Situated close to Highgate Common and Enville Hall, a large estate owned by the Earl of Stamford, the village held its own race meeting on Monday 22nd January 1849 restricted to gentlemen associated with the Earl of Stamford's hounds. A highly respectable crowd from Kidderminster, Wolverhampton and Bewdley gathered in Yew Tree Meadow, owned by Mr Yardley, half a mile from the village on the right of the Bridgnorth road. A line of waggons was well positioned to enable visitors to get a good view of the entire race which was over 3 miles of good hunting ground. After leaving the Meadow, the approach to the first fence was down a deep slope, followed by a cropped hedge and wide drain, the course progressed through several ploughed fields before doubling back to the finishing flag at Yew Tree Meadow. The winner of the main Sweepstake was Mr S Chellingsworth's Barmaid, beating Rothersthorpe and GO. The Hurdle race which followed, over 1 1/2 miles and 6 flights, went to Mr Lowe's Brother to Rothersthorpe. After racing had finished an Ordinary was served at the Cat and Partridge a public house which still exists today; see the link below:- http://www.thecatinn.com/en/information/history/
There remains considerable evidence of the former racecourse to this day, as shown on the maps below. The Harkaway Club ran point to point races regularly at Enville right up until 1923, transferring their meetings to Chaddesley Corbett afterwards.
Monday 22nd January 1849
Enville Sweepstake over 3 miles
1. Barmaid, bay mare owned by Mr S Chellingsworth
2. Rothersthorpe, chestnut gelding owned by Mr Lowe
3. GO, chestnut gelding owned by Mr Aston
4. Melton, bay gelding owned by Mr Green
5. Water Witch, brown mare owned by Mr Hackett
Although the only recorded meeting took place on Monday 22nd January 1849, there is still evidence today of the previous existence of a racecourse. The 2 maps below, shown courtesy of John Hodges, indicate the ancient location of a racecourse together with an aerial photograph which still indicates the racecourse outline.
Much of the information about this course has been found using internet research and is in the public domain. However, useful research sources have been:-
London Illustrated News
Racing Illustrated 1895-1899
The Sporting & Dramatic Illustrated
Northern Turf History Volumes 1-4 by J.Fairfax-Blakeborough
The Sporting Magazine
A Long Time Gone by Chris Pitt first published in 1996 ISBN 0 900599 89 8
Racing Calendars which were first published in 1727
