EBBW VALE – ST HELENS FOOTBALL CLUB
The small suburb of Ebbw Vale is on the eastern side of the City of Ipswich and named by the miners who arrived in the mid 1800’s from Wales. It is said to be the smallest suburb in the city.
A colliery was opened in the area in 1877 by John JONES, named Ebbw Vale, and the STAFFORD brothers William, Joseph, John and James opened the Whitwood Colliery in Ebbw Vale in 1887. A rail siding was built for the colliery in 1889 and in the early 1890s the owners made land available for their employees to use as a football ground first known as the Whitwood ground but by 1893 as St Helens, and the name was also given to the football club. St Helens Soccer Club merged with Coalstars in 1997 to form the Ipswich Knights, but the soccer ground is still referred to by the older local residents as St Helens
The nearby railway station opened in 1909 and was called St Helens, but the name changed to Ebbw Vale the following year.