麻豆约拍

Today Hereford Racecourse is the biggest recreational area in the city. Although the future of horse racing on the site is uncertain, every week hundreds of people use the open space to play golf, to run and to walk their dogs. Back in the summer of 1914 things were very different 鈥� the racecourse and nearby College Hill became home to more than 3,500 troops and 2,000 horses.

The Hereford Journal reported how the city prepared: "Orders have been given for everything to be in readiness for the arrival of the Brigade by Saturday afternoon, and preparations on the Racecourse were in progress on Thursday evening. The first essential is an efficient water supply, and this is being laid on by Corporation workmen under the direction of Mr Parker, the City Surveyor. Pipes are being laid from the water main in Grandstand Road, and drinking troughs for two thousand horses are being erected.鈥�

The racecourse was the war station for the South Wales Mounted Brigade of which the Royal Army Medical Corps of Hereford formed a unit. They joined soldiers from the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry, Montgomery Yeomanry, Glamorganshire Yeomanry, Glamorganshire Royal Horse Artillery, Transport and Supply Column and the Hereford Field Ambulance.

The troops slept under canvas at the racecourse, the meadows on College Hill and on the cricket pitches next door - now used by the city sports club.

Dozens of men were brought in to build a new railway platform next to the goods siding on the Holmer side of the Newtown Bridge. This was to be used for the transport of horses and troops from Hereford to Holyhead and then on to another great racecourse 鈥� The Curragh in Ireland.

Horses from across England and as far afield as Canada, as well as mules from North America were brought to Hereford by train. The stabling in the market held about 100 animals with 80 more being stabled in other parts of the city or turned out to grass.

Location: Hereford Racecourse, Roman Road, Hereford HR4 9QU
Image: The Herefordshire Regiment in College Hill Camp. Photograph courtesy of Dr Derek Foxton 鈥� The Foxton Collection
Narrated by the 麻豆约拍 racing correspondent, Cornelius Lysaght

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