Queen's Road

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Queen's Road
The-Queens-Road-Bridge-taken-the-year-it-was-completed.-1898..jpg
Queen's Road railway bridge soon after completion c1898.
Other Names
Former name(s)Queens Buildings

Meadow Road
Bedford Place
St Andrew's Terrace
St Andrew's Road

Spring Terrace
Junctions
Junctions

Bethune Way Castle Hill Passage Cornwallis Street Elford Street Elphinstone Road Harold Place Havelock Road Nelson Road Portland Place Robertson Street South Terrace St Helen's Road

Station Road
Construction
Completion1849
Landmarks
Places of WorshipSt Andrew's Church

Queen's Road most likely originated as a muddy, often flooded dirt track running along the eastern margin of the Priory Meadow, any development being on the hill-slopes, where the ground was relatively stable. The meadow, together with the flood plain bordering the Priory Stream was marshy ground, with many difficulties reported when the 'Ashford railway arm' extension (opened c.1850) was constructed which required a large embankment to be built across the Priory Meadows; the scale of the embankment may be judged by the height of St Andrew's Bridge, effectively forming a dam across the Priory Valley and altering the appearance of the whole area more than anything else in recent history.

The 'St Andrew's Archway' circa 1895

During construction of some of the buildings, dinosaur bones have been found, together with pebbles from the beach in the bores for piling which reached a depth of in excess of 40 feet in places

Formation of Road

Queen's Road first came into being when the council merged and renamed the roads called Queens Buildings, Meadow Road and Bedford Place, during 1876. Above Russell Street and Portland Place, the road was known as St Andrew's Terrace, and later as St Andrew's Road, with Spring Terrace forming the terrace of shops immediately north of Portland Place. The roads, including Spring Gardens were dedicated in 1849[1]. The buildings on Meadow Road originally had gardens facing Priory Meadow. These were later built upon to provide shop-fronts - hence the shops in the lower section of Queen's Road predominantly being single-storey, with two or three storeys standing above them, now accessible via Russell Street.

The Bedford Public House (destroyed during a WW2 air raid) stood on the corner of Portland Place and was at number 1 St Andrew's Road. Originally, the road did not extend very far up beyond this point, but following a gift of land from Sarah Waldegrave, it was possible to widen and extend the road leading to St Andrews Archway, the route prior to this being via Stonefield Road. In June 1882 the Prince and Princess of Wales dedicated (and renamed) St Andrew's Gardens (that had opened in 1864) as Alexandra Park and the road leading to it was renamed too, as Queen's Road; the pub would then become No 37 with the numbering running up the east side of the road to the railway bridge and back down the western side.

Northerly extension of town

As a result of the opening of St Andrew's Gardens and development occurring further up the Priory Valley, the archway carrying the railway which had been constructed around 1849-1850 over the road that provided access to these areas rapidly became a dangerous bottleneck. This was replaced by an iron girder bridge with fluted columns in November 1898, the demolition taking three days to complete. The bridge received a makeover on its centenary in 1998 and on the southern footpath there is a brick bearing the original 1898 date stamp.

Gas Showrooms & St Andrew's Church

In the block immediately below Waterworks Road, St Andrew's Church stood on the west side of Queen's Road, just down from the Gas Showrooms. Both of these were demolished, the church going first to make way for a garage and second hand car dealership, then the Gas Showrooms to make way for a supermarket - originally Safeway, now Morrison's. Behind the Gas Showrooms were workshops and depots for Maidstone and District bus company; these are now the supermarket and car-park associated with the supermarket. There is now a supermarket garage on the site of the church. A 'legacy' building still stands isolated in the middle of the cleared site, the sole survivor of the terrace above the Gas Showrooms as a chinese takeaway.

The terrace of basemented buildings (numbers 116 - 118) almost opposite the Gas Showrooms site and Waterworks Road junction bear a construction year of 1870 on number 116. This terrace did originally extend down to number 114, but was destroyed during WW2, together with the properties as far down as number 109. Advertising hoardings originally hid the bomb-site following the end of WW2[2][3].

