Nickname(s) The Seedgrowers Grounds West Street, Coggeshall | Founded 1878 | |
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Full name Coggeshall Town Football Club League Eastern Counties League Division One 2015–16 Essex & Suffolk Border League Premier Division, 1st (promoted) | ||
Coggeshall Town Football Club is a football club based in Coggeshall, Essex, England. The club are currently members of the Eastern Counties League Division One and play at West Street.
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History
The club was established on 27 September 1878 by the J.K. King seed company in a meeting at the White Hart Hotel, with many of the King family and company employees being keen footballers. They joined the Essex & Suffolk Border League, and won Division II B in 1909–10 and 1910–11, and were runners-up in 1926–27. After World War II the club won Division One in 1962–63.
The late 1960s and early 1970s saw a prolonged period of success for the club as they won back-to-back Premier Division titles in 1966–67 and 1967–68, finished as runners-up in 1968–69 and won a third title in 1969–70. They also won the League Cup in both 1968–69 and 1969–70, beating Whitton United 3–2 in the 1969 final and Heybridge Swifts 1–0 in the 1970 final. After finishing as runners-up in 1970–71 and 1971–72, the club joined the Essex Senior League in 1972. After finishing bottom of the table for three consecutive seasons between 1983–84 and 1985–86, the club left the league. They rejoined the league in 1987, but left again at the end of the 1988–89 season for financial reasons.
The club had two spells in the Essex Intermediate League during the 1990s, before rejoining the Essex & Suffolk Border League. They won Division Three in 1994–95 and were Division Three runners-up in 2000–01. In 2012–13 they finished second in Division One, earning promotion to the Premier Division. In 2015–16 they won the Premier Division and the League Cup, beating Holland 4–3 on penalties, following a 0–0 draw. At the end of the season they were promoted to Division One of the Eastern Counties League.
Ground
The club originally played at Mynheer Park, until moving to Highfields in 1895. After being given notice to leave the ground in 1960, land for a new ground on West Street was offered to them on a leasehold basis, with £2,000 raised to prepare it for the club. A pavilion was opened in 1961, a stand in 1964 and a clubhouse in 1971. When the landowner decided to sell the site in 1981, the club raised enough money to purchase it.
The ground's record attendance of 1,124 was set at the end of the 1967–68 when Coggeshall defeated Tiptree United to win the Essex & Suffolk Border League.