Crawley
Encyclopedia
Crawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex
, England
. It is 28 miles (45 km) south of Charing Cross
, 18 miles (29 km) north of Brighton and Hove, and 32 miles (51 km) northeast of the county town of Chichester
, covers an area of 17.36 square miles (44.96 km²) and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census
.
The area has been inhabited since the Stone Age
, and was a centre of ironwork
ing in Roman
times. Crawley developed slowly as a market town
from the 13th century, serving the surrounding villages in the Weald
; its location on the main road from London to Brighton brought a passing trade, encouraging the development of coaching inn
s. It was connected to the railway network in the 1840s.
Gatwick Airport, now one of Britain's busiest international airports, opened on the edge of the town in the 1940s, encouraging commercial and industrial growth. After the Second World War, the British Government planned to move large numbers of people and jobs out of London and into new towns
around South East England. The New Towns Act 1946
designated Crawley as the site of one of these. A master plan was developed for the establishment of new residential, commercial, industrial and civic areas, and rapid development greatly increased the size and population of the town in a few decades.
The town comprises 13 residential neighbourhoods based around the core of the old market town, and separated by main roads and railway lines. The nearby communities of Ifield
, Pound Hill
and Three Bridges
were absorbed into the new town at different stages of its development. As of 2009, expansion is planned in the west and northwest of the town, in co-operation with Horsham District Council
. Economically, the town has developed into the main centre of industry and employment between London and the south coast of England. A large industrial area supports industries and services, many of which are connected with the airport, and the commercial and retail sectors continue to expand.
period: locally manufactured flint
s of the Horsham Culture type have been found to the southwest of the town. Tools and burial mounds from the Neolithic period, and burial mounds and a sword from the Bronze Age
, have also been discovered. Crawley is on the western edge of the High Weald, which produced iron for more than 2,000 years from the Iron Age
onwards. Goffs Park—now a recreational area in the south of the town—was the site of two late Iron Age furnaces. Ironworking and mineral extraction continued throughout Roman times
, particularly in the Broadfield area where many furnaces were built.
In the 5th century, Saxon
settlers named the area Crow's Leah—meaning a crow-infested clearing, or Crow's Wood. This name evolved over time, and the present spelling appeared by the early 14th century. By this time, nearby settlements were more established: the Saxon church at Worth
, for example, dates from between 950 and 1050 AD.
Although Crawley itself is not mentioned in the Domesday Book
of 1086, the nearby settlements of Ifield
and Worth
are recorded. The first written record of Crawley dates from 1202, when a licence was issued by King John
for a weekly market on Wednesdays. Crawley grew slowly in importance over the next few centuries, but was boosted in the 18th century by the construction of the turnpike
road between London and Brighton
. When this was completed in 1770, travel between the newly fashionable seaside resort and London became safer and quicker, and Crawley (located approximately halfway between the two) prospered as a coaching halt.
By 1839 it offered almost an hourly service to both destinations. The George, a timber-framed
house dating from the 15th century, expanded to become a large coaching inn, taking over adjacent buildings. Eventually an annexe had to be built in the middle of the wide High Street; this survived until the 1930s. The original building has become the George Hotel
, with conference facilities and 84 bedrooms; it retains many period features including an iron fireback.
Crawley's oldest church is St John the Baptist's
, between the High Street and the Broadway. It is said to have 13th century origins, but there has been much rebuilding (especially in the 19th century) and the oldest part remaining is the south wall of the nave
, which is believed to be 14th century. The church has a 15th-century tower
(rebuilt in 1804) which originally contained four bells cast in 1724. Two were replaced by Thomas Lester of London in 1742; but in 1880 a new set of eight bells were cast and installed by the Croydon-based firm Gillett, Bland & Company.
The Brighton Main Line
was the first railway line to serve the Crawley area. A station was opened at Three Bridges
(originally known as East Crawley) in the summer of 1841. Crawley railway station
, at the southern end of the High Street, was built in 1848 when the Horsham branch
was opened from Three Bridges to Horsham. A line was built eastwards from Three Bridges to East Grinstead
in 1855. Three Bridges had become the hub of transport in the area by this stage: one-quarter of its population was employed in railway jobs by 1861 (mainly at the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
's railway works near the station). The Longley company—one of South East England's largest building firms in the late 19th century, responsible for buildings including Christ's Hospital
school and the King Edward VII Sanatorium
in Midhurst
—moved to a site next to Crawley station in 1881. In 1898 more than 700 people were employed at the site.
There was a major expansion in housebuilding in the late 19th century. An area known as "New Town" (unrelated to the postwar developments) was created around the railway level crossing
and down the Brighton Road; the West Green
area, west of the High Street on the way to Ifield, was built up; and housing spread south of the Horsham line for the first time, into what is now Southgate
. The population reached 4,433 in 1901, compared to 1,357 a century earlier. In 1891, a racecourse was opened on farmland at Gatwick. Built to replace a steeplechase
course at Waddon
near Croydon
in Surrey, it was used for both steeplechase and flat racing
, and held the Grand National
during the years of the First World War. The course had its own railway station on the Brighton Main Line.
In the early 20th century, many of the large country estates
in the area, with their mansion
s and associated grounds and outbuildings, were split up into smaller plots of land, attracting haphazard housing development and small farms. By the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 Crawley had grown into a small but prosperous town, serving a wide rural area and those passing through on the A23
London–Brighton road. Three-quarters of the population had piped water supplies, all businesses and homes had electricity, and piped gas and street lighting had been in place for 50 years. An airfield was opened in 1930 on land near the racecourse. This was a private concern until the Second World War when it was claimed by the Royal Air Force
.
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In May 1946, the New Towns Act of 1946 identified Crawley as a suitable location for a New Town
; but it was not officially designated as such until . The 5920 acres (2,396 ha) of land set aside for the new town were split across the county borders between East Sussex
, West Sussex
and Surrey
. Architect Thomas Bennett
was appointed chairman of the Development Corporation for the town. A court challenge to the designation order meant that plans were not officially confirmed until December 1947. By this time, an initial plan for the development of the area had been drawn up by Anthony Minoprio. This proposed filling in the gaps between the villages of Crawley, Ifield and Three Bridges. Bennett estimated that planning, designing and building the town, and increasing its population from the existing 9,500 to 40,000, would take 15 years.
Work began almost immediately to prepare for the expansion of the town. A full master plan was in place by 1949. This envisaged an increase in the population of the town to 50,000, residential properties in nine neighbourhoods radiating from the town centre, and a separate industrial area to the north. The neighbourhoods would consist mainly of three-bedroom family homes, with a number of smaller and larger properties. Each would be built around a centre with shops, a church, a public house
, a primary school and a community centre
. Secondary education was to be provided at campuses at Ifield Green, Three Bridges and Tilgate
. Later, a fourth campus, in Southgate, was added to the plans.
At first, little development took place in the town centre, and residents relied on the shops and services in the existing high street. The earliest progress was in West Green
, where new residents moved in during the late 1940s. In 1950 the town was visited by the then heir to the throne, Princess Elizabeth
, when she officially opened the Manor Royal
industrial area. Building work continued throughout the 1950s in West Green, Northgate
and Three Bridges, and later in Langley Green
, Pound Hill
and Ifield. In 1956, land at "Tilgate East" was allocated for housing use, eventually becoming the new neighbourhood of Furnace Green
.
Expectations of the eventual population of the town were revised upwards several times. The 1949 master plan had allowed for 50,000 people, but this was amended to 55,000 in 1956 after the Development Corporation had successfully resisted pressure from the Minister for Town and Country Planning to accommodate 60,000. Nevertheless, plans dated 1961 anticipated growth to 70,000 by 1980, and by 1969 consideration was given to an eventual expansion of up to 120,000.
Extended shopping facilities to the east of the existing high street were provided. The first stage to open was The Broadwalk in 1954, following by the opening of the Queen's Square development by Her Majesty The Queen
in 1958. Crawley railway station was moved eastwards towards the new development.
By April 1960, when Thomas Bennett made his last presentation as chairman of the Development Corporation, the town's population had reached 51,700; 2289000 square feet (212,655.1 m²) of factory and other industrial space had been provided; 21,800 people were employed, nearly 60% of whom worked in manufacturing industry; and only seventy people were registered as unemployed. The corporation had built 10,254 houses, and private builders provided around 1,500 more. Tenants were by then permitted to buy their houses, and 440 householders had chosen to do so by April 1960.
A new plan was put forward by West Sussex County Council in 1961. This proposed new neighbourhoods at Broadfield and Bewbush, both of which extended outside the administrative area of the then Urban District Council. Detailed plans were made for Broadfield in the late 1960s; by the early 1970s building work had begun. Further expansion at Bewbush was begun in 1974, although development there was slow. The two neighbourhoods were both larger than the original nine: together, their proposed population was 23,000. Work also took place in the area now known as Ifield West on the western fringes of the town.
By 1980, the council identified land at Maidenbower, south of the Pound Hill neighbourhood, as being suitable for another new neighbourhood, and work began in 1986. However, all of this development was undertaken privately, unlike the earlier neighbourhoods in which most of the housing was owned by the council.
In 1999, plans were announced to develop a 14th neighbourhood on land at Tinsley Green
to the northeast of the town. However, these were halted when proposals for possible expansion at Gatwick Airport
were announced. As of 2008, discussions are underway with Horsham District Council concerning the possible future provision of new housing on Crawley's western fringes; much of the land proposed for development currently lies within Horsham's administrative boundaries.
Crawley Urban District Council was formed in May 1956 from the part of the Horsham Rural District which covered the new town. The Local Government Act 1972
led to the district being reformed as a borough in April 1974, gaining a mayor for the first time.
The Urban District Council received its coat of arms
from the College of Heralds in 1957. After the change to borough status a modified coat of arms, based on the original, was awarded in 1976, and presented to the council on 24 March 1977. It features a central cross on a shield, representing the town's location at the meeting point of north–south and east–west roads. The shield bears nine martlet
s representing both the county of Sussex
and the new town's original nine neighbourhoods. Supporters, of an eagle and a winged lion, relate to the significance of the airport to the locality. The motto featured is I Grow and I Rejoice—a translation of a phrase from the Epistulae of Seneca the Younger
.
Initially the district (and then borough) council worked with the Commission for New Towns
on many aspects of development; but in 1978 many of the commission's assets, such as housing and parks, were surrendered to the council. The authority's boundaries were extended in 1983 to accommodate the Bewbush and Broadfield neighbourhoods.
The borough remains part of the local two-tier arrangements, with services shared with West Sussex County Council. The authority is divided into 15 wards, each of which is represented by two or three local councillors, forming a total council of 37 members. Most wards are coterminous with the borough's neighbourhoods, but two neighbourhoods are divided: Broadfield into North and South wards, and Pound Hill into "Pound Hill North" and "Pound Hill South and Worth". The council is elected in thirds.
As of the 2011 local elections, the authority is Conservative
-controlled, with seats allocated as follows:
The party gained control in May 2006 for the first time since the borough was created. Previously the authority had always been Labour controlled.
. Henry Smith
won the seat at the 2010 general election. Laura Moffatt
, a member of the Labour Party
was the MP for Crawley from 1997-2010 she was the Parliamentary Private Secretary
to the Secretary of State for Health
, Alan Johnson
. In the 2005 General Election
, the winning margin was the slimmest of any UK constituency: Laura Moffatt won by just 37 votes.
Brook House and Tinsley House Immigration Removal Centres, operated by the UK Border Agency
, are within the grounds of London Gatwick Airport
in Crawley.
Data from the Home Office
's national identity database at Doncaster
, South Yorkshire, was backed up to servers in Crawley for disaster recovery
and business continuity
purposes. The Identity Documents Bill 2010
, proposed in May 2010 and passed in September 2010, authorised the destruction of all data stored for the identity card scheme brought about by the Identity Cards Act 2006.
, 28 miles (45 km) south of London and 18 miles (29 km) north of Brighton and Hove. It is surrounded by smaller towns including Horley
, Redhill
, Reigate
, Dorking
, Horsham
, Haywards Heath
and East Grinstead
. The borough of Crawley is bordered by the West Sussex local authority areas of Mid Sussex and Horsham districts, and the Mole Valley
and Tandridge districts and the Borough of Reigate and Banstead
in the county of Surrey
.
Crawley lies in the Weald
between the North
and South Downs
. Two beds of sedimentary rock
meet beneath the town: the eastern neighbourhoods and the town centre lie largely on the sandstone
Hastings Beds, while the rest of the town is based on Weald Clay
. A geological fault running from east to west has left an area of Weald Clay (with a ridge of limestone
) jutting into the Hastings Beds around Tilgate.
The town has no major waterways, although a number of smaller brooks and streams are tributaries for the River Mole
which rises near Gatwick Airport and flows northwards to the River Thames
near Hampton Court Palace
. There are several lakes at Tilgate Park and a mill pond at Ifield which was stopped to feed the Ifield Water Mill
.
In 1822 Gideon Mantell, an amateur fossil collector and palaeontologist, discovered teeth, bones and other remains of what he described as "an animal of the lizard tribe of enormous magnitude", in Tilgate Forest on the edge of Crawley. He announced his discovery in an 1825 scientific paper, giving the creature the name Iguanodon
. In 1832 he discovered and named the Hylaeosaurus
genus of dinosaurs after finding a fossil in the same forest.
Generally, Crawley's inland and southerly position within the UK means temperatures in summer are amongst the highest in the British Isles, Charlwood recording 36.3c (97.3f) and Gatwick recording 36.4c (97.5f) on the 19th July 2006, just 0.2c and 0.1c lower, respectively, than the UK Monthly record for that day set at Wisley, 20 miles to the west. The absolute maximum stands at 36.5c(97.7f) at Charlwood, set on the 10th August 2003. The absolute record for Gatwick is the aforementioned 36.4c. Before this, the highest temperature recorded at Gatwick was 35.6c(96.1f), also in August 2003. The maximum temperature will be 25.1c(77.2f) or higher on 15.9 days of the year on average (1971-00) and the warmest day will typically rise to 29.4c (84.9f).
The abolute minimum for Gatwick Airport for the period 1960-onwards is -16.7c(1.9f), set during January 1963. More Recently, Charlwood fell to -11.2c(11.8f) and Gatwick -11.1c(12.0f) on the 20th December 2010. Typically the coldest night at Gatwick will fall to -8.9c(16.0f). Air frost is recorded on 58.2 nights at Gatwick (1971-00)
Sunshine totals are higher than many inland areas due to the southerly location of Crawley, Gatwick averaging 1574hrs over the 1961-90 period. No data is available for the 1971-00 period, but given increases at comparable sites nearby, annual averages are likely to be in excess of 1600hrs.
