Abandoned Riding School - Sad and somewhat spooky

[PeterNatt]

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

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

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

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

Anyone know any more about it? When it opened and when and why it closed?

 

[*hic*]

When I was looking at houses to buy recently I found four riding schools that had gone out of business up for sale. I'm trying to buy one of them - but on a much smaller scale.

 

[Shantara]

What a shame
Such beautiful paintings on the walls. I can just imagine horses all snug in those stables, looking out of the windows.

Such a waste.

 

[rhylis]

So sad seeing it like that I did work experience there as a teenager (I'm 43 now, god that makes me feel old!). It was a fantastic place when it opened, enormous indoor school and a huge outdoor school too. It had beautiful indoor stables and a seperate block of pony stables.
As far as I know the stables were built by a very well off buisness man, his aim was to hold large shows there along side running it as a riding school. This is only rumours but it was believed that the council refused to let him hold the level of shows he wanted due to to much traffic being generated. The riding school was on a fairly small country road. Eventually the school was just shut possibley because the owner wasn't able to use it as he wanted. It was such a shame, the site just stayed abandoned after the school closed and its been that way for a long long time.

 

[ester]

that's interesting rhylis, I had always seen it reported that it had never opened.

 

[Nightmare before Christmas]

I love urbexing I went round an old mental hospital near me. This is interesting

 

[rhylis]

It wasn't open for very long, I'm not sure how long now my memory fails me in my old age! It never opened as a show venue but it did run as a riding school, they had some lovely horses and ponies there I often wondered what happened to them all.

 

[emma.is]

I love the murals

 

[Fimbacob]

What a shame. Must have cost a fortune to build. Would make a great set for a spooky film set. Would love someone to buy it and rebuild it suitable for horses again. If I win lotto this week, ill do it.

 

[zoon]

People competed there - videos on YouTube of horses jumping there. He still owns it, lives next door and has left the land empty and derelict - sort of a fingers up to the local council

 

[jodie3]

I have never been there but remember seeing pictures and reading about it either here or on another forum.

I find those pictures very sad, it looks like it would have been a great place. Wasn't it named after the owner's son who died young?

The odd thing is that it looks like they closed it and walked away and just left everything. All those lodden boxes just wasted! When you look at the pictures you can see jump poles and a chaff cutter and all those seats as well.

 

[niagaraduval]

This is a very sad sight for me as I really really hate vandals. So sad to see someones dream become this dump for vandals.

That must have been a beautiful place for horses, massive indoor arena etc. The paintings are wonderful and the whole place looks like it was many years ago a top of the range riding school. Even the stables would have been beautiful.

So sad.

 

[dumpling]

That's facinating. It's such a shame that that was the outcome of it. It really looks like a fabulous place in its day.

 

[JoBo]

I lived right next door, it closed because they didn't have planning permission to build it in the first place and the council closed it down. It was an amazing place though.

 

[Lexie81]

Its really sad. Looks like it was really well thought out by someone who really loved horses. What a shame that it has ended up like this

 

[putasocinit]

How sad, so many wasted opportunities

 

[ElleSkywalker]

Are there any pictures of it before it was abandoned?

It is just heartbreaking

 

[ridefast]

Kind of stupid of the council to do that wasn't it, instead of having a thriving business providing jobs and possibly attracting tourists and all the other positives that could come with it, it is now just a playground for vandals. Clever council. Maybe now it's been some years the owner could re-apply? Although probably doesn't want to

 

[SonnysHumanSlave]

There would be so much damage now, I expect it would be a complete re-build.

Really really sad.

 

[PeterNatt]

Quote from Rambo:

Sorry for the slow response...I've been working (for a change lol!) so only just seen this.

The venue was indeed Matthews Equestrian Centre at Gillingham Kent and the owner was a guy called Tony Rocco who made his fortune as a professional wrestler back in the 70's. He built the place as a memorial to his son (Matthew funnily enough) who died of leukemia or something like that at a very young age. Mr Rocco wasn't a horseman by any means...but he was a visionary and a very good publicist and so at the time Matthews Equestrian Centre featured heavily on the local (Meridian?) tv. He did get to hold few big shows and in fact I was privileged enough to compete at the first of them in the pro-am final...partnering none other than Michael Whitaker on Disney Way...one of my heroes at the time. As has been said though, the council put the nail in the coffin of Matthews by refusing planning permission for more major shows and as a sort 'up yours' to them, Mr Rocco decided to leave it there to rot rather than redevelop it.

I have some video from around 1986 when I last rode there for those interested. Bear in mind that at the time this place was smarter than Towerlands and showjumping was at it's peak of popularity :-

http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d5...r_matthews.flv

 

[Truly]

I used to jump at Matthews regularly many moons ago.

I've got a video somewhere in which Joe Turi (Hungarian Csikos rider turned top jumper) won the Foxhunter class that I was 6th in on the grand dam of my mare Primitive Passion in my sig

Breaks my heart to see the place like this .....it really was the best venue in the South East at the time (and still would be)....it was bloody cold though as the wind from the Medway used to blow over and we always kept rugs on the horses while waiting to go in and jump!..Always remember my hands being so cold I could hardly hold my reins lol

It was named after his young son that died

I was told at the time that the council had so many complaints of Horseboxes going through the housing estate to get there (on a Sunday especially) that they stopped it as a show venue
Shame as the Pro-Am series pulled in all the big names for the final.

There was talk of it being turned into a nightclub.....but don't think he got planning for it .

Now they've demolished the other Top venue in the South East..Towerlands

 

[comet!]

I remember hearing about this place - not sure if it was on here or somewhere else.

There's some more pics on the link from the page below. Seems such a shame, I'm from a different part of the south east (Herts) so not sure what it's like in Kent, but here it seems possible to find a yard!

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=11419&highlight=Equestrian#.UJ344CdYCc0

 

[Carrots&Mints]

How awful asif the local council let this happen!!! Absolutely disgusted with them infact!!!

 

[Penny Less]

I used to have lessons there many many years ago. It was built by Mr Rocco as someone has said. I didnt know he didnt have planning permission but believe the council wouldnt let him have major shows there because of the access. However, the main road to the venue is now a dual carriageway and would probably be Ok now if someone wanted to try and open it again. What a total waste it was, we have nowhere in the area capable of taking major competitions

 

[ClobellsandBaubles]

I love urbexing I went round an old mental hospital near me. This is interesting

You'd like it round here lots of huge derelict factories and psychiatric hospitals.

There is an small old abandoned riding stables where I used to live just off the main road I keep meaning to get photos. Apparently they used to used a filed down the road as a jumping field which is now a school.

 

[skint1]

I love looking round abandoned places, but haven't done so in years. I bet that place was lovely in its heyday

 

[FinkleyAlex]

Wow that genuinely really upset me - what a shame to see somebodies dream and vision become derelict. It would have taken a lot of money and soul to get a centre like that looking so smart - it's heartbreaking to still see the lodden boxes and jump poles hanging around. Stupid stupid council - surely it would have been better as an equestrian centre than providing shelter to the local chavs and junkies?