The land on which Victoria Park stands was originally a limestone quarry owned by the North-Eastern Railway Company . In 1886 , the land was bought by West Hartlepool Rugby Football Club for the development of a new rugby ground . The ground was then named the Victoria Ground in celebration of Queen Victoria ’s Diamond Jubilee . In 1908 , West Hartlepool R.F.C. went bust , leaving The Victoria Ground vacant . Shortly afterwards , the ground was registered under the name of " The Hartlepools United Football Athletic Company Limited " , a football team representing both the town of West Hartlepool and the original settlement of Old Hartlepool . This football team developed into Hartlepool United . From 1908 to 1910 , Hartlepools United shared their ground with the amateurs of West Hartlepool until the club broke up leaving Hartlepools United as the sole occupiers of the ground . In 1916 , the ground was bombed by a German Zeppelin , destroying the main stand on Clarence Road . A small , wooden stand was built as a temporary measure with the intent to replace it with a larger , more permanent structure once funds allowed . After the war , Hartlepool tried to claim compensation from the German government in order to fund the new stand . However these attempts failed and the temporary stand was eventually demolished in the late 1980s due to fire regulations being tightened as a result of the Bradford City fire . A number of portable cabins were put on the site of the Clarence Road stand containing dressing rooms , offices and a small number of seats until the Cyril Knowles Stand was built in 1995
Bradford City fire
Bradford City stadium fire
Victoria Park (Hartlepool)