Snowfall is often heavier in the Sussex weald area than many other low lying parts of central and southern England due to the proximity of moisture laden southerly tracking low pressure systems bringing easterly winds and much snow to areas of South London southwards. However, again due to the southerly location of the area, with warmer air from the English channel close by, the snow is often transient as low pressure systems track north bringing in milder air, and rarely last long, with areas immediately north of the London area tending to have less accumulation, but lying for a longer duration.
Rainfall is lower than the English average, but higher than many other areas of the South East. 1mm of rain or more falls on 116.7 days of the year
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There are 13 residential neighbourhoods, each with a variety of housing types: terraced, semi-detached and detached houses, low-rise flats and bungalows. There are no residential tower blocks. Many houses have their own gardens and are set back from roads. Each neighbourhood is based around a shopping parade, community centre and church, and has a school and recreational open spaces. The Development Corporation's intention was for neighbourhood shops to cater only to basic needs, and for the town centre to be used for most shopping requirements. The number of shop units provided in the neighbourhood parades reflected this: despite the master plan making provision for at least 20 shops in each neighbourhood, the number actually built ranged from 19 in the outlying Langley Green neighbourhood to just seven in West Green, close to the town centre.
Each of the 13 residential neighbourhoods is identified by a colour, which is shown on street name signs in a standard format throughout the town: below the street name, the neighbourhood name is shown in white text on a coloured background.
There are areas which are not defined as neighbourhoods but which are closely associated with Crawley:
At the last census
in 2001 the population of Crawley was recorded as 99,744. This accounted for 13.2% of the population of the county of West Sussex. The growth in population of the new town—around 1,000% between 1951 and 2001—has outstripped that of most similar-sized settlements. For example, in the same period, the population of the neighbouring district of Horsham grew by just 99%.
Approximately 64.5% of the population is aged below 45, compared to 55% of the population of West Sussex. White British
account for 84.5% of the population and 15.5% of people are from other ethnic backgrounds. People of Indian and Pakistani origin account for 4.5% and 3% of the population respectively.
The borough has a population density of around 22 persons per hectare (54 persons per acre), making it the second most densely populated district in West Sussex, after Worthing
. The social mix is similar to the national norm: around 50% are in the ABC1 social category
, although this varies by ward, with just 44% in Broadfield North compared to 75% in Maidenbower.
The proportion of people in the borough with higher education
qualifications is lower than the national average. Around 14% have a qualification at level 4
or above, compared to 20% nationally.
Crawley originally traded as a market town. The Development Corporation intended to develop it as a centre for manufacturing and light engineering, with an industrial zone. The rapid growth of Gatwick Airport provided opportunities for businesses in the aviation, transport, warehousing and distribution industries. The significance of the airport to local employment and enterprise was reflected by the formation of the Gatwick Diamond partnership. This venture, supported by local businesses, local government and SEEDA
, South East England's Regional Development Agency
, aims to maintain and improve the Crawley and Gatwick area's status as a region of national and international economic importance.
Since the Second World War, unemployment in Crawley has been low: the rate was 1.47% of the working-age population in 2003. During the boom of the 1980s the town boasted the lowest level of unemployment in the UK. Continuous growth and investment have made Crawley one of the most important business and employment centres in the South East England
region.
and aircraft repair. Many of the jobs in these industries were highly skilled.
Industrial development had to take place relatively soon after the new town was established because part of the Corporation's remit was to move people and jobs out of an overcrowded and war-damaged London. Industrial jobs were needed as well as houses and shops to create a balanced community where people could settle. The Development Corporation wanted the new town to support a large and mixed industrial base, with factories and other buildings based in a single zone rather than spread throughout the town. A 267 acres (108 ha) site in the northeastern part of the development area was chosen. Its advantages included flat land with no existing development; proximity to the London–Brighton railway line, the A23 and the planned M23; space for railway sidings (which were eventually built on a much smaller scale than envisaged); and an adjacent 44 acres (18 ha) site reserved for future expansion, on the other side of the railway line (again, not used for this purpose in the end). Princess Elizabeth
(later Queen Elizabeth II) opened the first part of the industrial area on 25 January 1950; its main road was named Manor Royal, and this name eventually came to refer to the whole estate.
The Corporation stipulated that several manufacturing industries should be developed, rather than allowing one sector or firm to dominate. It did not seek to attract companies by offering financial or other incentives; instead, it set out to create the ideal conditions for industrial development to arise naturally, by providing large plots of land with room for expansion, allowing firms to build their own premises or rent ready-made buildings, and constructing a wide range of building types and sizes.
Despite the lack of direct incentives, many firms applied to move to the Manor Royal estate: it was considered such an attractive place to relocate to that the Development Corporation was able to choose between applicants to achieve the ideal mix of firms, and little advertising or promotion had to be undertaken. One year after Manor Royal was opened, eighteen firms were trading there, including four with more than 100 employees and one with more than 1,000. By 1964, businesses which had moved to the town since 1950 employed 16,000 people; the master plan had anticipated between 8,000 and 8,500. In 1978 there were 105 such firms, employing nearly 20,000 people.
The Thales Group
opened a new manufacturing and office complex in Crawley in 2009. The site consolidated manufacturing and offices in the Crawley area and the south-east of England.
While most of the jobs created in the new town's early years were in manufacturing, the tertiary sector developed strongly from the 1960s. The Manor Royal estate, with its space, proximity to Gatwick and good transport links, attracted airport-related services such as logistics, catering, distribution and warehousing; and the Corporation and private companies built offices throughout the town. Office floorspace in the town increased from 55000 square feet (5,109.7 m²) in 1965 to a conservative estimate of 453000 square feet (42,085.1 m²) in 1984. Major schemes during that period included premises for the Westminster Bank (later part of NatWest), British Caledonian
, and The Office of the Paymaster-General
—a government ministry within the remit of HM Treasury
. The five-storey Overline House above the railway station, completed in 1968, is used by Crawley's NHS Primary Care Trust
and various other companies.
Companies headquartered in Crawley include Astraeus Airlines, Doosan Babcock Energy, WesternGeco
, Virgin Atlantic Airways
, Virgin Atlantic's associated travel agency Virgin Holidays
, and the Office of the Paymaster-General. BDO International
has an office in Crawley.
British Airways
took over British Caledonian
's former headquarters near the Manor Royal estate, renamed it "Astral Towers" and based its British Airways Holidays and AIRMILES divisions there. Other companies formerly headquartered in Crawley include British United Airways
, CityFlyer Express
, CP Ships
, GB Airways
, Laker Airways
, and Air Europe
.
Crawley has numerous hotels, including The George Hotel
, dated to 1615. It is reputedly haunted.
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Even before the new town was planned, Crawley was a retail centre for the surrounding area: there were 177 shops in the town in 1948, 99 of which were on the High Street. Early new town residents relied on these shopping facilities until the Corporation implemented the master plan's designs for a new shopping area on the mostly undeveloped land east of the High Street and north of the railway line. The Broadwalk and its 23 shops were built in 1954, followed by the Queen's Square complex and surrounding streets in the mid-1950s. Queen's Square, a pedestrianised plaza surrounded by large shops and linked to the High Street by The Broadwalk, was officially opened in 1958 by Queen Elizabeth II. The town centre was completed by 1960, by which time Crawley was already recognised as an important regional, rather than merely local, shopping centre.
In the 1960s and 1970s, large branches of Tesco
, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer
were opened (the Tesco superstore was the largest in Britain at the time). The shopping area was also expanded southeastwards from Queen's Square: although the original plans of 1975 were not implemented fully, several large shop units were built and a new pedestrianised link—The Martlets—was provided between Queen's Square and Haslett Avenue, the main road to Three Bridges. The remaining land between this area and the railway line was sold for private development by 1982; in 1992 a 450000 square feet (41,806.4 m²) shopping centre named County Mall was opened there. Its stores includes major retailers such as Debenhams
, Boots
, W H Smith
and British Home Stores as well as over 80 smaller outlets. The town's main bus station was redesigned, roads including the main A2220 Haslett Avenue were rerouted, and some buildings at the south end of The Martlets were demolished to accommodate the mall.
A regeneration strategy for the town centre, "Centre Vision 2000", was produced in 1993. Changes brought about by the scheme have included 50000 square feet (4,645.2 m²) of additional retail space in Queen's Square and The Martlets, and a mixed-use development at the southern end of the High Street on land formerly occupied by Robinson Road (which was demolished) and Spencers Road (shortened and severed at one end). An ASDA superstore, opened in September 2003, forms the centrepiece. Robinson Road, previously named Church Road, had been at the heart of the old Crawley: a century before its demolition, its buildings included two chapels, a school, a hospital and a post office.
There are plans to expand Crawley's central shopping area northwards on to land occupied by the Town Hall and office buildings. The borough council's premises would be moved to a new site—possibly the land occupied by Sussex House on the High Street—and The Boulevard would become a large pedestrianised shopping area. A 255000 square feet (23,690.3 m²) John Lewis department store
, to be opened in 2013, would be the anchor store
. The scheme, named "Town Centre North", is designed to make Crawley a major regional shopping destination.
; the British Transport Police
are responsible for the rail network. The borough is the police headquarters for the North Downs division, and is itself divided into three areas for the purposes of neighbourhood policing: Crawley East, Crawley West, and Crawley Town Centre. A separate division covers Gatwick Airport. There is a police station in the town centre; it is open 24 hours a day, and the front desk is staffed for 16 hours each day except Christmas Day. Statutory emergency fire and rescue services
are provided by the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service which operates a fire station in the town centre. The South East Coast Ambulance Service
is responsible for ambulance and paramedic services.
Crawley Hospital
in West Green is operated by West Sussex Primary Care Trust. Some services are provided by the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
, including a 24-hour Urgent Treatment Centre for semi-life threatening injuries. The Surrey and Sussex has been judged as "weak" by the Healthcare Commission
.
Thames Water
is responsible for all waste water and sewerage provision. Residents in most parts of Crawley receive their drinking water from Southern Water
; areas in the north of the town around Gatwick Airport are provided by Sutton & East Surrey Water; and South East Water supplies Maidenbower.
EDF Energy Networks
is the Distribution Network Operator
responsible for electricity. Gas is supplied by Southern Gas Networks
who own and manage the South East Local Distribution Zone.
The provision of public services was made in co-operation with the local authorities as the town grew in the 1950s and 1960s. They oversaw the opening of a fire station in 1958, the telephone exchange, police station and town centre health clinic in 1961 and an ambulance station in 1963. Plans for a new hospital on land at The Hawth were abandoned, however, and the existing hospital in West Green was redeveloped instead. Gas was piped from Croydon, 20 miles (32 km) away, and a gasworks at Redhill, while the town's water supply came from the Weir Wood
reservoir south of East Grinstead and another at Pease Pottage
.
In December 2008, a new three-storey library was opened in new buildings at Southgate Avenue, replacing the considerably undersized establishment formerly at County Buildings.
The Civil Aviation Authority Regulation Safety Group is in the Aviation House in Gatwick Airport in Crawley.
in the mid-19th century; and since the creation of the new town, there have been major road upgrades (including a motorway link), a guided bus
transit system and the establishment of an airport which has become one of Britain's largest and busiest.
The London–Brighton turnpike ran through the centre of Crawley, forming the High Street and Station Road. When Britain's major roads were classified by the British government's Ministry of Transport between 1919 and 1923, it was given the number A23
. It was bypassed by a new dual carriageway in 1938 (which forms the A23's current route through the town), and then later to the east side of the town by the M23 motorway
, which was opened in 1975. This connects London's orbital motorway, the M25
, to the A23 at Pease Pottage
, at the southern edge of Crawley's built-up area. The original single-carriageway A23 became the A2219.
The M23 has junctions in the Crawley area at the A2011/A264
(Junction 10) and Maidenbower (area of Crawley) (Junction 10A). The end of the motorway at Pease Pottage is Junction 11. The A2011, another dual-carriageway, joins the A23 in West Green and provides a link, via the A2004, to the town centre. The A2220 follows the former route of the A264 through the town, linking the A23 directly to the A264 at Copthorne
, from where it then runs to East Grinstead
.
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The first railway line in the area was the Brighton Main Line
, which opened as far as Haywards Heath
on 12 July 1841 and reached Brighton on 21 September 1841. It ran through Three Bridges, which was then a small village east of Crawley, and a station
was built to serve it.
A line to Horsham
, now part of the Arun Valley Line
, was opened on 14 February 1848. A station
was provided next to Crawley High Street from that date. A new station was constructed slightly to the east, in conjunction with the Overline House commercial development, and replaced the original station which closed on 28 July 1968. The ticket office and Up (London-bound) platform waiting areas form the ground floor of the office building.
Ifield railway station
is now within the Crawley urban area. Opened as Lyons Crossing Halt on 1 June 1907 to serve the village of Ifield, it was soon renamed Ifield Halt, dropping the "Halt" suffix in 1930.
Regular train services run from Crawley to London Victoria and London Bridge
stations, Gatwick Airport, East Croydon
, Horsham
, Bognor Regis
, Chichester
, Portsmouth
and Southampton. Three Bridges has direct "Thameslink" trains to Bedford & Brighton.
and London Transport
bus services met. In 1958 the companies reached an agreement which allowed them both to provide services in all parts of the town. When the National Bus Company was formed in 1969, its London Country Bus Services
subsidiary took responsibility for many routes, including Green Line Coaches
cross-London services which operated to distant destinations such as Watford
, Luton
and Amersham
. A coach station was opened by Southdown in 1931 on the A23 at County Oak, near Lowfield Heath: it was a regular stopping point for express coaches between London and towns on the Sussex coast. This traffic started to serve Gatwick when the airport began to grow, however. When the National Bus Company was broken up, local services were provided by the new South West division
of London Country Bus Services, which later became part of the Arriva
group. Metrobus acquired these routes from Arriva in March 2001, and is now Crawley's main operator. It provides local services between the neighbourhoods and town centre, and longer-distance routes to Horsham
, Redhill
, Tunbridge Wells, Worthing
and Brighton
.
In September 2003 a guided bus
service, Fastway
, began operating between Bewbush
and Gatwick Airport. A second route, from Broadfield to the Langshott area of Horley
, north of Gatwick Airport, was added on 27 August 2005.
Gatwick Airport was licensed as a private airfield in August 1930. It was used during the Second World War as an RAF
base, and returned to civil use in 1946. There were proposals to close the airport in the late 1940s, but in 1950 the government announced that it was to be developed as London's second airport. It was closed between 1956 and 1958 for rebuilding. Her Majesty The Queen
reopened it on 9 June 1958. A second terminal, the North Terminal, was built in 1988.
An agreement exists between BAA and West Sussex County Council preventing the building of a second runway until 2019. Nevertheless, consultations were launched in 2002 by the Department for Transport
, at which proposals for additional facilities and runways were considered. It was agreed that there would be no further expansion at Gatwick unless it became impossible to meet growth targets at London Heathrow Airport
within existing pollution limits.
