HISTORY
Halstead Town Football Club is a football club based in Halstead, Essex, England. They are currently members of the Essex Senior League and play at Rosemary Lane.

The club was established in 1879 as Halstead Football Club following a meeting in the town hall by a group of 16 men. Due to a lack of football infrastructure in rural areas at the time the club played only occasional friendlies until they joined the newly formed North Essex League in 1895. In 1901–02 the club won their first trophy, the Essex Junior Cup, with a 2–0 victory over Chingford in the final. During the first half of the 20th century the club played in the Halstead & District League and the Haverhill & District League.

After World War II the club added "Town" to their name and joined Division Two of the North Essex League. They were swiftly promoted to Division One, before joining the Essex & Suffolk Border League. They were Premier Division runners-up in 1949–50 and again in 1954–55 before winning the league and League Cup double in 1957–58, beating Lakenheath 11–2 on aggregate in the final of the League Cup. They were Premier Division runners-up the following season and also retained the League Cup with a 6–2 aggregate win over Clacton Town reserves. The club were league runners-up again in 1960–61 before winning a second Premier Division title in 1968–69. They won the League Cup for a third time in 1973–74 with a 3–0 win over Brantham Athletic in a replay. After finishing as runners-up in 1976–77 the club won a third Premier Division title the following season.

In 1980 Halstead joined the Essex Senior League in 1980. In 1988 they were founder members of Division One of the Eastern Counties League, and finished as runners-up in its first season, earning promotion to the Premier Division. In 1993–94 they were Premier Division runners-up, and also won the Essex Senior Trophy, beating Canvey Island 2–0 in the final. They went on to win two consecutive Premier Division titles in 1994–95 and 1995–96, also winning the League Cup in the latter season with a 4–0 win over Fakenham Town in the final. The following season they won the Essex Senior Trophy for a second time.

In 2000–01 Halstead were relegated to Division One after finishing bottom of the Premier Division. They won Division One and the Division One Cup in 2002–03 and were promoted back to the Premier Division. They won the League Cup in 2004–05, but were relegated to Division One again at the end of the 2006–07 season after finishing bottom of the Premier Division.When Division One was split in 2018 the club were placed in Division One South. In 2021–22 the club finished fourth in the division, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. After beating Benfleet 2–1 in the semi-finals, they defeated Buckhurst Hill by the same scoreline in the final, earning promotion to the Essex Senior League.

Ground
In their early years the club played at various grounds in the town including Ravens Meadow, King George Playing Field and Coggeshall Pieces. By World War II they were playing at Three Gates, and the ground was commandeered by the RAF during the war for agriculture. When football restarted after the war, the club temporarily played at the Courtaulds Sports Ground, before moving to Rosemary Lane in 1948. The opening match against Eton Manor on 21 August 1948 attracted a crowd of 1,800. This was exceeded the following year when 4,000 watched an Essex Senior Cup match against Walthamstow Avenue. A 512-seat grandstand was opened in 1950 and remains the only cover for spectators. Railings were installed around the pitch, taken from North Sea defences at Clacton-on-Sea. Floodlights were erected in 1989.

Two players died at Rosemary Lane in the 1950s and 1960s; Alf Partner of Heybridge Swifts collapsed on the pitch and died in the early 1950s and Halstead defender Bruce Stewart choked to death on the pitch the early 1960s at the age of 22. Another death occurred at the ground when a drunken visitor to a funfair missed the tub of water they were aiming for after jumping off a high dive ladder.

54 minutes and 32 miles will get you to the home of The Humbugs…just head off in the direction of Colchester and keep an eye open for Boudicca and her Iceni tribe!


Honours
Eastern Counties League
Premier Division champions 1994–95, 1995–96
Division One champions 2002–03
League Cup winners 1995–96, 2004–05
Division One Cup winners 2002–03
Essex & Suffolk Border League
Premier Division champions 1957–58, 1968–69, 1977–78
League Cup winners 1957–58, 1958–59, 1973–74
Essex Senior Trophy
Winners 1992–93, 1996–97

Records
Best FA Cup performance: Third qualifying round, 1993–94, 1998–99
Best FA Vase performance: Fourth round, 1993–94, 1994–95
Record attendance: 4,000 vs Walthamstow Avenue, Essex Senior Cup, 1949
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Geography
Halstead is a town and civil parish in the Braintree District of Essex, England. Its population of 11,906 in 2011 was estimated to be 12,161 in 2019. The town lies near Colchester and Sudbury, in the Colne Valley.

The wide High Street is dominated by the 14th-century Church of St Andrew, which was extensively renovated in the Victorian period but retains much older decoration, including tomb monuments from the 14th century and earlier.

The historic core of Halstead can be viewed on a walk up the market hill. There is a river walk running through the town from east to west. Just outside the town is Broaks Wood, a popular area for walking owned by the Forestry Commission. Halstead Public Gardens were established in 1900 and are noted for their floral displays. The Antiques Centre sells goods ranging from clothing to household items.

History
Halstead is an ancient community that developed initially on the hill to the north of the River Colne. The name Halstead derives from the Old English gehæld / hald (refuge, shelter, healthy) and stede (site, place or farm), meaning "healthy farm" or "place of refuge". After the Norman Conquest, in the Middle English of the 11th century, hald was written and spoken as halt, holt, or holð. Halstead is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Haltesteda and thrice as Halsteda in the Hundred of Hinckford, where it was mainly held by many freemen as feu in 1066, at the time of King Edward. In 1086, Halstead was one of the largest 20% of settlements recorded in Domesday, and had four owners. Most of the manor of Halstead had been granted by King William to William de Warenne as tenant-in-chief and lord of most of its wealth, and about one-third of the manor of Halstead was possessed by Richard, son of Count Gilbert as tenant-in-chief.

In the Rebellion of 1088, William de Warenne took the winning side of William Rufus and was named Earl of Surrey, while Richard supported Robert Curthose which led to retirement at a monastery and transfer of his portion of Halstead to his son Gilbert Fitz Richard.

27/07/24 ESL
WHITE ENSIGN 1
HALSTEAD TOWN 1
(Asa Cansdale)

23/07/24 Friendly
HALSTEAD TOWN 2
(Asa Cansdale, Dylan Carpenter Flack)
BASILDON UNITED 4

Halstead finished in 10th place in the Essex Senior League in 2023/24 with 54 points from 38 matches. Their record was won 15, drawn 9, and lost 14. They scored 73 goals and conceded 68 for a +5 goal difference. The Bridge finished two places below them in 12th.
The two meetings saw a 2-1 home win for Halstead in September. Kane Gilbert and Julian Simon-Parson were on target for The Humbugs and Solo Ofori scored for The Bridge. In January The Bridge won their home game 1-0 with a 60th minute Mike Agboola goal.

Note – The players listed below played in the two games mentioned above against White Ensign and Basildon United.
Ade Adeyemi
Dean Ager
Robbie Bennett
Jake Brown
Asa Cansdale
Dylan Carpenter-Fleck
Jack Cherry
Alfie Cleal
Matt Coppen
Sonny Dutton
Tom Graves
William Healy
Andre Humphrey
Joe Maybanks
Nick Miller
Jack Newman
Jordan Palmer
Jack Schelvis
Matt Travell