Abandoned Equestrian Centre, Sussex, Kent..Rambo?!

So sad seeing it like that.
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Harwood Hall closed down about 15 years ago, I think it is a Retirement Home now although there is a livery yard there still.
I remember going to Matthews years ago to a big show they put on, a friend was jumping, sad to see it now.
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Goodness what a waste of money and space. Does that guy still own the land? I guess he must do or they would have redevloped the land by now? How weird that he just left it there to rot, especially when it was for his son and even more strange he tried to do it without planning permission.
 
It's just down the road from where I now teach - in it's day it was stunning and was way ahead of it's time.

Still cannot believe that KCC were so pigheaded in not allowing further development when you consider it is now on the link road from the medway tunnel which has excellent access from M2, A2 and M20.

Could have made such a massive difference to what is an incredibly deprived area and could have potentially made such a difference to hundreds of kids in the area.
 
He didn't build it without planning permission....he built it with the correct permissions but that only included a very limited number of 'major' shows. You used to have to drive through a fairly residential area to get to it back then and he wanted the road links improved to cater for the bigger trucks. The irony is that the road has now been built that would have allowed the venue to survive....but too late to save it :-( it would be cheaper to knock it down and start again than try to refurb it all now...it's in a pretty bad way. There's also no land to speak of...it's basically just a parking lot with a huge warehouse in the middle.

I remember competing at Harwood Hall back in those days too...not a patch on Matthews but still used to have the odd international show televised from there. It is indeed a retirement home now.

Another venue of days gone by was Crabbett Park nr Crawley...that is now a hotel/spa complex :-(
 
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He didn't build it without planning permission....he built it with the correct permissions but that only included a very limited number of 'major' shows. You used to have to drive through a fairly residential area to get to it back then and he wanted the road links improved to cater for the bigger trucks. The irony is that the road has now been built that would have allowed the venue to survive....but too late to save it :-( it would be cheaper to knock it down and start again than try to refurb it all now...it's in a pretty bad way. There's also no land to speak of...it's basically just a parking lot with a huge warehouse in the middle.

I remember competing at Harwood Hall back in those days too...not a patch on Matthews but still used to have the odd international show televised from there. It is indeed a retirement home now.

Another venue of days gone by was Crabbett Park nr Crawley...that is now a hotel/spa complex :-(

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I know what you mean about Crabbett Park when my friend said about it I couldn't believe it was the same place that is famous world wide for breeding Arabs, and it's sitting there derelict like that :-(
 
I find this stuff really fascinating - is Crabbett Park still there derelict then? The other place is Park Farm in Middlesex, I took my BHSAI there in the early 80s and tried to find it on Google Earth recently but understand it has gone too. So sad!
 
I use to live next to Matthews Riding School, just on the edge of the river. We walked around there all the time, it was quite surreal . It was such a shame as that place was, and still could have be ‘the place in Kent’, but it will never happen. Ruddy Council!
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What a waste
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It looks like it could be stunning if it were ever fixed up.

I know people that used to visit the old derelict hospital in Taplow and that used to be a very creepy place.
 
What an interesting thread fascinating that what was an interesting centre is just decaying slowly. Can anyone enlighten me as to what is currently happening with Crockstead? FYI Harwood Hall closed after the death of Cyndy Mead who owned and ran the centre
 
aww that's such a waste! It looks really spooky though ... especially as in the 28 days later link there appears to be what looks like a ghost or something visible in one of the photos!
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PeterNatt said:
Here are various links about it but does anyone know when it opened and when it closed?

Why did it close?

Was it just a competition venue or were horses kept there?


http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php/29803-Disused-Riding-School-March-08

http://beno.org.uk/grotty/matthews.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzqBlgzZH9A

http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=5504.0

http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=5504.0
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Peter, my memory isn't so great, but thinking back to the first horse I jumped there (and it had just opened at the time) I would say it opened around 1983 or 1984? I have video of myself jumping there on a horse I sold in 1986 or 1987 and I think it shut that same year or maybe a year later.

It was a riding school as well as a competition venue and yes, horse and ponies lived on site.Not sure if there was much (if any!) Grazing though...

The owner closed it because of a dispute over planning permission I believe. He wanted permission to run lots of big shows there but the council would only grant him permission for a few due to the (then) poor access. You had to drive through a housing estate if I remember correctly to get to it.
 
Very old thred by the looks of it but i live close to gillingham and have never heard of it! However im intrigued so im going to check it out this weekend!
 
Oh wow how sad is that. I have a weird facination with things like this..?!

What a huge waste though - bet the Council are really pleased with what they ended up with! I'm a planning engineer and that doesn't look like an awful place to put it especially if it was an existing site. Perhaps it caused issues whilst it was operational? What a shame!
 
squiz22 said:
Oh wow how sad is that. I have a weird facination with things like this..?!

What a huge waste though - bet the Council are really pleased with what they ended up with! I'm a planning engineer and that doesn't look like an awful place to put it especially if it was an existing site. Perhaps it caused issues whilst it was operational? What a shame!
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It would ether be the guys face did'nt fit , not a big enough brown envolope or nimbys with the right hand shake had it kyboshed , I cannot emagine how dull this countrys arcitecture would be if we had planing controls years ago , hey no way !!you're not building that castle there it dosnt fit in with the local plan !!!:D
 
That place looks so weird... It's a shame those Loddon boxes were totally destroyed by idiot chavs. They would have been better off dismantling and selling them rather than setting fire to the building!

It's a fab looking arena inside but it's pretty odd looking from the outside. It does just seem to be a car park with a warehouse in the middle that someone put an arena surface in!

I can imagine the road network to get there is a lot better now, but realistically you wouldn't want horses living on site as there doesn't appear to be any grazing, so it would only be able to be used as a competition centre and that wouldn't cover the cost of doing it up.. So I can imagine when it eventually becomes available it will just be knocked down to make room for more houses.
 
Looking at google maps it had/has some grazing and the access is off a 30mph speed limited B road...

Looks really interesting though!
 
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I teach at secondary school just up the road, it is in a built up area but 5 minutes up the road Nd you are in rural Kent, ironically the medwall tunnel and new bypass pass just outside this place, direct links to the M2 in under 5 minutes! It's really sad as when I was a kid this place was way ahead of its time :(
 
Bigbenji said:
Wowzers!

Does anyone have pictures of this place in it's glory days?
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Just what i want to know! Have scourerd the net and all i could find is a video of a lady competing in that amazing school. i want to know what the outside was like, the layout, whats upstairs etc. Finding this very interesting. Cant wait to look on saturday! although im slightly worried ill be arrested for trespassing!
 
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