Crawley Town F.C.
is Crawley's main football team. Formed in 1896, it moved in 1949 to a ground at Town Mead adjacent to the West Green playing fields. Demand for land near the town centre led to the club moving in 1997 to the new Broadfield Stadium
, now owned by the borough council. As of the 2011/2012 season, Crawley Town will play in the Npower League 2
, the 4th tier of league football in England after their promotion from the Blue Square Bet Premier
as Champions 2010/11. Perhaps the pinnacle of the club's history was in February 2011 when they played against Manchester United at Old Trafford in the fifth round of the F.A. Cup. Two other local teams play in the Sussex County Football League
: Three Bridges F.C.
and Ifield Edwards F.C.. Crawley Rugby Club
is based in Ifield, and a golf course was constructed in 1982 at Tilgate Park
.
The new town's original leisure centre was in Haslett Avenue in the Three Bridges neighbourhood. Building work started in the early 1960s, and a large swimming pool opened in 1964. The site was extended to include an athletics arena by 1967, and an additional large sports hall was opened by the town mayor, Councillor Ben Clay, and Prime Minister Harold Wilson
in 1974. However, the facilities became insufficient for the growing town, even though an annexe was opened in Bewbush in 1984. Athlete Zola Budd
had been asked to take part in a 1,500-metre race as part of the opening celebrations, but her invitation was withdrawn at short notice because of concerns raised by council members about possible "political connotations and anti-apartheid demonstrators".
In 2005, Crawley Leisure Centre was closed and replaced by a new facility, the K2 Leisure Centre, on the campus of Thomas Bennett Community College
near the Broadfield Stadium. Opened to the public on 14 November 2005, and officially by Lord (Sebastian) Coe
on 24 January 2006, the centre includes the only Olympic-sized swimming pool in South East England
. In March 2008 the centre was named as a training site for the 2012 Olympics in London.
The Development Corporation made little provision for the arts in the plans for the new town, and a proposed arts venue in the town centre was never built. Neighbourhood community centres and the Tilgate Forest Recreational Centre were used for some cultural activities, but it was not until 1988 that the town had a dedicated theatre and arts venue, at The Hawth. (The name derives from a local corruption of the word "heath
", which came to refer specifically to the expanse of wooded land, south of the town centre, in which the theatre was built.) Crawley's earliest cinema, the Imperial Picture House on Brighton Road, lasted from 1909 until the 1940s; the Embassy Cinema on the High Street (opened in 1938) replaced it. A large Cineworld
cinema has since opened in the Crawley Leisure Park, which itself also includes ten-pin bowling
, various restaurants and bars and a fitness centre. The Liquid nightclub on Station Way can accommodate 1,900 people.
Each neighbourhood has self-contained recreational areas, and there are other larger parks throughout the town. The Memorial Gardens, on the eastern side of Queen's Square, feature art displays, children's play areas and lawns, and a plaque commemorating those who died in two Second World War bombing incidents in 1943 and 1944. Goffs Park in Southgate covers 50 acres (20 ha), and has lakes, boating ponds, a model railway and many other features. Tilgate Park and Nature Centre
has walled gardens, lakes, large areas of woodland with footpaths and bridleways, a golfing area and a collection of animals and birds.
and which was demolished when the ASDA development was built.
Crawley has three Grade I listed buildings (the parish church of St Margaret in Ifield
, the parish church of St Nicholas, Worth
, and the Friends Meeting House
in Langley Lane, Ifield), 12 Grade II* listed buildings and 85 Grade II listed buildings.
Maintained primary and secondary schools were reorganised in 2004 following the Local Education Authority
's decision to change the town's three-tier
system of first
, middle
and secondary schools to a more standard primary/secondary divide. Since the restructuring, Crawley has had 17 primary schools (including two Church of England
and two Roman Catholic) and four pairs of infant
and junior School
s. Most of these were opened in 2004; others changed their status at this date (for example, from a middle to a junior School). Secondary education is provided at one of six secondary schools:
All six of these have a sixth form
, the newest opening at Oriel High in September 2008. The schools at Ifield and Thomas Bennett are also bases for the Local Authority's adult education
programmes.
Pupils with special needs
are educated at the two special schools in the town, each of which covers the full spectrum of needs: Manor Green Primary School and Manor Green College.
The Discovery School, based in Broadfield House
, opened in September 2011. It is one of the first free schools
in the country, set up as a result of changes to the legislation on school funding by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition government. The school is a Montessori school, the first state funded Montessori school in the UK, quoted as having a Christian
ethos in the Anglican
tradition.
Further education
is provided by Central Sussex College
. Opened in 1958 as Crawley Technical College, it merged with other local colleges to form the new institute in August 2005. The college also provides higher education
courses in partnership with the universities at Chichester
and Sussex
. In 2004, a proposal was made for an additional campus of the University of Sussex
to be created in Crawley, but as of 2008 no conclusion has been reached.
. The Crawley News was first published in 1979, and later took over the operations of the older Crawley Advertiser which closed in 1982. The newspaper is now owned by the Trinity Mirror
group and is a free publication. In September 2008 Johnston Press launched a new weekly broadsheet newspaper called the Crawley Times based on the companies paper produced in Horsham, the West Sussex County Times.
The town is served by the London regional versions of BBC
and ITV
television from the Crystal Palace or Reigate transmitters—although some terrestrial aerials in the town may pick up BBC South
and ITV Meridian
signals from the Midhurst
transmitter.
Radio Mercury began broadcasting on 20 October 1984 from Broadfield House
in Broadfield. The station, now owned by Global Radio
, broadcasts as Heart from Brighton, with the studios in Kelvin Way in Crawley closed in August 2010. On 1 February 2011, the local Gold transmitter on 1521 AM closed and listeners were advised to retune to 1548 AM (Gold London) or 1323 AM (Gold Sussex).
Local BBC radio was provided by BBC Radio Sussex from 1983; this became part of BBC Southern Counties Radio
following a merger with BBC Radio Surrey in 1994. From March 2009, BBC Southern Counties Radio
became BBC Sussex
on 104.5FM & BBC Surrey
on 104FM. Due to the positioning of their transmitters, when broadcasting separately both stations cover Crawley stories.
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is 28 miles (45 km) south of Charing Cross
Charing Cross
Charing Cross denotes the junction of Strand, Whitehall and Cockspur Street, just south of Trafalgar Square in central London, England. It is named after the now demolished Eleanor cross that stood there, in what was once the hamlet of Charing. The site of the cross is now occupied by an equestrian...
, 18 miles (29 km) north of Brighton and Hove, and 32 miles (51 km) northeast of the county town of Chichester
Chichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
, covers an area of 17.36 square miles (44.96 km²) and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
.
The area has been inhabited since the Stone Age
Three-age system
The three-age system in archaeology and physical anthropology is the periodization of human prehistory into three consecutive time periods, named for their respective tool-making technologies:* The Stone Age* The Bronze Age* The Iron Age-Origin:...
, and was a centre of ironwork
Ironwork
Ironwork is any weapon, artwork, utensil or architectural feature made of iron especially used for decoration. There are two main types of ironwork wrought iron and cast iron. While the use of iron dates as far back as 4000BC, it was the Hittites who first knew how to extract it and develop weapons...
ing in Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
times. Crawley developed slowly as a market town
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
from the 13th century, serving the surrounding villages in the Weald
Weald
The Weald is the name given to an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It should be regarded as three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge which...
; its location on the main road from London to Brighton brought a passing trade, encouraging the development of coaching inn
Coaching inn
In Europe, from approximately the mid-17th century for a period of about 200 years, the coaching inn, sometimes called a coaching house or staging inn, was a vital part of the inland transport infrastructure, as an inn serving coach travelers...
s. It was connected to the railway network in the 1840s.
Gatwick Airport, now one of Britain's busiest international airports, opened on the edge of the town in the 1940s, encouraging commercial and industrial growth. After the Second World War, the British Government planned to move large numbers of people and jobs out of London and into new towns
New towns in the United Kingdom
Below is a list of some of the new towns in the United Kingdom created under the various New Town Acts of the 20th century. Some earlier towns were developed as Garden Cities or overspill estates early in the twentieth century. The New Towns proper were planned to disperse population following the...
around South East England. The New Towns Act 1946
New Towns Act 1946
The New Towns Act 1946 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which allowed the government to designate areas as new towns, and passing development control functions to a Development Corporation. Several new towns were created in the years following its passing...
designated Crawley as the site of one of these. A master plan was developed for the establishment of new residential, commercial, industrial and civic areas, and rapid development greatly increased the size and population of the town in a few decades.
The town comprises 13 residential neighbourhoods based around the core of the old market town, and separated by main roads and railway lines. The nearby communities of Ifield
Ifield, Crawley
Ifield is a former village and now a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Ifield is in the west of the town and is bordered by Ifield West, Horsham, Langley Green to the north east, West Green to the east across the ring road and Gossops Green and Bewbush to the south...
, Pound Hill
Pound Hill, Crawley
Pound Hill is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Pound Hill is located on the east of Crawley. It is bordered by Three Bridges and Manor Royal to the west and Maidenbower to the south....
and Three Bridges
Three Bridges
Three Bridges is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley, in the county of West Sussex in England.-History:Three Bridges was a tiny hamlet, which first began to grow with the coming of the London and Brighton Railway in 1841...
were absorbed into the new town at different stages of its development. As of 2009, expansion is planned in the west and northwest of the town, in co-operation with Horsham District Council
Horsham (district)
Horsham is a local government district in West Sussex, England. Its council is based in Horsham. The district borders those of Crawley, Mid Sussex, Mole Valley, Chichester, Arun and Adur....
. Economically, the town has developed into the main centre of industry and employment between London and the south coast of England. A large industrial area supports industries and services, many of which are connected with the airport, and the commercial and retail sectors continue to expand.
Origins
The area may have been settled during the MesolithicMesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
period: locally manufactured flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
s of the Horsham Culture type have been found to the southwest of the town. Tools and burial mounds from the Neolithic period, and burial mounds and a sword from the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
, have also been discovered. Crawley is on the western edge of the High Weald, which produced iron for more than 2,000 years from the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
onwards. Goffs Park—now a recreational area in the south of the town—was the site of two late Iron Age furnaces. Ironworking and mineral extraction continued throughout Roman times
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
, particularly in the Broadfield area where many furnaces were built.
In the 5th century, Saxon
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
settlers named the area Crow's Leah—meaning a crow-infested clearing, or Crow's Wood. This name evolved over time, and the present spelling appeared by the early 14th century. By this time, nearby settlements were more established: the Saxon church at Worth
Worth village, West Sussex
Worth is an area within the neighbourhood of Pound Hill, Crawley. It was a separate village and is still a civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex.-Worth village:...
, for example, dates from between 950 and 1050 AD.
Although Crawley itself is not mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086, the nearby settlements of Ifield
Ifield, Crawley
Ifield is a former village and now a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Ifield is in the west of the town and is bordered by Ifield West, Horsham, Langley Green to the north east, West Green to the east across the ring road and Gossops Green and Bewbush to the south...
and Worth
Worth village, West Sussex
Worth is an area within the neighbourhood of Pound Hill, Crawley. It was a separate village and is still a civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex.-Worth village:...
are recorded. The first written record of Crawley dates from 1202, when a licence was issued by King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
for a weekly market on Wednesdays. Crawley grew slowly in importance over the next few centuries, but was boosted in the 18th century by the construction of the turnpike
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...
road between London and Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
. When this was completed in 1770, travel between the newly fashionable seaside resort and London became safer and quicker, and Crawley (located approximately halfway between the two) prospered as a coaching halt.
By 1839 it offered almost an hourly service to both destinations. The George, a timber-framed
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
house dating from the 15th century, expanded to become a large coaching inn, taking over adjacent buildings. Eventually an annexe had to be built in the middle of the wide High Street; this survived until the 1930s. The original building has become the George Hotel
The George Hotel, Crawley
The George Hotel, also known as The George Inn and now marketed as the Ramada Crawley Gatwick, is a hotel and former coaching inn on the High Street in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England....
, with conference facilities and 84 bedrooms; it retains many period features including an iron fireback.
Crawley's oldest church is St John the Baptist's
St John the Baptist's Church, Crawley
St John the Baptist's Church is an Anglican church in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is the parish church of Crawley, and is the oldest building in the town centre, dating from the 13th century—although many alterations have been made since, and only one wall remains of...
, between the High Street and the Broadway. It is said to have 13th century origins, but there has been much rebuilding (especially in the 19th century) and the oldest part remaining is the south wall of the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
, which is believed to be 14th century. The church has a 15th-century tower
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
(rebuilt in 1804) which originally contained four bells cast in 1724. Two were replaced by Thomas Lester of London in 1742; but in 1880 a new set of eight bells were cast and installed by the Croydon-based firm Gillett, Bland & Company.
Railway age and Victorian era
Brighton Main Line
The Brighton Main Line is a British railway line from London Victoria and London Bridge to Brighton. It is about 50 miles long, and is electrified throughout. Trains are operated by Southern, First Capital Connect, and Gatwick Express, now part of Southern.-Original proposals:There were no fewer...
was the first railway line to serve the Crawley area. A station was opened at Three Bridges
Three Bridges
Three Bridges is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley, in the county of West Sussex in England.-History:Three Bridges was a tiny hamlet, which first began to grow with the coming of the London and Brighton Railway in 1841...
(originally known as East Crawley) in the summer of 1841. Crawley railway station
Crawley railway station
Crawley railway station is a railway station serving the town of Crawley in West Sussex. The station is 47 km south of London Victoria and is owned and operated by Southern...
, at the southern end of the High Street, was built in 1848 when the Horsham branch
Arun Valley Line
The Arun Valley Line, also known as the Mid Sussex Line, is part of the Southern-operated railway services. For the initial part of the route trains follow the Brighton Main Line, and at a junction south of Three Bridges the route turns westwards...
was opened from Three Bridges to Horsham. A line was built eastwards from Three Bridges to East Grinstead
Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells Central Line
The Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells Central Line was a railway line running from Three Bridges in West Sussex to Tunbridge Wells Central in Kent via East Grinstead in East Sussex, a distance of . Opened in 1855, the main section of the line was a casualty of the Beeching Axe the last train ran on...
in 1855. Three Bridges had become the hub of transport in the area by this stage: one-quarter of its population was employed in railway jobs by 1861 (mainly at the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its apex, practically the whole coastline of Sussex as its base, and a large part of Surrey...
's railway works near the station). The Longley company—one of South East England's largest building firms in the late 19th century, responsible for buildings including Christ's Hospital
Christ's Hospital
Christ's Hospital is an English coeducational independent day and boarding school with Royal Charter located in the Sussex countryside just south of Horsham in Horsham District, West Sussex, England...
school and the King Edward VII Sanatorium
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
in Midhurst
Midhurst
Midhurst is a market town and civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, with a population of 4,889 in 2001. The town is situated on the River Rother and is home to the ruin of the Tudor Cowdray House and the stately Victorian Cowdray Park...
