Known as ‘the Dolly Field’ and sometimes as Cooper Street or Horatio Street, Sunderland’s first ground after crossing the Wear was known by different names.
Located near a claypit and brickworks, the Horatio Street pitch was regularly heavy to play on and gained the nickname the Dolly Field or Clay-Dolly Field.
With Horatio Street running down one side of the pitch and Cooper Street along another, both locations were used to describe the ground.
The players used the nearby Wolsey Pub as changing rooms and that pub, just five minutes from the stadium of Light, still stands.
An 8-1 win marked Sunderland’s inaugural match at Horatio Street when Castle Eden were the visitors on 29th September 1883.
The new ground also saw Sunderland win the club’s first trophy, the Durham Challenge Cup, but by the time the cup was actually awarded Sunderland had moved again, as the Durham FA didn’t have enough money to pay for its new trophy at the time of the final.