Village that's set to host Canaries

Paulton is a large village in Somerset with a population of 4,896 - roughly the same as Harleston and Dersingham and a little smaller than Hethersett.

It is located to the north of the Mendip Hills, about 13 miles south of Bristol.

A former coal mining village, Paulton has a small hospital, a library, fire station, two pre-schools, an infant school and junior school. There are four pubs in the village and there are also two members' clubs, Paulton Rovers FC and Greyfield's Sports and Social club.

In the centre of the village is a war memorial and a small library.

Paulton Rovers were formed in 1881 and first joined the Western League in 1900. They have won the Somerset Senior Cup on 12 occasions, and the Somerset Senior League seven times, the last being in 1974, when they were re-admitted to the Western League after an absence of 14 years.

Although records are scarce, their best attendance is believed to be 2,000, which saw them take on Crewe Alexandra in the FA Cup in 1906.

The ground as it is now began to take shape in 1967, when the club bought an old RAF hut, re-erected it on the ground, and were granted a licence. Soon plans were drawn up to obtain a mortgage to fund the building of bigger premises, which included a skittle alley. To achieve this the pitch was turned round 90 degrees to its present position and the clubhouse was built roughly where one of the penalty areas was before.

A new changing room block was built behind the old covered enclosure near the half way line in 1972, and the club was further extended. In recent years the premises and stadium have been improved immensely, with the addition of a stand, and covered terracing, training facilities also included a floodlit court, and there are two mini soccer pitches for the young teams in the village.

Improvements to the stadium have been made over the past few seasons to originally facilitate Southern League standards. There are two stands, covering on three sides and a further pitch used by feeder teams.

The 2006/7 was the most successful in the club's history as they finished runners-up in the British Gas Business Southern League South & West Division One. They are currently 11th in the Zamaretto League, the new name for the Southern League.

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