—moved to a site next to Crawley station in 1881. In 1898 more than 700 people were employed at the site.
There was a major expansion in housebuilding in the late 19th century. An area known as "New Town" (unrelated to the postwar developments) was created around the railway level crossing
Level crossing
A level crossing occurs where a railway line is intersected by a road or path onone level, without recourse to a bridge or tunnel. It is a type of at-grade intersection. The term also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way or reserved track crosses a road in the same fashion...
and down the Brighton Road; the West Green
West Green, Crawley
West Green is one of the 13 residential neighbourhoods in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Crawley was planned and laid out as a New Town after the Second World War, based on the principle of self-contained neighbourhoods surrounding a town centre of civic and commercial buildings...
area, west of the High Street on the way to Ifield, was built up; and housing spread south of the Horsham line for the first time, into what is now Southgate
Southgate, Crawley
Southgate is one of the 13 residential neighbourhoods in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Crawley was planned and laid out as a New Town after the Second World War, based on the principle of self-contained neighbourhoods surrounding a town centre of civic and commercial buildings...
. The population reached 4,433 in 1901, compared to 1,357 a century earlier. In 1891, a racecourse was opened on farmland at Gatwick. Built to replace a steeplechase
Steeplechase
Steeplechase may refer to:* Steeplechase, an event in horse racing* SteepleChase, a Danish jazz label* Steeplechase , a 1975 arcade game released by Atari...
course at Waddon
Waddon
Waddon is a place in the London Borough of Croydon, to the south west of central Croydon on the borders of the London Borough of Sutton. Waddon has an older area with 19th century properties, some even older, close to central Croydon. Further south is a large estate of Council-owned homes and a...
near Croydon
Croydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
in Surrey, it was used for both steeplechase and flat racing
Flat racing
Flat racing is a form of Thoroughbred horse racing which is run over a level track at a predetermined distance. It differs from steeplechase racing which is run over hurdles...
, and held the Grand National
Grand National
The Grand National is a world-famous National Hunt horse race which is held annually at Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, England. It is a handicap chase run over a distance of four miles and 856 yards , with horses jumping thirty fences over two circuits of Aintree's National Course...
during the years of the First World War. The course had its own railway station on the Brighton Main Line.
In the early 20th century, many of the large country estates
Estate (house)
An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...
in the area, with their mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
s and associated grounds and outbuildings, were split up into smaller plots of land, attracting haphazard housing development and small farms. By the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 Crawley had grown into a small but prosperous town, serving a wide rural area and those passing through on the A23
A23 road
The A23 road is a major road in the United Kingdom between London and Brighton, East Sussex. It became an arterial route following the construction of Westminster Bridge in 1750 and the consequent improvement of roads leading to the bridge south of the river by the Turnpike Trusts...
London–Brighton road. Three-quarters of the population had piped water supplies, all businesses and homes had electricity, and piped gas and street lighting had been in place for 50 years. An airfield was opened in 1930 on land near the racecourse. This was a private concern until the Second World War when it was claimed by the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
.
New Town
New towns in the United Kingdom
Below is a list of some of the new towns in the United Kingdom created under the various New Town Acts of the 20th century. Some earlier towns were developed as Garden Cities or overspill estates early in the twentieth century. The New Towns proper were planned to disperse population following the...
; but it was not officially designated as such until . The 5920 acres (2,396 ha) of land set aside for the new town were split across the county borders between East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
and Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. Architect Thomas Bennett
Thomas Bennett (architect)
Sir Thomas Penberthy Bennett KBE FRIBA was a renowned British architect, responsible for much of the development of the new towns of Crawley and Stevenage....
was appointed chairman of the Development Corporation for the town. A court challenge to the designation order meant that plans were not officially confirmed until December 1947. By this time, an initial plan for the development of the area had been drawn up by Anthony Minoprio. This proposed filling in the gaps between the villages of Crawley, Ifield and Three Bridges. Bennett estimated that planning, designing and building the town, and increasing its population from the existing 9,500 to 40,000, would take 15 years.
Work began almost immediately to prepare for the expansion of the town. A full master plan was in place by 1949. This envisaged an increase in the population of the town to 50,000, residential properties in nine neighbourhoods radiating from the town centre, and a separate industrial area to the north. The neighbourhoods would consist mainly of three-bedroom family homes, with a number of smaller and larger properties. Each would be built around a centre with shops, a church, a public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
, a primary school and a community centre
Community centre
Community centres or community centers or jumping recreation centers are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole community or for a specialised group within...
. Secondary education was to be provided at campuses at Ifield Green, Three Bridges and Tilgate
Tilgate, Crawley
Tilgate is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. The area contains a mixture of privately developed housing, self build groups and ex-council housing...
. Later, a fourth campus, in Southgate, was added to the plans.
At first, little development took place in the town centre, and residents relied on the shops and services in the existing high street. The earliest progress was in West Green
West Green, Crawley
West Green is one of the 13 residential neighbourhoods in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Crawley was planned and laid out as a New Town after the Second World War, based on the principle of self-contained neighbourhoods surrounding a town centre of civic and commercial buildings...
, where new residents moved in during the late 1940s. In 1950 the town was visited by the then heir to the throne, Princess Elizabeth
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, when she officially opened the Manor Royal
Manor Royal, Crawley
Manor Royal is an industrial zone within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Manor Royal is in the north of the town near to Gatwick airport. The area is devoted to light industry and offices and was designed for industry as part of the Crawley new town project...
industrial area. Building work continued throughout the 1950s in West Green, Northgate
Northgate, Crawley
Northgate is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England, and includes the town centre. Northgate is bordered by West Green to the west, Langley Green to the north, Three Bridges to the east and Southgate to the south.-History:...
and Three Bridges, and later in Langley Green
Langley Green, Crawley
Langley Green is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Langley Green is in the north-west of the town and is bordered by Manor Royal to the east, Northgate to the south east, West Green to the south across the ring road and Ifield to the west. The main streets running...
, Pound Hill
Pound Hill, Crawley
Pound Hill is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Pound Hill is located on the east of Crawley. It is bordered by Three Bridges and Manor Royal to the west and Maidenbower to the south....
and Ifield. In 1956, land at "Tilgate East" was allocated for housing use, eventually becoming the new neighbourhood of Furnace Green
Furnace Green, Crawley
Furnace Green is a neighbourhood of Crawley in West Sussex, England. It is one of the 13 designated neighbourhoods of Crawley and a local government ward. Furnace Green is located to the east of the town centre...
.
Extended shopping facilities to the east of the existing high street were provided. The first stage to open was The Broadwalk in 1954, following by the opening of the Queen's Square development by Her Majesty The Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
in 1958. Crawley railway station was moved eastwards towards the new development.
By April 1960, when Thomas Bennett made his last presentation as chairman of the Development Corporation, the town's population had reached 51,700; 2289000 square feet (212,655.1 m²) of factory and other industrial space had been provided; 21,800 people were employed, nearly 60% of whom worked in manufacturing industry; and only seventy people were registered as unemployed. The corporation had built 10,254 houses, and private builders provided around 1,500 more. Tenants were by then permitted to buy their houses, and 440 householders had chosen to do so by April 1960.
By 1980, the council identified land at Maidenbower, south of the Pound Hill neighbourhood, as being suitable for another new neighbourhood, and work began in 1986. However, all of this development was undertaken privately, unlike the earlier neighbourhoods in which most of the housing was owned by the council.
In 1999, plans were announced to develop a 14th neighbourhood on land at Tinsley Green
Tinsley Green, West Sussex
Tinsley Green is an area in the Borough of Crawley, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. Originally a hamlet in the parish of Worth, it was absorbed by the New Town of Crawley in the 1940s and became part of the Pound Hill neighbourhood...
to the northeast of the town. However, these were halted when proposals for possible expansion at Gatwick Airport
London Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport is located 3.1 miles north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, and south of Central London. Previously known as London Gatwick,In 2010, the name changed from London Gatwick Airport to Gatwick Airport...
were announced. As of 2008, discussions are underway with Horsham District Council concerning the possible future provision of new housing on Crawley's western fringes; much of the land proposed for development currently lies within Horsham's administrative boundaries.
Local government
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
led to the district being reformed as a borough in April 1974, gaining a mayor for the first time.
The Urban District Council received its coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
from the College of Heralds in 1957. After the change to borough status a modified coat of arms, based on the original, was awarded in 1976, and presented to the council on 24 March 1977. It features a central cross on a shield, representing the town's location at the meeting point of north–south and east–west roads. The shield bears nine martlet
Martlet
A martlet is a heraldic charge depicting a stylized bird with short tufts of feathers in the place of legs...
s representing both the county of Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
and the new town's original nine neighbourhoods. Supporters, of an eagle and a winged lion, relate to the significance of the airport to the locality. The motto featured is I Grow and I Rejoice—a translation of a phrase from the Epistulae of Seneca the Younger
Seneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero...
.
Initially the district (and then borough) council worked with the Commission for New Towns
English Partnerships
English Partnerships was the national regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by Regional Development Agencies on a regional level...
on many aspects of development; but in 1978 many of the commission's assets, such as housing and parks, were surrendered to the council. The authority's boundaries were extended in 1983 to accommodate the Bewbush and Broadfield neighbourhoods.
The borough remains part of the local two-tier arrangements, with services shared with West Sussex County Council. The authority is divided into 15 wards, each of which is represented by two or three local councillors, forming a total council of 37 members. Most wards are coterminous with the borough's neighbourhoods, but two neighbourhoods are divided: Broadfield into North and South wards, and Pound Hill into "Pound Hill North" and "Pound Hill South and Worth". The council is elected in thirds.
As of the 2011 local elections, the authority is Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
-controlled, with seats allocated as follows:
| Political Party | Seats held |
|---|---|
| Conservative | 24 |
| Labour | 13 |
| Liberal Democrat | 0 |
The party gained control in May 2006 for the first time since the borough was created. Previously the authority had always been Labour controlled.
United Kingdom government
Crawley Borough is coterminous with the parliamentary constituency of CrawleyCrawley (UK Parliament constituency)
Crawley is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
. Henry Smith
Henry Smith (British politician)
Henry Edward Millar Smith is a British Conservative Party politician who was Leader of West Sussex County Council from 2003 to 2010. He is the Member of Parliament for Crawley, having been elected in the 2010 general election....
won the seat at the 2010 general election. Laura Moffatt
Laura Moffatt
Laura Jean Moffatt is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Crawley from 1997 until 2010.-Early life:...
, a member of the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
was the MP for Crawley from 1997-2010 she was the Parliamentary Private Secretary
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary is a role given to a United Kingdom Member of Parliament by a senior minister in government or shadow minister to act as their contact for the House of Commons; this role is junior to that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary, which is a ministerial post, salaried by...
to the Secretary of State for Health
Secretary of State for Health
Secretary of State for Health is a UK cabinet position responsible for the Department of Health.The first Boards of Health were created by Orders in Council dated 21 June, 14 November, and 21 November 1831. In 1848 a General Board of Health was created with the First Commissioner of Woods and...
, Alan Johnson
Alan Johnson
Alan Arthur Johnson is a British Labour Party politician who served as Home Secretary from June 2009 to May 2010. Before that, he filled a wide variety of cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown governments, including Health Secretary and Education Secretary. Until 20 January 2011 he was...
. In the 2005 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
, the winning margin was the slimmest of any UK constituency: Laura Moffatt won by just 37 votes.
Brook House and Tinsley House Immigration Removal Centres, operated by the UK Border Agency
UK Border Agency
The UK Border Agency is the border control body of the United Kingdom government and part of the Home Office. It was formed on 1 April 2008 by a merger of the Border and Immigration Agency , UKvisas and the Detection functions of HM Revenue and Customs...
, are within the grounds of London Gatwick Airport
London Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport is located 3.1 miles north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, and south of Central London. Previously known as London Gatwick,In 2010, the name changed from London Gatwick Airport to Gatwick Airport...
in Crawley.
Data from the Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
's national identity database at Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
, South Yorkshire, was backed up to servers in Crawley for disaster recovery
Disaster recovery
Disaster recovery is the process, policies and procedures related to preparing for recovery or continuation of technology infrastructure critical to an organization after a natural or human-induced disaster. Disaster recovery is a subset of business continuity...
and business continuity
Business continuity planning
Business continuity planning “identifies [an] organization's exposure to internal and external threats and synthesizes hard and soft assets to provide effective prevention and recovery for the organization, whilst maintaining competitive advantage and value system integrity”. It is also called...
purposes. The Identity Documents Bill 2010
Identity Documents Bill 2010
The Identity Documents Act 2010 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom which reverses the introduction of identity cards and requires the destruction of the information held on the National Identity Register....
, proposed in May 2010 and passed in September 2010, authorised the destruction of all data stored for the identity card scheme brought about by the Identity Cards Act 2006.
Geography
At 51°6′33"N 0°11′14"W (51.1092, -0.1872), Crawley is in the northeastern corner of West Sussex in South East EnglandSouth East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
, 28 miles (45 km) south of London and 18 miles (29 km) north of Brighton and Hove. It is surrounded by smaller towns including Horley
Horley
Horley is a town in Surrey, England, situated south of the twin towns of Reigate and Redhill, and north of Gatwick Airport and Crawley.With fast links by train to London from Horley railway station, it has grown popular with commuters in recent years...
, Redhill
Redhill, Surrey
Redhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead, Surrey, England and is part of the London commuter belt. Redhill and the adjacent town of Reigate form a single urban area.-History:...
, Reigate
Reigate
Reigate is a historic market town in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs, and in the London commuter belt. It is one of the main constituents of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead...
, Dorking
Dorking
Dorking is a historic market town at the foot of the North Downs approximately south of London, in Surrey, England.- History and development :...
, Horsham
Horsham
Horsham is a market town with a population of 55,657 on the upper reaches of the River Arun in the centre of the Weald, West Sussex, in the historic County of Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester...
, Haywards Heath
Haywards Heath
-Climate:Haywards Heath experiences an oceanic climate similar to almost all of the United Kingdom.-Rail:Haywards Heath railway station is a major station on the Brighton Main Line...
and East Grinstead
East Grinstead
East Grinstead is a town and civil parish in the northeastern corner of Mid Sussex, West Sussex in England near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders. It lies south of London, north northeast of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester...
. The borough of Crawley is bordered by the West Sussex local authority areas of Mid Sussex and Horsham districts, and the Mole Valley
Mole Valley
Mole Valley is a local government district in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Dorking.The district, named after the River Mole, was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the urban districts of Dorking and Leatherhead and most of the Dorking and Horley...
and Tandridge districts and the Borough of Reigate and Banstead
Reigate and Banstead
Reigate and Banstead is a local government district with borough status in east Surrey England. It covers the towns of Reigate, Banstead, Redhill and Horley....
in the county of Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
.
