Shrewton United - Shrewton Recreation Ground

Shrewton United FC

Shrewton Recreation Ground

Mill Lane

Shrewton 

Wiltshire

SP3 4JY

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Ground Number: 1558

Saturday 13th June 2026

Shrewton United 3-3 Redlynch Vets

Stuart Withers Memorial Cup

SHREWTON UNITED FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1946 following the end of the Second World War. They played in local, now-defunct leagues at first, but joined the Wiltshire League in 1952. Their first season saw early success as they finished as runners-up to Devizes Town in Division 2 South East. They returned to more local leagues in 1955. It would take them 21 years to return to county football when the Wiltshire Senior League (as it is known today) was established. They were an immediate success, finishing 3rd in the Junior A Division in their debut season. Shrewton United would then go on to win the Division 3 title in three out of the next four seasons, finally winning promotion in 1981 after getting their facilities up to scratch. A long spell in Division 2 saw varying success, finish-wise. They won promotion in 1989 following a 3rd place finish. A long spell in Division 1 (at the time, the top tier) saw three runners-up spots and three league wins. In 2003, Shrewton made the step up to the Western League Division 1, where they finished a best-ever 4th in 2008. This was under the management of club legend Stuart Withers, who was manager from the 1980s up until 2011. In 2013, they returned to the Wiltshire Senior Premier following a second-bottom finish. They remain there to this day, finishing as low as 13th on two occasions and also as runners-up twice. They won the title last season but opted not to take promotion.

Shrewton United played a single season in the FA Cup in 2011. They beat Fleet Spurs 1-0 on their debut before losing by the same scoreline to Hungerford Town in the Preliminary Round. They've also played for six seasons in the FA Vase, reaching the 1st Round twice. Their first cup honour came in 1980 as they won the Wiltshire Junior Cup (beating Meadowcroft in the final) after being runners-up on three previous occasions. They then won the Wiltshire League Cup in 1998, beating Cricklade Town 5-0. They retained the cup the following year as they defeated the same opponent 2-1. Another two League Cups were won in the next five years. In 2001, they made it through to the final of the Wiltshire Senior Cup for the one and only time in their history but lost 2-0 in the final to Wootton Bassett Town.

The village of Shrewton is on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, around 6 miles west of Amesbury and 14 miles north of Salisbury. It lies on the A360 road between Stonehenge and Tilshead. It is close to the source of the River Till, which flows south to Stapleford. The population of the village is just over 1,700. The name Shrewton came into use from 1236 and is derived from the Old English scīr-rēfa tūn, meaning 'sheriff's farm or settlement'. RAF Shrewton, a Second World War Royal Air Force airfield with grass runways, was to the north of the village. It closed in 1946, and its site returned to farmland. The Church of England parish church of St Mary, on the High Street, was built in the late 12th or early 13th century and has a 16th-century west tower. The Blind House, made with dressed limestone, was built around 1700. The sign on it reads "The Blind House. Village criminals were kept in this 18th-century prison". The building features on the club badge. Cecil Chubb (1876–1934), barrister and landowner who in 1918 donated Stonehenge to the nation, was born at Shrewton.

MY VISIT

This Saturday, 13th June, was one of the three days of the year that I had not seen a game on. Christmas Day would have to wait around a decade, but with the day falling on a Saturday this year, it was the easiest of the three to complete. I already knew that Netherton United had a charity game, and with it being a ground that I'd not been to since 2014, a revisit would be fine by me. Colin favoured TNS, though I'd last been in 2016 and had done a fairly large blog, not that it couldn't be improved. The standout option for me was a memorial game at Shrewton United, a new ground for me, so that was by far my favourite. It was a good club in a good league, although I was concerned when the club didn't mention it on their Twitter until the week before the game. Thankfully, someone on Facebook confirmed that the game was still going ahead. The game was being played in memory of Stuart Withers, who had been the innocent victim of a road accident in November 2024 whilst doing his round as a milkman. He had been a player, manager and chairman of Shrewton United and had served on the Wiltshire League. He was also a keen antiques collector and had appeared on the BBC TV show ' Bargain Hunt'.

After my game in Essex two weeks ago, I watched the Champions League final with PSG beating Arsenal on penalties. I'd had a good few drinks and had an early night ahead of work on Sunday. It was a very busy start to the week with me staying until 2 PM on both Sunday & Monday. It was also an elongated Wednesday after my day off on Tuesday, and I was feeling a bit jaded by this point. I was getting impatient for fixtures to be announced, although it'll be the end of June before I can even think about booking a holiday. The end of the week came, and although it had been busy, it had been a good week at work. I walked down Wycombe, had a steak pudding meal and a couple of pints from Spoons before plenty more at home. The West Lancs Hop had been announced, so I got in early and got a good hotel deal on that. After a good few drinks, it was pretty much a normal bedtime for me. My alarm was set for 6.45 but I woke up around an hour before and watched YouTube. After having breakfast and getting ready, I left at 7.25. My bus was quicker than expected, and I was at Amersham twenty minutes before my train.

