Football grounds hold a special place in the memory of many. From watching matches with cherished family and friends to witnessing high drama and sporting passion. But many clubs have been forced to move from their homes over the years - most due to either development or money troubles. We take a look at a handful of Kent clubs to discover why they had to leave their hallowed turf and just what happened to their former theatres of dreams.

If ever you fool yourself into thinking people don't care about their local football team, it is worth making a trip to watch your local side in action.

For generations, following the team representing your town has offered an accessible form of the beautiful game where local pride is always at stake.

But fans also know of the struggles which many teams have faced.

From being courted by developers keen to build on the hallowed turf of simply running into financial hardship, we take a look at some of the county’s key clubs and how and why they moved from homes once alive with the roar of their fans.

TONBRIDGE

Next time you’re going around Sainsbury’s in Tonbridge town centre bear a thought for the thousands who once flocked there to cheer on their local side.

Tonbridge Angels played at the Angel Ground in Vale Road until 1980 when their landlord, the local council, wanted to develop it as a supermarket complex.

A battle in the High Court followed before the club was offered a new ground, Longmead Stadium, at the north end of the town.

The Angel, once the scene of Kent county cricket matches, was badly damaged in the Second World War when it was used by the Army as a vehicle park and ammunition store.

The owners, Tonbridge Cricket Club, sold it to a syndicate which planned a greyhound stadium.

There was huge opposition and following a public inquiry it was sold to Tonbridge Urban Council.

They leased it to the newly formed Tonbridge FC, who had been admitted to the Southern League for the 1948-9 season.

Finances were always tight and the club’s first shirts were made by the manager’s wife.

Many matches were lost and by Christmas 1948 they had appointed their third manager.

But this was a golden era for non-league clubs and crowds at the Angel often topped 4,000; the highest was 8,236 for an FA Cup tie against Aldershot in 1951.

In 1975 the club went into voluntary liquidation and were reformed as Tonbridge Angels FC.

The site is now the Angel Centre.

ASHFORD For many years, and when the club was in its previous incarnation as Ashford Town, crowds flocked to its ground at Essella Park in Willesborough - surrounded by residential streets and with easy access for fans.

They had moved there in 1931 and acquired the freehold during the 1950s - despite the ground having a rather pronounced slope.

It hosted the club’s biggest ever gate when 6,525 watched Crystal Palace win an FA Cup first round clash 1-0 in 1959.

But the clamour for housing would see the club make the decision to sell-up in the mid 1980s.

The final game at Essella Park was on May 2, 1987.

Forced to share with rivals Folkestone for two years, the club finally played at the far more modern, yet somewhat remote, new Homelands ground, more than four miles away, for the first time in 1989.

But, like so many non-league clubs, big promises and flawed takeovers finally saw Ashford Town collapse into administration in 2010 - to be re-born as Ashford United the following season.

The club continues to play at the Homelands. Essella Park is now housing.

SITTINGBOURNE If ever there was a club which encapsulates the rollercoaster of fortunes experienced by non-league clubs, then Sittingbourne is surely it.

For nearly 100 years the club had played at the Bull Ground in the town centre.

But when a developer waved £4.2 million under the directors’ noses, they took the cash in 1990 and invested it into Central Park - a grand venue with an almighty 2,000-seat stand complete with hospitality boxes, restaurant and bars.

Quite something for what was then a Kent League side. Promotions followed and in 1993 a record 5,951 fans watched a friendly with Spurs.

But things rarely run that smoothly for non-league clubs.

It emerged the club had not only spent all the money from the sale of its former ground but an extra million too.

The resulting financial problems saw it first forced to sell the ground to the local council and then lease it back.

Soon it struggled to do even that, and the team ended up playing on a training pitch next to the main stadium.

By 2012 it had shifted to Woodstock Park, south of the town, where it continues to play today.

The Bull Ground site is now a Sainsbury’s supermarket, while Central Park continues to host speedway and greyhound meetings.