Crawley lies in the Weald
Weald
The Weald is the name given to an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It should be regarded as three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge which...
between the North
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs...
and South Downs
South Downs
The South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...
. Two beds of sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock are types of rock that are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution....
meet beneath the town: the eastern neighbourhoods and the town centre lie largely on the sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
Hastings Beds, while the rest of the town is based on Weald Clay
Weald Clay
Weald Clay is a Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rock underlying areas of South East England. It is part of the Wealden Group of rocks. The clay is named after the Weald, an area of Sussex. It varies from orange and grey in colour and is used in brickmaking....
. A geological fault running from east to west has left an area of Weald Clay (with a ridge of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
) jutting into the Hastings Beds around Tilgate.
The town has no major waterways, although a number of smaller brooks and streams are tributaries for the River Mole
River Mole, Surrey
The River Mole is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows north west through Surrey for to the Thames near Hampton Court Palace. The river gives its name to the Surrey district of Mole Valley...
which rises near Gatwick Airport and flows northwards to the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
near Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Greater London; it has not been inhabited by the British royal family since the 18th century. The palace is located south west of Charing Cross and upstream of Central London on the River Thames...
. There are several lakes at Tilgate Park and a mill pond at Ifield which was stopped to feed the Ifield Water Mill
Ifield Water Mill
Ifield Water Mill is a 19th-century weatherboarded watermill in the Ifield neighbourhood of Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Built on the site of an earlier, smaller flour mill, which itself replaced an iron forge—one of many in the Crawley area—it fell into disuse in the 1930s...
.
In 1822 Gideon Mantell, an amateur fossil collector and palaeontologist, discovered teeth, bones and other remains of what he described as "an animal of the lizard tribe of enormous magnitude", in Tilgate Forest on the edge of Crawley. He announced his discovery in an 1825 scientific paper, giving the creature the name Iguanodon
Iguanodon
Iguanodon is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived roughly halfway between the first of the swift bipedal hypsilophodontids and the ornithopods' culmination in the duck-billed dinosaurs...
. In 1832 he discovered and named the Hylaeosaurus
Hylaeosaurus
Hylaeosaurus is the most obscure of the three animals used by Sir Richard Owen to first define the new group Dinosauria, in 1842. The original specimen, recovered by Gideon Mantell from the Tilgate Forest in the south of England in 1832, now resides in the Natural History Museum of London, where...
genus of dinosaurs after finding a fossil in the same forest.
Climate
Crawley lies within the Sussex weald, an area of highly variable terrain, meaning many microclimates of frost hollows, sun traps and windswept hilltops will be encountered over a short distance. During calm, clear periods of weather this allows for some interesting temperature variances, although during the majority of the time, when mobile westerly airstreams persist, the weather is typically maritime as with the rest of the British Isles. Gatwick is the nearest weather station that offers long term means to give an accurate description of the climate of the Crawley area, although more recently the Metoffice weather station at adjacent Charlwood offers data also. Both weather stations are about 3 miles north of Crawley town centre and at similar altitudes.Generally, Crawley's inland and southerly position within the UK means temperatures in summer are amongst the highest in the British Isles, Charlwood recording 36.3c (97.3f) and Gatwick recording 36.4c (97.5f) on the 19th July 2006, just 0.2c and 0.1c lower, respectively, than the UK Monthly record for that day set at Wisley, 20 miles to the west. The absolute maximum stands at 36.5c(97.7f) at Charlwood, set on the 10th August 2003. The absolute record for Gatwick is the aforementioned 36.4c. Before this, the highest temperature recorded at Gatwick was 35.6c(96.1f), also in August 2003. The maximum temperature will be 25.1c(77.2f) or higher on 15.9 days of the year on average (1971-00) and the warmest day will typically rise to 29.4c (84.9f).
The abolute minimum for Gatwick Airport for the period 1960-onwards is -16.7c(1.9f), set during January 1963. More Recently, Charlwood fell to -11.2c(11.8f) and Gatwick -11.1c(12.0f) on the 20th December 2010. Typically the coldest night at Gatwick will fall to -8.9c(16.0f). Air frost is recorded on 58.2 nights at Gatwick (1971-00)
Sunshine totals are higher than many inland areas due to the southerly location of Crawley, Gatwick averaging 1574hrs over the 1961-90 period. No data is available for the 1971-00 period, but given increases at comparable sites nearby, annual averages are likely to be in excess of 1600hrs.
Snowfall is often heavier in the Sussex weald area than many other low lying parts of central and southern England due to the proximity of moisture laden southerly tracking low pressure systems bringing easterly winds and much snow to areas of South London southwards. However, again due to the southerly location of the area, with warmer air from the English channel close by, the snow is often transient as low pressure systems track north bringing in milder air, and rarely last long, with areas immediately north of the London area tending to have less accumulation, but lying for a longer duration.
Rainfall is lower than the English average, but higher than many other areas of the South East. 1mm of rain or more falls on 116.7 days of the year
Neighbourhoods and areas
Each of the 13 residential neighbourhoods is identified by a colour, which is shown on street name signs in a standard format throughout the town: below the street name, the neighbourhood name is shown in white text on a coloured background.
| Number on map |
Name | Colour | Construction commenced |
Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Langley Green Langley Green, Crawley Langley Green is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Langley Green is in the north-west of the town and is bordered by Manor Royal to the east, Northgate to the south east, West Green to the south across the ring road and Ifield to the west. The main streets running... |
Grey | 1952 | 7,286 |
| 2 | Northgate Northgate, Crawley Northgate is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England, and includes the town centre. Northgate is bordered by West Green to the west, Langley Green to the north, Three Bridges to the east and Southgate to the south.-History:... |
Dark green | 1951 | 4,407 |
| 3 | Pound Hill Pound Hill, Crawley Pound Hill is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Pound Hill is located on the east of Crawley. It is bordered by Three Bridges and Manor Royal to the west and Maidenbower to the south.... |
Orange | 1953 | 14,716 |
| 4 | Maidenbower Maidenbower, Crawley Maidenbower is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Maidenbower is located in the south east corner of the town bordering the M23 motorway. It is bordered by Pound Hill to the north and Furnace Green to the west across the railway line.Maidenbower is the newest of... |
Blue | 1987 | 8,070 |
| 5 | Furnace Green Furnace Green, Crawley Furnace Green is a neighbourhood of Crawley in West Sussex, England. It is one of the 13 designated neighbourhoods of Crawley and a local government ward. Furnace Green is located to the east of the town centre... |
Light green | 1960 | 5,734 |
| 6 | Tilgate Tilgate, Crawley Tilgate is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. The area contains a mixture of privately developed housing, self build groups and ex-council housing... |
Red | 1955 | 6,198 |
| 7 | Broadfield Broadfield, Crawley Broadfield is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Broadfield is located in the south west of the town. It is bordered by Bewbush to the north, Southgate to the north east and Tilgate to the east.... |
Sky blue | 1969 | 12,666 |
| 8 | Bewbush Bewbush, Crawley Bewbush is a neighbourhood of Crawley in West Sussex, England and is one of the town's 13 designated neighbourhoods. Bewbush is located in south west Crawley and is bordered by Broadfield to the south, Ifield to the north and Gossops Green to the north east. The neighbourhood has a population of... |
Light brown | 1975 | 9,081 |
| 9 | Ifield Ifield, Crawley Ifield is a former village and now a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Ifield is in the west of the town and is bordered by Ifield West, Horsham, Langley Green to the north east, West Green to the east across the ring road and Gossops Green and Bewbush to the south... |
Purple | 1953 | 8,414 |
| 10 | West Green West Green, Crawley West Green is one of the 13 residential neighbourhoods in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Crawley was planned and laid out as a New Town after the Second World War, based on the principle of self-contained neighbourhoods surrounding a town centre of civic and commercial buildings... |
Dark blue | 1949 | 4,404 |
| 11 | Gossops Green Gossops Green, Crawley Gossops Green is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Gossops Green is located in the west of the town and is bordered by Bewbush to the south west, Ifield to the north and Southgate to the east across the ring road. Gossops Green is also a local government... |
Maroon | 1956 | 5,014 |
| 12 | Southgate Southgate, Crawley Southgate is one of the 13 residential neighbourhoods in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Crawley was planned and laid out as a New Town after the Second World War, based on the principle of self-contained neighbourhoods surrounding a town centre of civic and commercial buildings... |
Brown | 1955 | 8,106 |
| 13 | Three Bridges Three Bridges Three Bridges is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley, in the county of West Sussex in England.-History:Three Bridges was a tiny hamlet, which first began to grow with the coming of the London and Brighton Railway in 1841... |
Yellow | 1952 | 5,648 |
There are areas which are not defined as neighbourhoods but which are closely associated with Crawley:
- The Manor RoyalManor Royal, CrawleyManor Royal is an industrial zone within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Manor Royal is in the north of the town near to Gatwick airport. The area is devoted to light industry and offices and was designed for industry as part of the Crawley new town project...
industrial estate is in the north of the town. Although it is part of the Northgate ward, it is allocated a colour: its street name signs feature the word "Industrial" on a black background. - Crawley's town centre is in the southernmost part of Northgate. Its street name signs do not follow the standard format of the neighbourhood signs, but display only the street name.
- Gatwick Airport was built on the site of a manor house, Gatwick Manor, close to the village of Lowfield HeathLowfield HeathLowfield Heath is a former village within the boundaries of the Borough of Crawley, a local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. Situated on the main London to Brighton road approximately south of London and north of Crawley, it was gradually rendered uninhabitable by...
. Most of the village was demolished when the airport expanded, but the Grade II*-listed St Michael and All Angels ChurchSt Michael and All Angels Church, Lowfield HeathSt Michael and All Angels Church is a church in Lowfield Heath, a depopulated former village in the Borough of Crawley, a local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England...
, remains. The site of Lowfield Heath village, now occupied by warehouses and light industrial units, is on the airport's southern boundary, between the perimeter road and the A23 close to Manor Royal. - WorthWorth village, West SussexWorth is an area within the neighbourhood of Pound Hill, Crawley. It was a separate village and is still a civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex.-Worth village:...
was originally a village with its own civil parish, lying just beyond the eastern edge of the Crawley urban area and borough boundary; but development of the Pound Hill and Maidenbower neighbourhoods has filled in the gaps, and the borough boundary has been extended to include the whole of the village. The civil parish of WorthWorth, West SussexThe civil parish of Worth, which includes the villages of Copthorne, West Sussex and Crawley Down, covers an area of and has a population of 9888 persons. The ecclesiastical parish was one of the larger West Sussex parishes, encompassing the entire area along the West Sussex/Surrey border between...
remains, albeit reduced in size, as part of the Mid SussexMid SussexMid Sussex is a local government district in the English county of West Sussex. It contains the towns of East Grinstead, Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill....
district. - Tinsley GreenTinsley Green, West SussexTinsley Green is an area in the Borough of Crawley, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. Originally a hamlet in the parish of Worth, it was absorbed by the New Town of Crawley in the 1940s and became part of the Pound Hill neighbourhood...
, a hamletHamlet (place)A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
in Worth parishWorth, West SussexThe civil parish of Worth, which includes the villages of Copthorne, West Sussex and Crawley Down, covers an area of and has a population of 9888 persons. The ecclesiastical parish was one of the larger West Sussex parishes, encompassing the entire area along the West Sussex/Surrey border between...
, is now within the Pound Hill neighbourhood. Its houses, farms and public house, the Greyhound (at which the British and World Marbles ChampionshipBritish and World Marbles Championship-World Marbles at Tinsley Green:The tournament is said to date back several hundred years to 1588 during the reign of Elizabeth I, when is reputed to be the scene of an epic marbles battle between two young men, over the hand of a local milk maiden....
has been held annually since 1932), lie on or around an east–west minor road running from the main BalcombeBalcombe, West SussexBalcombe is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester. Nearby towns include Crawley to the northwest and Haywards Heath to the south southeast...
–HorleyHorleyHorley is a town in Surrey, England, situated south of the twin towns of Reigate and Redhill, and north of Gatwick Airport and Crawley.With fast links by train to London from Horley railway station, it has grown popular with commuters in recent years...
road to the Manor Royal estate. A proposal to built a fourteenth neighbourhood in the area was first made in January 1998, and in December 2009 the Government allowed an appeal to be heard against the latest refusal of planning permissionPlanning permissionPlanning permission or planning consent is the permission required in the United Kingdom in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. Within the UK the occupier of any land or building will need title to that land or building , but will also need "planning...
. - In April 2010, it was announced that the fourteenth neighbourhood was to be called Kilnwood Vale. It is to be built to the west of Bewbush, with 2,500 homes, and a variety of facilities.
Demography
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1901 | 4,433 |
| 1921 | 5,437 |
| 1941 | 7,090 |
| 1961 | 25,550 |
| 1981 | 87,865 |
| 2001 | 99,744 |
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
in 2001 the population of Crawley was recorded as 99,744. This accounted for 13.2% of the population of the county of West Sussex. The growth in population of the new town—around 1,000% between 1951 and 2001—has outstripped that of most similar-sized settlements. For example, in the same period, the population of the neighbouring district of Horsham grew by just 99%.
Approximately 64.5% of the population is aged below 45, compared to 55% of the population of West Sussex. White British
White British
White British was an ethnicity classification used in the 2001 United Kingdom Census. As a result of the census, 50,366,497 people in the United Kingdom were classified as White British. In Scotland the classification was broken down into two different categories: White Scottish and Other White...
account for 84.5% of the population and 15.5% of people are from other ethnic backgrounds. People of Indian and Pakistani origin account for 4.5% and 3% of the population respectively.
The borough has a population density of around 22 persons per hectare (54 persons per acre), making it the second most densely populated district in West Sussex, after Worthing
Worthing
Worthing is a large seaside town with borough status in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, forming part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester...
. The social mix is similar to the national norm: around 50% are in the ABC1 social category
NRS social grade
The NRS social grades are a system of demographic classification used in the United Kingdom. They were originally developed by the National Readership Survey in order to classify readers, but are now used by many other organisations for wider applications and have become a standard for market...
, although this varies by ward, with just 44% in Broadfield North compared to 75% in Maidenbower.
The proportion of people in the borough with higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
qualifications is lower than the national average. Around 14% have a qualification at level 4
National Qualifications Framework
The National Qualifications Framework is a credit transfer system developed for qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland....
or above, compared to 20% nationally.
