LOCATION
Site uses
Today, the Smithfield Riverside site contains a number of vacant buildings to the west and existing uses and businesses to the east, as illustrated on the diagram below.
1. Smithfield Road
2. Raven Meadows
3. Bus Interchange
4. Bus Layover
5. Premier Inn
6. Raven Meadows Car Park
7. Riverside Shopping Centre
8. Pride Hill Shopping Centre
9. Gap Site
SITE HISTORY
Smithfield was a water meadow for many centuries. The site was used for livestock and cultivation. It was partly enclosed by an outer defensive wall. Later the defensive wall was completed to the east.
The alignment of Roushill and St Mary’s place is evident on historic maps. Small traces of this era of development are visible from within Pret on Pride Hill Shopping Centre and in the walls of St Mary’s Place.
In the nineteenth century the level of the site was raised behind the Civil War defences. Utilities, foundry and other industrial uses developed. Smithfield cattle market was established. Little of this era – including the street patterns and alignment – are visible in the current buildings and streets.
In the 1960s a very large and interconnected development was planned; some but not all of this plan was built and it continues to inform the layout and buildings of the site today. The Riverside and Pride Hill developments provided offices and shops for an expanding town.
