Hard, 363y, 5 lanes, 5 lane straight Access Restricted

Chelsea

Duke of York's Track

Track Information

Updated

Address

Territorial Army, Duke of York's Headquarters, King's Road, LONDON, SW3 4SD

Telephone

020 7414 5484

Opening times

Not open to the public

Charges

N/A

Facilities

Steeplechase Water Jump
None

Changing Rooms
None

Seating
None

Additional Information

This track used to be cinder and was the one time training venue of Roger Bannister and Chris Chattaway who are portrayed doing so in the film 'Four Minute Mile'. It is thought to be 363y in length and about 5 lanes wide. The track oval is still there but the surface was tarmaced over in about the early 1990s and the only users now seem to be local junior school children who run round the track during games lessons. The site was in the Cadogan family until the 19th century when the Crown built the Royal Military Asylum to educate soldier's orphans. The school, later renamed the Duke of York's Military School, left the site in 1909 and was replaced by the forerunners of the Territorial Army (TA) in 1911 who renamed the site the Duke of York's Headquartes. It is not clear when the track was built but it is thought to have been there since the early days of the TA's residency. The TA site was sold in early 2000 for ?66 million to be developed as shops, offices and housing. The work started in May 2000 with a planned completoin date of summer 2002. However the track area has been sectioned off and together with the listed porticoed Headquarters Building will remain in occupation by the TA until at least 2003.