Economy
| Labour Profile | ||
|---|---|---|
| Total employee jobs | 79,700 | |
| Full-time | 58,100 | 72.9% |
| Part-time | 21,600 | 27.1% |
| Manufacturing | 7,500 | 9.4% |
| Construction | 1,800 | 2.2% |
| Services | 70,100 | 87.9% |
| Distribution, hotels & restaurants | 19,600 | 24.6% |
| Transport & communications | 23,900 | 30.0% |
| Finance, IT, other business activities | 15,400 | 19.3% |
| Public admin, education & health | 9,600 | 12.1% |
| Other services | 1,600 | 2.0% |
| Tourism-related | 6,600 | 8.3% |
South East England Development Agency
SEEDA, more officially the South East England Development Agency, is one of a number of regional development agencies in England. It was set up as a non-departmental public body in 1999 to promote the region and to enable a number of more difficult regeneration projects which otherwise might not...
, South East England's Regional Development Agency
Regional Development Agency
In the United Kingdom, a regional development agency is a non-departmental public body established for the purpose of development, primarily economic, of one of England's Government Office regions. There is one RDA for each of the NUTS level 1 regions of England...
, aims to maintain and improve the Crawley and Gatwick area's status as a region of national and international economic importance.
Since the Second World War, unemployment in Crawley has been low: the rate was 1.47% of the working-age population in 2003. During the boom of the 1980s the town boasted the lowest level of unemployment in the UK. Continuous growth and investment have made Crawley one of the most important business and employment centres in the South East England
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
region.
Manufacturing industry
Crawley was already a modest industrial centre by the end of the Second World War. Building was an important trade: 800 people were employed by building and joinery firms, and two—Longley's and Cook's—were large enough to have their own factories. In 1949, 1,529 people worked in manufacturing: the main industries were light and precision engineeringPrecision engineering
Precision engineering is a subdiscipline of electrical engineering, electronics engineering, mechanical engineering, and optical engineering concerned with designing machines, fixtures, and other structures that have exceptionally low tolerances, are repeatable, and are stable over time...
and aircraft repair. Many of the jobs in these industries were highly skilled.
Industrial development had to take place relatively soon after the new town was established because part of the Corporation's remit was to move people and jobs out of an overcrowded and war-damaged London. Industrial jobs were needed as well as houses and shops to create a balanced community where people could settle. The Development Corporation wanted the new town to support a large and mixed industrial base, with factories and other buildings based in a single zone rather than spread throughout the town. A 267 acres (108 ha) site in the northeastern part of the development area was chosen. Its advantages included flat land with no existing development; proximity to the London–Brighton railway line, the A23 and the planned M23; space for railway sidings (which were eventually built on a much smaller scale than envisaged); and an adjacent 44 acres (18 ha) site reserved for future expansion, on the other side of the railway line (again, not used for this purpose in the end). Princess Elizabeth
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
(later Queen Elizabeth II) opened the first part of the industrial area on 25 January 1950; its main road was named Manor Royal, and this name eventually came to refer to the whole estate.
The Corporation stipulated that several manufacturing industries should be developed, rather than allowing one sector or firm to dominate. It did not seek to attract companies by offering financial or other incentives; instead, it set out to create the ideal conditions for industrial development to arise naturally, by providing large plots of land with room for expansion, allowing firms to build their own premises or rent ready-made buildings, and constructing a wide range of building types and sizes.
Despite the lack of direct incentives, many firms applied to move to the Manor Royal estate: it was considered such an attractive place to relocate to that the Development Corporation was able to choose between applicants to achieve the ideal mix of firms, and little advertising or promotion had to be undertaken. One year after Manor Royal was opened, eighteen firms were trading there, including four with more than 100 employees and one with more than 1,000. By 1964, businesses which had moved to the town since 1950 employed 16,000 people; the master plan had anticipated between 8,000 and 8,500. In 1978 there were 105 such firms, employing nearly 20,000 people.
The Thales Group
Thales Group
The Thales Group is a French electronics company delivering information systems and services for the aerospace, defense, transportation and security markets...
opened a new manufacturing and office complex in Crawley in 2009. The site consolidated manufacturing and offices in the Crawley area and the south-east of England.
Service industry and commerce
British Caledonian
British Caledonian was a private, British independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline, operating out of Gatwick Airport in the 1970s and 1980s...
, and The Office of the Paymaster-General
Paymaster-General
HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom. The Paymaster General is in charge of the Office of HM Paymaster General , which held accounts at the Bank of England on behalf of Government departments and selected other public bodies...
—a government ministry within the remit of HM Treasury
HM Treasury
HM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy...
. The five-storey Overline House above the railway station, completed in 1968, is used by Crawley's NHS Primary Care Trust
NHS Primary Care Trust
An NHS primary care trust is a type of NHS trust, part of the National Health Service in England. PCTs commission primary, community and secondary care from providers. Until 31 may2011 they also provided community services directly. Collectively PCT are responsible for spending around 80% of the...
and various other companies.
Companies headquartered in Crawley include Astraeus Airlines, Doosan Babcock Energy, WesternGeco
WesternGeco
WesternGeco is a geophysical services company. It is headquartered in the Schlumberger House on the property of London Gatwick Airport in Crawley, West Sussex, in Greater London.-Background:...
, Virgin Atlantic Airways
Virgin Atlantic Airways
Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited is a British airline owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Singapore Airlines...
, Virgin Atlantic's associated travel agency Virgin Holidays
Virgin Holidays
Virgin Holidays Limited is a company within Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, headquartered in "The Office" in Crawley, West Sussex. The company was formed in 1985, a year after the successful launch of Virgin Atlantic Airways in June 1984...
, and the Office of the Paymaster-General. BDO International
BDO International
BDO International is a worldwide professional services network of public accountancy firms, serving national and international clients. Each BDO Member Firm is an independent legal entity in its own country. The network, originally formed in 1963 as Binder Seidman International Group, is...
has an office in Crawley.
British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
took over British Caledonian
British Caledonian
British Caledonian was a private, British independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline, operating out of Gatwick Airport in the 1970s and 1980s...
's former headquarters near the Manor Royal estate, renamed it "Astral Towers" and based its British Airways Holidays and AIRMILES divisions there. Other companies formerly headquartered in Crawley include British United Airways
British United Airways
British United Airways was a private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations British airline formed as a result of the merger of Airwork Services and Hunting-Clan Air Transport in July 1960, making it the largest wholly private airline based in the United Kingdom at the time...
, CityFlyer Express
CityFlyer Express
CityFlyer Express was an independentindependent from government-owned corporations, short-haul regional airline with its head office in the Iain Stewart Centre adjacent to London Gatwick Airport in Crawley, West Sussex, England....
, CP Ships
CP Ships
CP Ships was a large Canadian container shipping company, prior to being taken over by Hapag Lloyd in late 2005. CP Ships had its head office in the City of Westminster in London and later in the City Place Gatwick development on the property of London Gatwick Airport in Crawley, West Sussex.The...
, GB Airways
GB Airways
GB Airways was a UK airline; prior to its dissolution it was headquartered in "The Beehive," a former terminal building, at City Place Gatwick, London Gatwick Airport in Crawley, West Sussex, England. It operated scheduled services as a British Airways franchise to 30 destinations in Europe and...
, Laker Airways
Laker Airways
Laker Airways was a wholly private, British independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline founded by Sir Freddie Laker in 1966. It originally was a charter airline flying passengers and cargo worldwide...
, and Air Europe
Air Europe
Air Europe was a wholly privately owned, independentindependent from government-owned corporations British airline, established in 1978 under the working title Inter European Airways. It adopted the Air Europe name the following year...
.
Crawley has numerous hotels, including The George Hotel
The George Hotel, Crawley
The George Hotel, also known as The George Inn and now marketed as the Ramada Crawley Gatwick, is a hotel and former coaching inn on the High Street in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England....
, dated to 1615. It is reputedly haunted.
Shopping and retail
In the 1960s and 1970s, large branches of Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
were opened (the Tesco superstore was the largest in Britain at the time). The shopping area was also expanded southeastwards from Queen's Square: although the original plans of 1975 were not implemented fully, several large shop units were built and a new pedestrianised link—The Martlets—was provided between Queen's Square and Haslett Avenue, the main road to Three Bridges. The remaining land between this area and the railway line was sold for private development by 1982; in 1992 a 450000 square feet (41,806.4 m²) shopping centre named County Mall was opened there. Its stores includes major retailers such as Debenhams
Debenhams
Debenhams plc is a British retailer operating under a department store format in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, and franchise stores in other countries. The Company was founded in the eighteenth century as a single store in London and has now grown to around 160 shops...
, Boots
Alliance Boots
Alliance Boots GmbH is a leading international, pharmacy-led health and beauty group. It has two core business activities - pharmacy-led health and beauty retailing, and pharmaceutical wholesaling and distribution - and has a presence in more than 25 countries...
, W H Smith
W H Smith
WHSmith plc is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It is best known for its chain of high street, railway station, airport, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, and entertainment products...
and British Home Stores as well as over 80 smaller outlets. The town's main bus station was redesigned, roads including the main A2220 Haslett Avenue were rerouted, and some buildings at the south end of The Martlets were demolished to accommodate the mall.
A regeneration strategy for the town centre, "Centre Vision 2000", was produced in 1993. Changes brought about by the scheme have included 50000 square feet (4,645.2 m²) of additional retail space in Queen's Square and The Martlets, and a mixed-use development at the southern end of the High Street on land formerly occupied by Robinson Road (which was demolished) and Spencers Road (shortened and severed at one end). An ASDA superstore, opened in September 2003, forms the centrepiece. Robinson Road, previously named Church Road, had been at the heart of the old Crawley: a century before its demolition, its buildings included two chapels, a school, a hospital and a post office.
There are plans to expand Crawley's central shopping area northwards on to land occupied by the Town Hall and office buildings. The borough council's premises would be moved to a new site—possibly the land occupied by Sussex House on the High Street—and The Boulevard would become a large pedestrianised shopping area. A 255000 square feet (23,690.3 m²) John Lewis department store
John Lewis (department store)
-Recent developments:In June 2004, John Lewis announced plans to open its first store in Northern Ireland at the Sprucefield Park development, the province's largest out of town shopping centre, located outside Lisburn and from Belfast. The application was approved in June 2005 and the opening of...
, to be opened in 2013, would be the anchor store
Anchor store
In retail, an anchor store, draw tenant, anchor tenant, or key tenant is one of the larger stores in a shopping mall, usually a department store or a major retail chain....
. The scheme, named "Town Centre North", is designed to make Crawley a major regional shopping destination.
Public services
Policing in Crawley is provided by Sussex PoliceSussex Police
Sussex Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing East Sussex, West Sussex and City of Brighton and Hove in southern England. Its head office is in Lewes, Lewes District, East Sussex.-History:...
; the British Transport Police
British Transport Police
The British Transport Police is a special police force that polices those railways and light-rail systems in Great Britain for which it has entered into an agreement to provide such services...
are responsible for the rail network. The borough is the police headquarters for the North Downs division, and is itself divided into three areas for the purposes of neighbourhood policing: Crawley East, Crawley West, and Crawley Town Centre. A separate division covers Gatwick Airport. There is a police station in the town centre; it is open 24 hours a day, and the front desk is staffed for 16 hours each day except Christmas Day. Statutory emergency fire and rescue services
Fire service in the United Kingdom
The fire services in the United Kingdom operate under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales...
are provided by the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service which operates a fire station in the town centre. The South East Coast Ambulance Service
South East Coast Ambulance Service
The South East Coast Ambulance Service is the NHS Ambulance Services Trust for south-eastern England, covering Kent , Surrey, West Sussex and East Sussex . It also covers a part of north-eastern Hampshire around Aldershot...
is responsible for ambulance and paramedic services.
Crawley Hospital
Crawley Hospital
Crawley Hospital is a National Health Service hospital in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Since 2006 it has been part of the West Sussex Primary Care Trust, which has overall management responsibility. Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust also provides some services...
in West Green is operated by West Sussex Primary Care Trust. Some services are provided by the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
NHS Trust
A National Health Service trust provides services on behalf of the National Health Service in England and NHS Wales.The trusts are not trusts in the legal sense but are in effect public sector corporations. Each trust is headed by a board consisting of executive and non-executive directors, and is...
, including a 24-hour Urgent Treatment Centre for semi-life threatening injuries. The Surrey and Sussex has been judged as "weak" by the Healthcare Commission
Healthcare Commission
The Healthcare Commission was a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department of Health of the United Kingdom. It was set up to promote and drive improvement in the quality of health care and public health in England and Wales...
.
Thames Water
Thames Water
Thames Water Utilities Ltd, known as Thames Water, is the private utility company responsible for the public water supply and waste water treatment in large parts of Greater London, the Thames Valley, Surrey, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Kent, and some other areas of in the United Kingdom...
is responsible for all waste water and sewerage provision. Residents in most parts of Crawley receive their drinking water from Southern Water
Southern Water
Southern Water is the utility responsible for wastewater collection and treatment in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent, and for water supply and distribution in the approximately half of this area...
; areas in the north of the town around Gatwick Airport are provided by Sutton & East Surrey Water; and South East Water supplies Maidenbower.
EDF Energy Networks
EDF Energy
EDF Energy is an integrated energy company in the United Kingdom, with operations spanning electricity generation and the sale of gas and electricity to homes and businesses throughout the United Kingdom...
is the Distribution Network Operator
Distribution Network Operator
Distribution network operators are companies licensed to distribute electricity in Great Britain by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets....
responsible for electricity. Gas is supplied by Southern Gas Networks
Scotia Gas Networks
Scotia Gas Networks is a holding company of Scotland Gas Networks and Southern Gas Networks based in Horley.- History :The company was formed following National Grid plc's decision to sell four of its local gas distribution zones in order to raise funds for expansion...
who own and manage the South East Local Distribution Zone.
The provision of public services was made in co-operation with the local authorities as the town grew in the 1950s and 1960s. They oversaw the opening of a fire station in 1958, the telephone exchange, police station and town centre health clinic in 1961 and an ambulance station in 1963. Plans for a new hospital on land at The Hawth were abandoned, however, and the existing hospital in West Green was redeveloped instead. Gas was piped from Croydon, 20 miles (32 km) away, and a gasworks at Redhill, while the town's water supply came from the Weir Wood
Weir Wood
Weir Wood Reservoir is a long stretch of water, situated close to Forest Row, East Sussex, England, on the north-western margins of Ashdown Forest. It has a full water capacity of , covering a site of . The reservoir was built over the period 1951-54, a process which involved damming the valley of...
reservoir south of East Grinstead and another at Pease Pottage
Pease Pottage
Pease Pottage is a small village in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the southern edge of the Crawley built up area, in the civil parish of Slaugham....
.
In December 2008, a new three-storey library was opened in new buildings at Southgate Avenue, replacing the considerably undersized establishment formerly at County Buildings.
The Civil Aviation Authority Regulation Safety Group is in the Aviation House in Gatwick Airport in Crawley.
