Priory Meadow Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in

Hastings, East Sussex Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west at ...

, England. The centre was opened in 1997 by

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during h ...

. The building was built on the site of the

Central Recreation Ground The Central Recreation Ground was a cricket ground in Hastings, East Sussex, used for first-class and List A cricket between 1864 and 1996. The ground was frequently used by Sussex County Cricket Club as one of their outgrounds from 1865; i ...

, which had originally opened in 1864 and had since remained the main cricket venue in the town. This history is reflected by the statue in Queens Square of a batsman holding a pose having played a shot (''The Spirit of Cricket'' by

Allan Sly Allan Sly FRBS (born 1951) is an English sculptor and senior lecturer at Wimbledon College of Art, a constituent college of University of the Arts London. Sly was elected a Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors in 1992. Early life ...

). The observant shopper will be able to spot the ball that this batsman has hit (it can be seen in the wall above

F. Hinds F. Hinds is a jewellery retailing chain, operating in England and Wales. There are currently 116 F Hinds stores within the United Kingdom. History Beginnings (1856-1990) The chain is an independent retailer which was founded in 1856 by George ...

jewellers).

History

The land on which the shopping centre now stands had been underwater before the 13th century, and was the original harbour for Hastings. A series of severe storms, silting and sea erosion forced the town to move to where the current old town is. The Priory Valley eventually silted up completely and the area became known as Priory Meadow and turned into farmland in 1536. In 1864 the Priory Marshes were levelled and drained and opened as a Cricket Ground, by 1932 one corner of the ground was leased by the Maidstone and District bus company to use as a coach station, then in 1958 a row of shops was built on one side of the ground with seating above. In 1982 Hastings Council voted for a shopping centre to be built on the cricket ground and to move cricket to Summerfields, now

Horntye Park Horntye Park Sports Complex is a sports and conference centre in Hastings, East Sussex, England. Primarily known as a cricket ground, the venue also contains a large indoor sports hall, an all-weather pitch used for football and hockey and a se ...

. In 1987, planning permission for 420,000sq.ft of space for shops was granted. Due to the onset of recession, developer Speyhawk pulled out. By May 1993, a new developer, Boots had been found and developed the existing shopping centre which was then sold to a private Irish investor and is managed by BTWShiells. A scheme of approx. 264,000sq ft now exists. In 1989 the ground hosted its last

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

county game, when they beat Kent in front of a crowd of 1,000 people.

References

External links

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Plan and Details of Centre
{{Shopping centres in Southeast England Buildings and structures in Hastings Shopping centres in East Sussex Shopping malls established in 1997 1997 establishments in England