Historian Howard Chandler reveals the history behind Luton Town’s stadium Kenilworth Road

Why is Luton Town’s stadium called Kenilworth Road?

It opened in 1905 and I assume took the name from the road, developed at the same time.

So was the road named after a place or building?

A lot of the other roads in the area take their names from trees: Ash, Oak, Beech and Maple, but I have no evidence that these trees grew in this area before housing development.

Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire is a more likely source.

Nearby Warwick and Avondale Roads also share their names with castles.

It becomes more intriguing when the names of Union-Castle liners are taken into account.

S.S. Avondale Castle was built for the Castle Line in 1897 with Royal Mail Steamer Kenilworth Castle launched in 1904.

One other option is four names in South Africa associated with the Wernher family of Luton Hoo.

Kenilworth village was built in the late 1880s by the De Beers Company near the Kimberley diamond mine.

A very large diamond was found by Julius Wernher in the 1870s at Waldeck’s Plant.

Waldeck Road, opposite Kenilworth Road, was named in the 1880s.

Warwick and Avondale are also place names in what is now South Africa.