Princes Park in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, is a public park east of

Town Centre and the Victorian seafront. The park consists of an 18 hole putting green, a

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

, a boating lake (known as Crumbles Pond) and 2 small children's play areas, one of which has a paddling pool. There is also a football ground within the park, known as The Oval, which is the home of Eastbourne United A.F.C., and a playing field which hosts

travelling funfair A traveling carnival (US English), usually simply called a carnival, or travelling funfair (UK English), is an amusement show that may be made up of amusement rides, food vendors, merchandise vendors, games of chance and skill, thrill acts, ...

s and

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

es several times per year. Princes Park entrance - geograph

The park was originally called Gilbert's Recreation Ground, named after the land owner, and was leased to

Eastbourne Borough Council Eastbourne Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Eastbourne in East Sussex. Eastbourne is divided into 9 local wards, which each elect 3 borough councillors as local representatives, creating a total of 27 councillors. The B ...

in 1907. On 30 June 1931,

King Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 1 ...

, at that time the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

, visited the park and planted an Evergreen Oak; the park was shortly after renamed Prince's Park in his honour. In the mid 1940s the local council was looking to develop part of the park into a sports arena with an athletics track and grass cycle track, and in 1946 Eastbourne Old Comrades Football Club was invited to play their games at the ground after their original ground, called Lynchmere was sold for redevelopment. In the 1970s Eastbourne Borough played their home games on the playing field here before moving to

Priory Lane 170px, River End Stand 170px, Scoreboard 170px, Plan of Priory Lane The SO Legal Stadium at Priory Lane is an association football stadium located in Langney, an eastern suburb of Eastbourne, East Sussex, England. It is the home of Eastb ...

External links

Official Website
{{coord, 50, 46, 46, N, 0, 18, 24, E, type:landmark_scale:2000, display=title Eastbourne Parks and open spaces in East Sussex