Transport
Crawley's early development as a market town was helped by its location on the London–Brighton turnpike. The area was joined to the railway networkRail transport in Great Britain
The railway system in Great Britain is the oldest in the world, with the world's first locomotive-hauled public railway opening in 1825. As of 2010, it consists of of standard gauge lines , of which are electrified. These lines range from single to double, triple, quadruple track and up to twelve...
in the mid-19th century; and since the creation of the new town, there have been major road upgrades (including a motorway link), a guided bus
Guided bus
Guided buses are buses steered for part or all of their route by external means, usually on a dedicated track. This track, which often parallels existing roads, excludes other traffic, permitting the maintenance of reliable schedules on heavily used corridors even during rush hours.Guidance systems...
transit system and the establishment of an airport which has become one of Britain's largest and busiest.
Road
A23 road
The A23 road is a major road in the United Kingdom between London and Brighton, East Sussex. It became an arterial route following the construction of Westminster Bridge in 1750 and the consequent improvement of roads leading to the bridge south of the river by the Turnpike Trusts...
. It was bypassed by a new dual carriageway in 1938 (which forms the A23's current route through the town), and then later to the east side of the town by the M23 motorway
M23 motorway
The M23 motorway is a motorway in England. The motorway runs from south of Hooley in Surrey, where it splits from the A23, to Pease Pottage, south of Crawley in West Sussex where it rejoins the A23. The northern end of the motorway starts at junction 7 on what is effectively a spur north from...
, which was opened in 1975. This connects London's orbital motorway, the M25
M25 motorway
The M25 motorway, or London Orbital, is a orbital motorway that almost encircles Greater London, England, in the United Kingdom. The motorway was first mooted early in the 20th century. A few sections, based on the now abandoned London Ringways plan, were constructed in the early 1970s and it ...
, to the A23 at Pease Pottage
Pease Pottage
Pease Pottage is a small village in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the southern edge of the Crawley built up area, in the civil parish of Slaugham....
, at the southern edge of Crawley's built-up area. The original single-carriageway A23 became the A2219.
The M23 has junctions in the Crawley area at the A2011/A264
A264 road
The A264 is an east-west road in southern England that runs from Pembury in west Kent to Five Oaks in West Sussex.There have been a number of notable changes in this important east-west route which follows the north Sussex border with Kent and Surrey....
(Junction 10) and Maidenbower (area of Crawley) (Junction 10A). The end of the motorway at Pease Pottage is Junction 11. The A2011, another dual-carriageway, joins the A23 in West Green and provides a link, via the A2004, to the town centre. The A2220 follows the former route of the A264 through the town, linking the A23 directly to the A264 at Copthorne
Copthorne, West Sussex
Copthorne is a village in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. It lies close to Gatwick Airport, south of London, north of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Nearby towns include Crawley to the southwest and East Grinstead to the east...
, from where it then runs to East Grinstead
East Grinstead
East Grinstead is a town and civil parish in the northeastern corner of Mid Sussex, West Sussex in England near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders. It lies south of London, north northeast of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester...
.
Rail
Brighton Main Line
The Brighton Main Line is a British railway line from London Victoria and London Bridge to Brighton. It is about 50 miles long, and is electrified throughout. Trains are operated by Southern, First Capital Connect, and Gatwick Express, now part of Southern.-Original proposals:There were no fewer...
, which opened as far as Haywards Heath
Haywards Heath railway station
Haywards Heath railway station serves Haywards Heath in West Sussex, England. It is on the Brighton Main Line and Thameslink north of Brighton, and train services are primarily provided by Southern and First Capital Connect...
on 12 July 1841 and reached Brighton on 21 September 1841. It ran through Three Bridges, which was then a small village east of Crawley, and a station
Three Bridges railway station
Three Bridges railway station is located in and named after the village of Three Bridges, which is now a district of Crawley, West Sussex, England...
was built to serve it.
A line to Horsham
Horsham
Horsham is a market town with a population of 55,657 on the upper reaches of the River Arun in the centre of the Weald, West Sussex, in the historic County of Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester...
, now part of the Arun Valley Line
Arun Valley Line
The Arun Valley Line, also known as the Mid Sussex Line, is part of the Southern-operated railway services. For the initial part of the route trains follow the Brighton Main Line, and at a junction south of Three Bridges the route turns westwards...
, was opened on 14 February 1848. A station
Crawley railway station
Crawley railway station is a railway station serving the town of Crawley in West Sussex. The station is 47 km south of London Victoria and is owned and operated by Southern...
was provided next to Crawley High Street from that date. A new station was constructed slightly to the east, in conjunction with the Overline House commercial development, and replaced the original station which closed on 28 July 1968. The ticket office and Up (London-bound) platform waiting areas form the ground floor of the office building.
Ifield railway station
Ifield railway station
Ifield railway station serves the neighbourhoods of Ifield and Gossops Green in the West Sussex town of Crawley. It is on the Arun Valley Line, and is miles from London Bridge. Train services are provided by Southern.-History:...
is now within the Crawley urban area. Opened as Lyons Crossing Halt on 1 June 1907 to serve the village of Ifield, it was soon renamed Ifield Halt, dropping the "Halt" suffix in 1930.
Regular train services run from Crawley to London Victoria and London Bridge
London Bridge station
London Bridge railway station is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex in the London Borough of Southwark, occupying a large area on two levels immediately south-east of London Bridge and 1.6 miles east of Charing Cross. It is one of the oldest railway stations in the...
stations, Gatwick Airport, East Croydon
East Croydon station
East Croydon station is a railway station and tram stop in Croydon, 10.35 miles south of London Bridge in Travelcard Zone 5. It is the largest and busiest station in Croydon and the busiest in London outside Travelcard Zone 1 in terms of the number of passengers entering and exiting...
, Horsham
Horsham railway station
Horsham railway station serves the town of Horsham in West Sussex, England. It is on the Arun Valley Line 61 km south of London Victoria and the Sutton & Mole Valley Lines, and train services are provided by Southern...
, Bognor Regis
Bognor Regis railway station
Bognor Regis railway station is in the town of Bognor Regis, in the English county of West Sussex, England. It is approximately 65 miles south of London Victoria. The station and the trains serving it are operated by Southern railway company...
, Chichester
Chichester railway station
Chichester railway station is a railway station in the city of Chichester in West Sussex, England. The station is a short walk from the city centre, and about a 10 minute walk from the university....
, Portsmouth
Portsmouth Harbour railway station
Portsmouth Harbour railway station is a railway station in Portsmouth, England. It is situated beside Gunwharf Quays in the city's harbour, and is an important transport terminal, with a bus interchange and ferry services to Gosport and the Isle of Wight. The station currently has four platforms:...
and Southampton. Three Bridges has direct "Thameslink" trains to Bedford & Brighton.
Bus and Fastway
Crawley was one of several towns where the boundaries of Southdown Motor ServicesSouthdown Motor Services
Southdown Motor Services Ltd operates bus and coach services in East and West Sussex and parts of Hampshire, in southern England. It was formed in 1915 and had various owners throughout its history, being purchased by the National Bus Company in 1969...
and London Transport
London Transport Executive
The London Transport Executive was the organisation responsible for public transport in the Greater London area, UK, between 1948-1962. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport.-Creation:On 1...
bus services met. In 1958 the companies reached an agreement which allowed them both to provide services in all parts of the town. When the National Bus Company was formed in 1969, its London Country Bus Services
London Country Bus Services
London Country Bus Services was a bus company that operated in South East England from 1969 until split up and sold in 1986 under Margaret Thatcher's government's bus deregulation scheme.-Creation:...
subsidiary took responsibility for many routes, including Green Line Coaches
Green Line Coaches
Green Line is a commuter coach brand in the Home Counties of England. It is owned by the Arriva group.Green Line has its origin in the network of coach services established by the London General Omnibus Company in the 1920s and 1930s...
cross-London services which operated to distant destinations such as Watford
Watford
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...
, Luton
Luton
Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....
and Amersham
Amersham
Amersham is a market town and civil parish within Chiltern district in Buckinghamshire, England, 27 miles north west of London, in the Chiltern Hills. It is part of the London commuter belt....
. A coach station was opened by Southdown in 1931 on the A23 at County Oak, near Lowfield Heath: it was a regular stopping point for express coaches between London and towns on the Sussex coast. This traffic started to serve Gatwick when the airport began to grow, however. When the National Bus Company was broken up, local services were provided by the new South West division
London Country South West
London Country South West was a former bus operator which existed between 1986 and 1997. It was formed from a part of London Country Bus Services. The company was privatised in 1988 and sold to Drawlane, who adopted the trading name London & Country...
of London Country Bus Services, which later became part of the Arriva
Arriva
Arriva plc is a multinational public transport company owned by Deutsche Bahn and headquartered in Sunderland, United Kingdom. It has bus, coach, train, tram and waterbus operations in 12 countries across Europe, employs more than 47,500 people and services over 1.5 billion passenger journeys each...
group. Metrobus acquired these routes from Arriva in March 2001, and is now Crawley's main operator. It provides local services between the neighbourhoods and town centre, and longer-distance routes to Horsham
Horsham
Horsham is a market town with a population of 55,657 on the upper reaches of the River Arun in the centre of the Weald, West Sussex, in the historic County of Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester...
, Redhill
Redhill, Surrey
Redhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead, Surrey, England and is part of the London commuter belt. Redhill and the adjacent town of Reigate form a single urban area.-History:...
, Tunbridge Wells, Worthing
Worthing
Worthing is a large seaside town with borough status in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, forming part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester...
and Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
.
In September 2003 a guided bus
Guided bus
Guided buses are buses steered for part or all of their route by external means, usually on a dedicated track. This track, which often parallels existing roads, excludes other traffic, permitting the maintenance of reliable schedules on heavily used corridors even during rush hours.Guidance systems...
service, Fastway
Crawley Fastway
Fastway is a bus rapid transit network linking Crawley with Gatwick Airport and Horley, the first to be constructed outside a major city. It uses specially adapted buses that can either be steered by the driver or operate as "self steering" guided buses along a specially constructed track...
, began operating between Bewbush
Bewbush, Crawley
Bewbush is a neighbourhood of Crawley in West Sussex, England and is one of the town's 13 designated neighbourhoods. Bewbush is located in south west Crawley and is bordered by Broadfield to the south, Ifield to the north and Gossops Green to the north east. The neighbourhood has a population of...
and Gatwick Airport. A second route, from Broadfield to the Langshott area of Horley
Horley
Horley is a town in Surrey, England, situated south of the twin towns of Reigate and Redhill, and north of Gatwick Airport and Crawley.With fast links by train to London from Horley railway station, it has grown popular with commuters in recent years...
, north of Gatwick Airport, was added on 27 August 2005.
Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport was licensed as a private airfield in August 1930. It was used during the Second World War as an RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
base, and returned to civil use in 1946. There were proposals to close the airport in the late 1940s, but in 1950 the government announced that it was to be developed as London's second airport. It was closed between 1956 and 1958 for rebuilding. Her Majesty The Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
reopened it on 9 June 1958. A second terminal, the North Terminal, was built in 1988.
An agreement exists between BAA and West Sussex County Council preventing the building of a second runway until 2019. Nevertheless, consultations were launched in 2002 by the Department for Transport
Department for Transport
In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...
, at which proposals for additional facilities and runways were considered. It was agreed that there would be no further expansion at Gatwick unless it became impossible to meet growth targets at London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...
within existing pollution limits.
Sport and leisure
Crawley Town F.C.
Crawley Town Football Club is an English football club based in Crawley, West Sussex. They won the title of the Football Conference, by a record 15 point margin on second place, and with it promotion to The Football League, in April 2011.-1896–2009:...
is Crawley's main football team. Formed in 1896, it moved in 1949 to a ground at Town Mead adjacent to the West Green playing fields. Demand for land near the town centre led to the club moving in 1997 to the new Broadfield Stadium
Broadfield Stadium
Broadfield Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Crawley, England. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Crawley Town F.C.. The stadium has a capacity of 4,996 people, and is owned by Crawley Borough Council.-West Stand:...
, now owned by the borough council. As of the 2011/2012 season, Crawley Town will play in the Npower League 2
Football League Two
Football League Two is the third-highest division of The Football League and fourth-highest division overall in the English football league system....
, the 4th tier of league football in England after their promotion from the Blue Square Bet Premier
Conference National
Conference National is the top division of the Football Conference in England. It is the highest level of the National League System and fifth highest of the overall English football league system...
as Champions 2010/11. Perhaps the pinnacle of the club's history was in February 2011 when they played against Manchester United at Old Trafford in the fifth round of the F.A. Cup. Two other local teams play in the Sussex County Football League
Sussex County Football League
The Sussex County Football League is a football league broadly covering the counties of East Sussex, West Sussex and southeastern Surrey, England.Formed in 1920, the league now has six divisions - three for first teams and three for reserve sides...
: Three Bridges F.C.
Three Bridges F.C.
Three Bridges F.C. are a football club based in Three Bridges in Crawley, West Sussex, England. They were established in 1901 and were founding members of the Sussex County League Division Two in 1952. In the 1981-82 season, they reached the 3rd round of the FA Vase. For the 2011-12 season, they...
and Ifield Edwards F.C.. Crawley Rugby Club
Crawley Rugby Club
Crawley Rugby club is a rugby club based in Crawley, Sussex.Crawley currently compete in the Sussex Spitfire 1 league.As well as running a wide range of rugby clubs involving both junior and senior players, Crawley has in the past provided a home ground for the Sussex Swans Australian Rules...
is based in Ifield, and a golf course was constructed in 1982 at Tilgate Park
Tilgate Park
Tilgate Park is a large park situated in Tilgate, South-East Crawley. It is the largest and most popular park in the area.Originally a part of the Worth Forest, the park and the surrounding areas were part of the larger Tilgate estate, first recorded in 1647...
.
The new town's original leisure centre was in Haslett Avenue in the Three Bridges neighbourhood. Building work started in the early 1960s, and a large swimming pool opened in 1964. The site was extended to include an athletics arena by 1967, and an additional large sports hall was opened by the town mayor, Councillor Ben Clay, and Prime Minister Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
in 1974. However, the facilities became insufficient for the growing town, even though an annexe was opened in Bewbush in 1984. Athlete Zola Budd
Zola Budd
Zola Pieterse, better known by her maiden name of Zola Budd , is a former Olympic track and field competitor who, in less than three years, twice broke the world record in the women's 5000 metres and twice was the women's winner at the World Cross Country Championships...
had been asked to take part in a 1,500-metre race as part of the opening celebrations, but her invitation was withdrawn at short notice because of concerns raised by council members about possible "political connotations and anti-apartheid demonstrators".