From 1962 to the late 2000s the site was then occupied by a 'Shell' petrol filling station initially[4], then a second hand car dealership - Queen's Road Motors around 1990[5]. A prominent feature of the petrol station was the addition of a seven feet tall knight and surrounding display of 18 shields on the boundary walls to mark the 900th anniversary of 1066 in 1966[6]. A new build of twelve flats was constructed at numbers 109-115 in 2009 following several refused planning applications over the preceding decade[7].

Construction of Queens Parade

During the late 1950s, the wall between the Central Cricket Ground and Queen's Road was demolished in favour of an avenue of shops extending round the corner into South Terrace (Queens Parade). A Coach Ticket Office and small car-park was placed in the area immediately adjacent to the Town Hall, with one of the turrets serving as a public convenience (later a bookmakers office). This avenue of shops was demolished during the 1980s, together with the Cricket Ground as part of the development of Priory Meadow (Shopping Centre). One turret still survives as a fast food outlet following the construction of the shopping centre.

The terrace of shops with the set-back first floors opposite Priory Meadow (Shopping Centre) are mostly original - the shop fronts were originally gardens, although the large building and the adjacent property (nos 10 & 11) on the corner of Albert Road was lost when the road was widened in the early 1990s.

Images & Features

N.B. The 'features' tab, whilst returning buildings and business premises in this road is not operating correctly, therefore a 'Dev.Use' tab is in place to explore alternative ways of retrieving this data.

Images

 Street number ⠉FromYear ⠉FromRef ⠉ToYear ⠉ToRef ⠉
Auto Equipe6319751985
Beckett Coal Merchant18801915
Bedford Arms18651940
Bollom1819701990
Bryant and Sons4319071969
C. H. Darby6
Caprice6419691969
Chapman & Co89
Charles Gold1
186		1875
1885		1887
1887
Chelsea Girl21119761977
Cheshires Wood Supplies68-6919691990
Clock House (Queen's Road)
Cobley's519691969
Cottage Inn7518551930
Court-Hughes6119691975
Courtlands8119691969
Currys28-2919501980
D & A Drugstores919701980
D. & M. Knights5419691969
Dawn & Dorset1931956
1921		1956
Dengates203-2041930
Dewhurst1919701980
Direct Supply8319691969
Disc Jockey219691980
Disk Jockey219761980
Divito121967
Dunn & Co2419701985
E. H. Flay5019691969
Eastmans47
19		1894
1969		1969
1969
F. C. Jones & Son7519691969
Fair Isle5919691969
Featherstonhaugh7819691983
Fludes Carpets37-38
50		19621964
Gaiety Theatre1882
Globe Hotel1905
H. Hail73-7419201969
Hickman Bros27
26
86		1900
1900
1900
1900		1906
1969
1906
1906
Hiltons Shoes1719701980
Howard Swain (Stationers)1561885
J. O. Forster's5518901916
J. Watson1419691969
J. Weston1
167
1		1896
1896
1896		1896
1896
1896
Janet Rye5519691969
John Collier Tailors101970
King Bros.219231956
Lapworth Bros.133
94		1938
1960		1970
1970
Lewis of Westminster5a19691969
Marks and Spencer30-34
Maynard Ltd719691969
Mitchell's76-7719691980
... further results
OccupierNumberFromTo
Abbey National23 24
37 38		1970
1980		1979
Acres the Bakers Ltd1319701980
Albert Memorial18641974
Albert Rulf's Housekeeper Stores7119201969
Boots Chemist15-16
Harry Boyd (1866-1954)1941906
Bradfords Steam Laundry79
A. M. Breach (1875-1954)19419111912
Feaist's Bakery120
Feaist's Bakery5b
Pilot5119001969
Queens Buildings
World Stores211959
Map showing shops present around 1970

References & Notes

  1. ↑ Brett Manuscript Histories Vol. 3 Chapt. XLII
  2. ↑ Hastings Borough Council Planning application ref HS/51/00164
  3. ↑ Hastings Borough Council Planning application ref HS/AA/52/00045
  4. ↑ Hastings Borough Council Planning application ref HS/62/00720
  5. ↑ Hastings Borough Council Planning application ref HS/FA/90/00512
  6. ↑ Hastings Borough Council Planning application ref HS/AA/66/00298
  7. ↑ Hastings Borough Council Planning application ref HS/FA/09/00656
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