CANTERBURY

For the county’s only city, football has never figured highly when it comes to fielding a team with a strong local bond.

Cricket dominates, with rugby and hockey comfortably eclipsing the local club’s hopes of headlines.

After several incarnations, Canterbury City FC, which has never reached higher than the Southern League, started playing at the Kingsmead Stadium in 1958 - a multi-purpose venue built on a former rubbish tip - which remains best remembered for its non-football events.

First there was athletics, then speedway and greyhound racing.

All would find themselves shown the door by the turn of the century as the site close to the city centre started to attract admiring glances from developers and a city council which could see potential.

When it left Kingsmead in 2001 the club folded.

Revived in 2007, it has led a nomadic existence, playing on recreation grounds in Bridge and Hersden before ground-sharing with the likes of Herne Bay, Ashford, Deal and, now, Faversham.

But things could be looking up. It could find itself with a purpose-built ground at a planned development in Bekesbourne, just outside the city, if planning permission is granted.

Kingsmead Stadium is now covered by housing.

DARTFORD

The fickle hand of fate rarely deals a strong set of cards to non-league football clubs.

And Dartford has experienced that to its cost in years gone by.

Back in the late 1980s, under the management of Peter Taylor, the club was riding high with strong cup runs and league performances.

Crowds at its Watling Street home, where it had played since 1921, were averaging over 1,000 and all looked good.

But following the disasters at Hillsborough, and the devastating fire at Bradford City, strict new ground regulations were being put in place.

Upgrading Watling Street was not cheap and the club found itself squeezed by the costs involved.

However, when neighbours Maidstone United found themselves in need of a ground while on the cusp of promotion to the Football League, the money they offered to Dartford to ground-share was ideally timed.

But the Stones would famously implode in 1992, not only depriving the Darts of rent, but also handing the £500,000 bill for ground improvements to their hosts.

It was a figure which toppled Dartford over the edge.

The club survived through its youth teams but Watling Street was sold off to pay creditors. It is now housing.

After ground-sharing for many years, it eventually returned to the town when the council built Princes Park - a modern, environmentally-friendly venue which has been the club’s home since it moved in back in 2006.

MAIDSTONE

Looking at the club’s Gallagher Stadium today, it’s easy to forget the lesson in poor decisions which led to the club’s earlier incarnation fulfilling the dreams of any non-league club before swiftly entering a nightmare.

The story will be familiar to many. Riding high in the late 1980s, the club decided to sell its Athletic Ground in London Road in 1988 to developers in a gamble which would have devastating consequences.

Desperate to reach the Football League, it then used £400,000 to buy land, which had no planning permission, on which it wanted to build a new stadium.

But the move was blocked by the local council leaving the club homeless.

It shared with Dartford but the financial gamble on the land and additional costs of securing a place in the professional leagues, led it to financial meltdown and by 1992 the club withdrew from the league.

Reborn from the ashes, Maidstone Invicta started again at the bottom of the footballing pyramid the following season, ironically playing on the training pitch next door to its old London Road ground, and has risen up ever since, converting back to United en route.

Having ground-shared with Sittingbourne and Ashford, the club finally returned to the town centre in James Whatman Way in 2012. Dunelm is now on the old Athletic Ground site.

GILLINGHAM

Whatever you may think of club chairman Paul Scally, there is little denying he has transformed the club under his ownership - and that is perhaps no more obvious than in the transformation of Priestfield.

First built in 1893, unlike the other grounds highlighted here, it has been the League One side’s home throughout.

Following Mr Scally’s arrival in 1995, he started a programme which would see all four sides of the ground renovated.

It was the first major work the ground had seen for more than 30 years.

The Brian Moore Stand - named after the late TV commentator and Gills fan - remains ‘temporary’ since it was erected, uncovered, in 2004.

Plans to put a permanent stand in place kept on hold as the club continues to seek a new home elsewhere in or around the town.

Long-time favourite has been the Mill Hill site, close to the club’s Beechings Cross training ground, as part of a commercial development.