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Nuneaton Town Supporters’ Co-operative successfully secured a Heritage Lottery Fund Grant to present a history of senior football in the town. Entitled ‘From Town to Town’ the project aims to chart the history of the football club from its formation in 1889 to the present day and to provide information and artefacts that can be taken out into the community to educate and enrich the lives of local people. Whilst the football club will be at the forefront of the project it is hoped that there will be something for everyone as we would also like to present a flavour of what life was like in Nuneaton during this time.
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Nuneaton began as a Saxon farmstead (tun), by the water (ea). By the time of the Domesday Book (in 1086) it had grown into a small hamlet and was recorded under the name of Etone, which translates as ‘water-town’. In the middle of the 12th century the Lord of the Manor gave the village to a French Abbey. They built a priory (small abbey) for nuns there which helped, in time, to give Nuneaton its modern name. Over the centuries, Nuneaton grew into a market town through various industries such as leather tanning, silk ribbon weaving, textiles, hat making, coal mining, brick and tile making and engineering.
The town is still thriving today with a population of around 82,000 recorded at the time of the 2011 census. Thanks to its unique position in the centre of England it serves as an excellent commuter base and is also the chosen location for a number of national distribution centres.
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Several other Nuneaton teams were around prior to 1889 but, for various reasons, their existence was relatively short lived.
The forerunner of the present club has origins dating back to 1889 when the Bible Class students at Vicarage Street School formed Nuneaton St. Nicholas FC, with a view to representing the town in the association rules form of the game.
St Nicholas’s history is one of friendly games and Charity Cup competitions, but in September 1894 the ‘Nicks’ changed their name to Nuneaton Town Association FC, which saw the town’s football club play competitive league football for the first time. We hope to present an enjoyable and interesting history of the club in its various guises up to the present day.
Throughout the history of the club, the two constants have been the town of Nuneaton and its football loving
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