Hurst Park Racecourse

Hurst Park Racecourse was a racecourse at Moulsey Hurst, West Molesey, Surrey. It was first laid out in 1890. The racecourse was the scene of an arson attack by Kitty Marion and Clara Elizabeth Giveen. The two suffragettes were establishing a revenge attack following the death of Emily Davison at the Derby in 1913.[1]

Brick piers at the entrance of the former Hurst Park racecourse, in 2012

The Triumph Hurdle was run here from 1939 until the course closed. The last race to be held here was the Byfleet Stakes, the 4.30 on Wednesday 10 October 1962, was won by the 11/8 favourite Anassa.[2] Mansfield Town F.C. bought one of the grandstands for later use as the West Stand at Field Mill and Ascot Racecourse purchased 20 acres of turf which was used to lay down Ascot's new National Hunt racing course.[3]

On the outbreak of World War II, Royal Engineers companies of 1st London Division of the Territorial Army mobilised at Hurst Park Racecourse before proceeding to France to join the British Expeditionary Force.[4] In October 1941 "A" Company of 70th Battalion The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) moved into Hurst Park Racecourse for several months before moving to Hounslow Barracks with the rest of the Battalion.

Some of the racecourse was kept as public access to the riverside Hurst Park, with the remainder sold for the building of the present varied height residential housing in 1962. In the summer of 2018 the site of the course's pre-parade ring became temporarily visible due to the dry conditions caused by the 2018 British Isles heat wave.[5]

References
  1. "Clara Elizabeth Giveen - Person - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
  2. "Thameside Molesey - Hurst Park". www.moleseyhistory.co.uk.
  3. Dennis, Steve (24 November 2017). "Desert Orchid thriller the highlight of 50 years of jump racing at Ascot". Racing Post.
  4. Major D.K. Edwards, A History of the 1st Middlesex Volunteer Engineers (101 (London) Engineer Regiment, TA) 1860–1967, London, 1967, pp. 154, 169, 170.
  5. Baxter, David (21 July 2018). "Hurst parch: racecourse returns as pre-parade ring is revealed in heatwave". Racing Post.

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