I met Colin, and we made our way to Raynes Park. There were quite a few hoppers at the Argentina v Ireland embassy game. We could have had a choice of three games with teams such as England Newcastle, and Luistana Brazil playing on other pitches. The schizophrenic weather couldn't make up its mind with torrential rain one minute and bright but not very warm sunshine the next. It ended 4-1 to Ireland and was a decent game. It should have been a simple train to Surbiton, but the line was out of action. Instead, it was a train to Kingston and a much longer wait for a bus than was scheduled. The Coronation Hall was a cracking Spoons at Surbiton, a lovely building, and they did Black Dragon along with my hot honey bowl. In fact, all three Spoons did my favourite regular Spoons cider. The Assembly Rooms, Epsom, provided me with a keepsake plastic glass with Wetherspoons branding and was very busy with race goers. The Whispering Moon, Wallington, provided me with chicken wings and another pint, but the service at all three was first class. 

The same could not be said about the trains. Everything stopped at Waterloo due to signalling issues, so we had to go via Marylebone and an hour's delay as the poxy Chiltern only ran hourly. Some snacks were procured from the Melcombe shop across the road. Polish cider was very nice, as was the energy drink. But the platform was announced for the delayed train with two minutes to spare, so I lost my crisps in the jostle. I squeezed into the sardine tin masquerading as a train, and although uncomfortable, I was at least on my way, unlike the poor passengers who missed out. That included Colin, who had steamed ahead of me. Justice for his whining about getting back too close to the England v New Zealand game when he gets a four-day weekend versus my one day. Thanks to the buses still being regular, I was back in by 8.30. It had still taken double the normal time to get from Wallington to Amersham, though.  It had been a boozy day once again, and I watched the first half of the England game, with Harry Kane scoring the only goal of the game, before I went to bed at halftime.

Sunday and Monday were a real slog at work. My mood was not improved by the rotten weather, which limited my chances of a daily walk. I did get out in the end, ironically under unforecast blue skies. Tuesday was a day off, and another walk to town and back, although with no football, it was an early night. The grind continued on Wednesday, and it's one of those periods where I feel fed up and need a break. Thursday was better, but Friday saw especially jerkish behaviour by a supervisor with zero people skills, but it is what it is. I treated myself to a walk to town and back, nine miles in all. Fish, chips, mushy peas, a bottle of Aspalls and a pint of Strongbow came in at under £11 at Spoons, and it was a veritable treat. A couple of pints were had back at home whilst watching Canada 1-1 Bosnia, amongst other things. I awoke at my normal work time and watched TV for a few hours. After getting dressed and having breakfast, I left at 9.35, waiting around five minutes for Colin at our local bus stop. After getting petrol, it was a pleasant journey to Amesbury, and we arrived at 11.30. It was 50p to park in the pleasant-looking town for an hour. The Bell Wetherspoons, my 523rd, was a couple of minutes' walk away. There I had a breakfast muffin, a Korean burger, chips, cranberry juice plus an energy drink to take away for £9.23. 

From there, it was a 15-minute drive to the ground. I had a look around and got some photos. I considered a pint, but it was only Kopparberg on tap and Thatchers in cans. I wanted to type my blog, but my laptop was playing up with the intermittent ghost key press that had first happened a few weeks ago on the way to Wales. I waited for the game to start, it was a decent attendance and a convivial atmosphere. Shrewton hit the bar after a few minutes and had the better of the early exchanges. The visitors had some chances, but the hosts took the lead on ten minutes, heading home a cross. A few minutes later, it was 2-0 with a shot into the bottom left corner from just inside the area. Redlynch Vets pulled a goal back from out wide on the left after 17 minutes. On 32 minutes, it was 3-1, a good ball forward and a powerful low shot. Redlynch pulled it back to 3-2 with a goal just before half-time, amid claims of offside. Shrewton did have a lob over the keeper ruled out a few minutes into the second half, thanks to the linesman's flag. The heat rendered the rest of the second half a quiet affair, but Redlynch equalised right at the death to make it 3-3. Redlynch Vets won the resulting penalty shootout to bring an entertaining afternoon's football to an end.

THE GROUND

SHREWTON RECREATION GROUND is one of the better grounds in the Wiltshire League. It's two-sided spectator-wise, with all the accommodation being behind the near goal. There is a large covered area which houses the bar, which is quite limited and lacks local beers and ciders. The food is a lot better, a decent choice at very good prices. The other side is fully railed and has open flat standing, plus the dugouts.