In 2005, Crawley Leisure Centre was closed and replaced by a new facility, the K2 Leisure Centre, on the campus of Thomas Bennett Community College
Thomas Bennett Community College
Thomas Bennett Community College is a maintained comprehensive secondary school for pupils aged 11 to 18. It caters to approximately 1500 pupils in Years 7 to 13, including nearly 200 in its sixth form. It now specialises as a mixed school.-History:...
near the Broadfield Stadium. Opened to the public on 14 November 2005, and officially by Lord (Sebastian) Coe
Sebastian Coe, Baron Coe
Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, KBE , often known as Seb Coe, is an English former athlete and politician...
on 24 January 2006, the centre includes the only Olympic-sized swimming pool in South East England
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
. In March 2008 the centre was named as a training site for the 2012 Olympics in London.
The Development Corporation made little provision for the arts in the plans for the new town, and a proposed arts venue in the town centre was never built. Neighbourhood community centres and the Tilgate Forest Recreational Centre were used for some cultural activities, but it was not until 1988 that the town had a dedicated theatre and arts venue, at The Hawth. (The name derives from a local corruption of the word "heath
Heath (habitat)
A heath or heathland is a dwarf-shrub habitat found on mainly low quality acidic soils, characterised by open, low growing woody vegetation, often dominated by plants of the Ericaceae. There are some clear differences between heath and moorland...
", which came to refer specifically to the expanse of wooded land, south of the town centre, in which the theatre was built.) Crawley's earliest cinema, the Imperial Picture House on Brighton Road, lasted from 1909 until the 1940s; the Embassy Cinema on the High Street (opened in 1938) replaced it. A large Cineworld
Cineworld
Cineworld Group plc is a cinema chain operating in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Jersey. The chain consists of 78 cinemas; 76 of which are located in the UK and one each in Ireland and Jersey. It is the second-largest cinema operator in the UK with 801 screens, and the owner of...
cinema has since opened in the Crawley Leisure Park, which itself also includes ten-pin bowling
Ten-pin bowling
Ten-pin bowling is a competitive sport in which a player rolls a bowling ball down a wooden or synthetic lane with the objective of scoring points by knocking down as many pins as possible.-Summary:The lane is bordered along its length by semicylindrical channels Ten-pin bowling (commonly just...
, various restaurants and bars and a fitness centre. The Liquid nightclub on Station Way can accommodate 1,900 people.
Each neighbourhood has self-contained recreational areas, and there are other larger parks throughout the town. The Memorial Gardens, on the eastern side of Queen's Square, feature art displays, children's play areas and lawns, and a plaque commemorating those who died in two Second World War bombing incidents in 1943 and 1944. Goffs Park in Southgate covers 50 acres (20 ha), and has lakes, boating ponds, a model railway and many other features. Tilgate Park and Nature Centre
Tilgate Park
Tilgate Park is a large park situated in Tilgate, South-East Crawley. It is the largest and most popular park in the area.Originally a part of the Worth Forest, the park and the surrounding areas were part of the larger Tilgate estate, first recorded in 1647...
has walled gardens, lakes, large areas of woodland with footpaths and bridleways, a golfing area and a collection of animals and birds.
Heritage
Crawley Museum is based in Goffs Park. Stone Age and Bronze Age remains discovered in the area are on display, as well as more recent artefacts including parts of Vine Cottage, an old timber-framed building on the High Street which was once home to former Punch editor Mark LemonMark Lemon
Mark Lemon was founding editor of both Punch and The Field.-Biography:Lemon was born in London on the 30 November 1809. He was the son of Martin Lemon, a hop merchant, and Alice Collis. His parents married on 26 December 1808 at St Mary, Marylebone, London...
and which was demolished when the ASDA development was built.
Crawley has three Grade I listed buildings (the parish church of St Margaret in Ifield
St Margaret's Church, Ifield
St Margaret's Church is an Anglican church in the Ifield neighbourhood of Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is the ancient parish church of the village of Ifield; the medieval settlement was expanded to form one of the New Town of Crawley's 13 neighbourhoods, and the church's...
, the parish church of St Nicholas, Worth
St. Nicholas' Church, Worth
St Nicholas Church is a Church of England parish church in Worth, a village in Crawley, England. At one time it had the largest geographical parish in England.-History:...
, and the Friends Meeting House
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
in Langley Lane, Ifield), 12 Grade II* listed buildings and 85 Grade II listed buildings.
Education
Local Education Authority
A local education authority is a local authority in England and Wales that has responsibility for education within its jurisdiction...
's decision to change the town's three-tier
Three-tier education
Three-tier education refers to those structures of schooling, which exist in some parts of England, where pupils are taught in three distinct school types. A similar experiment was also trialled in Scotland....
system of first
First School
First school and lower school are terms used in some areas of the United Kingdom to describe the first stage of primary education. Some English Local Education Authorities have introduced First Schools since the 1960s...
, middle
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
and secondary schools to a more standard primary/secondary divide. Since the restructuring, Crawley has had 17 primary schools (including two Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
and two Roman Catholic) and four pairs of infant
Infant school
An Infant school is a term used primarily in the United Kingdom for school for children between the ages of four and seven years. It is usually a small school serving a particular locality....
and junior School
Junior school
A junior school is a type of school which caters for children, often between the ages of 7 and 11.-Australia:In Australia, a junior school is usually a part of a private school that educates children between the ages of 5 and 12....
s. Most of these were opened in 2004; others changed their status at this date (for example, from a middle to a junior School). Secondary education is provided at one of six secondary schools:
- Ifield Community CollegeIfield Community CollegeIfield Community College is a maintained comprehensive secondary school for pupils aged 11 to 18.-Admissions:It caters for around 1000 pupils in years 7 to 13, including over 100 in its sixth form. It is in the west of Crawley, next to the A23...
- Hazelwick SchoolHazelwick SchoolHazelwick School is an Academy Co-educational Comprehensive School for pupils aged 11 to 18, located in Crawley, West Sussex.-History:Hazelwick School is a Secondary school for pupils aged 11-18. The school was finished being built in 1952 although it did not officially open until 1953 as a...
- Holy Trinity Church of England SchoolHoly Trinity School, CrawleyThe Holy Trinity Secondary School is a comprehensive school in Crawley, West Sussex, UK. The school has a roll of around 1300 students.- History :...
- Oriel High School
- St Wilfrid's Catholic SchoolSt Wilfrid's Catholic School, CrawleySt Wilfrid's Catholic School is a voluntary aided comprehensive Catholic secondary school in Crawley, West Sussex, England for pupils aged 11 to 18. It caters for around 900 pupils in years 7 to 13, including around 100 in its sixth form...
- Thomas Bennett Community CollegeThomas Bennett Community CollegeThomas Bennett Community College is a maintained comprehensive secondary school for pupils aged 11 to 18. It caters to approximately 1500 pupils in Years 7 to 13, including nearly 200 in its sixth form. It now specialises as a mixed school.-History:...
All six of these have a sixth form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
, the newest opening at Oriel High in September 2008. The schools at Ifield and Thomas Bennett are also bases for the Local Authority's adult education
Adult education
Adult education is the practice of teaching and educating adults. Adult education takes place in the workplace, through 'extension' school or 'school of continuing education' . Other learning places include folk high schools, community colleges, and lifelong learning centers...
programmes.
Pupils with special needs
Special needs
In the USA, special needs is a term used in clinical diagnostic and functional development to describe individuals who require assistance for disabilities that may be medical, mental, or psychological. For instance, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the International...
are educated at the two special schools in the town, each of which covers the full spectrum of needs: Manor Green Primary School and Manor Green College.
The Discovery School, based in Broadfield House
Broadfield House, Crawley
Broadfield House is a 19th-century villa-style house in the Broadfield neighbourhood of Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Built in 1830 on the extensive land of the Tilgate Estate south of the small market town of Crawley, it was extended later in the 19th century and converted...
, opened in September 2011. It is one of the first free schools
Free school (England)
A Free school is a school in England funded by the taxpayer, non-selective and free to attend but not controlled by local authorities. The concept of free schools is based upon a similar model found in Sweden as well as US charter schools....
in the country, set up as a result of changes to the legislation on school funding by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition government. The school is a Montessori school, the first state funded Montessori school in the UK, quoted as having a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
ethos in the Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
tradition.
Further education
Further education
Further education is a term mainly used in connection with education in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is post-compulsory education , that is distinct from the education offered in universities...
is provided by Central Sussex College
Central Sussex College
Central Sussex College is a college of further education in West Sussex. It has campuses across West Sussex and offers courses ranging from Sixth form and Adult education to undergraduate courses through partnerships with universities.-History:...
. Opened in 1958 as Crawley Technical College, it merged with other local colleges to form the new institute in August 2005. The college also provides higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
courses in partnership with the universities at Chichester
University of Chichester
The University of Chichester is a university based in West Sussex, England. Campuses are based in the city of Chichester and the nearby coastal resort of Bognor Regis...
and Sussex
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
. In 2004, a proposal was made for an additional campus of the University of Sussex
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
to be created in Crawley, but as of 2008 no conclusion has been reached.
Media
Crawley has three local newspapers, two of which have a long history in the area. The Crawley Observer began life in 1881 as Simmins Weekly Advertiser, became the Sussex & Surrey Courier and then the Crawley and District Observer, and took its current name in 1983. The newspaper is now owned by Johnston PressJohnston Press
Johnston Press plc is a newspaper publishing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its flagship titles are The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post; it also operates many other newspapers around the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man. It is the second-largest publisher...
. The Crawley News was first published in 1979, and later took over the operations of the older Crawley Advertiser which closed in 1982. The newspaper is now owned by the Trinity Mirror
Trinity Mirror
Trinity Mirror plc is a large British newspaper and magazine publisher. It is Britain's biggest newspaper group, publishing 240 regional papers as well as the national Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People, and the Scottish Sunday Mail and Daily Record. Its headquarters are at Canary Wharf in...
group and is a free publication. In September 2008 Johnston Press launched a new weekly broadsheet newspaper called the Crawley Times based on the companies paper produced in Horsham, the West Sussex County Times.
The town is served by the London regional versions of BBC
BBC London
BBC London is the BBC English Region producing local radio, television, teletext and online services in London and parts of the surrounding area. Its output includes the daily BBC London News and the weekly Politics Show on television, the BBC London 94.9 radio station and local coverage of the...
and ITV
ITV London
ITV London is the on-air brand name used by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the two Channel 3 broadcast franchises, Carlton Television and London Weekend Television in the London ITV region.-History:...
television from the Crystal Palace or Reigate transmitters—although some terrestrial aerials in the town may pick up BBC South
BBC South
BBC South is the BBC English Region serving West Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, western Berkshire, Oxfordshire, south east Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight.-Television:...
and ITV Meridian
Meridian Broadcasting
Meridian Broadcasting is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited....
signals from the Midhurst
Midhurst
Midhurst is a market town and civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, with a population of 4,889 in 2001. The town is situated on the River Rother and is home to the ruin of the Tudor Cowdray House and the stately Victorian Cowdray Park...
transmitter.
Radio Mercury began broadcasting on 20 October 1984 from Broadfield House
Broadfield House, Crawley
Broadfield House is a 19th-century villa-style house in the Broadfield neighbourhood of Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Built in 1830 on the extensive land of the Tilgate Estate south of the small market town of Crawley, it was extended later in the 19th century and converted...
in Broadfield. The station, now owned by Global Radio
Global Radio
Global Radio UK Ltd. is a British commercial radio company, the largest in the country following acquisitions of Chrysalis Radio and GCap Media.The company's Chief Executive Officer is Stephen Miron, while the Group Chairman is Charles Allen...
, broadcasts as Heart from Brighton, with the studios in Kelvin Way in Crawley closed in August 2010. On 1 February 2011, the local Gold transmitter on 1521 AM closed and listeners were advised to retune to 1548 AM (Gold London) or 1323 AM (Gold Sussex).
Local BBC radio was provided by BBC Radio Sussex from 1983; this became part of BBC Southern Counties Radio
BBC Southern Counties Radio
BBC Southern Counties Radio was the BBC Local Radio service for the English counties of Surrey and Sussex. The station also covered a large part of North-East Hampshire. It was the first BBC Local Radio station to introduce a controversial all-speech format...
following a merger with BBC Radio Surrey in 1994. From March 2009, BBC Southern Counties Radio
BBC Southern Counties Radio
BBC Southern Counties Radio was the BBC Local Radio service for the English counties of Surrey and Sussex. The station also covered a large part of North-East Hampshire. It was the first BBC Local Radio station to introduce a controversial all-speech format...
became BBC Sussex
BBC Sussex
BBC Sussex is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Sussex. It began on 14 February 1968 as BBC Radio Brighton, later becoming BBC Radio Sussex and then part of BBC Southern Counties Radio, before adopting its present name on 30 March 2009...
on 104.5FM & BBC Surrey
BBC Surrey
BBC Surrey is the BBC Local Radio service covering the English county of Surrey, along with North-East Hampshire and the northern fringes of West Sussex including Crawley, East Grinstead and Gatwick Airport...
on 104FM. Due to the positioning of their transmitters, when broadcasting separately both stations cover Crawley stories.
Notable people
- 2D2D (Gorillaz)The fictional character Stuart Pot , better known by his stage name 2-D, also simply spelled as 2D, is a member of the British virtual band Gorillaz...
, the fictional character from Damon AlbarnDamon AlbarnDamon Albarn is an English singer-songwriter and record producer who has been involved in many high profile projects, coming to prominence as the frontman and primary songwriter of Britpop band Blur...
's virtual band GorillazGorillazGorillaz is an English musical project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. This project consists of Gorillaz music itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters...
, comes from Crawley, according to the back-storyBack-storyA back-story, background story, or backstory is the literary device of a narrative chronologically earlier than, and related to, a narrative of primary interest. Generally, it is the history of characters or other elements that underlie the situation existing at the main narrative's start...
created for them. - Jerzy BraunJerzy BraunJerzy Braun was a Polish rower who competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics and in the 1936 Summer Olympics....
, born in Bydgoszcz and died in Crawley Polish rowerRowing (sport)Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
who competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics1932 Summer OlympicsThe 1932 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the X Olympiad, was a major world wide multi-athletic event which was celebrated in 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. No other cities made a bid to host these Olympics. Held during the worldwide Great Depression, many nations...
and in the 1936 Summer Olympics1936 Summer OlympicsThe 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona... - Rebecca CookeRebecca CookeRebecca Cooke is a former British freestyle swimmer.She has won medals at every major international championships with the exception of the Olympic Games. She retired from international competition in April 2008 after failing to make the British team for the 2008 Games in Beijing.-References:...
, freestyle swimmer and Commonwealth GamesCommonwealth GamesThe Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
gold medallist, was born in Crawley. - Sir Charles CourtCharles CourtSir Charles Walter Michael Court, was a Western Australian politician, 21st Premier of Western Australia and member for the seat of Nedlands for the Liberal Party for nearly 30 years.-Early life:...
, the 21st Premier of Western AustraliaPremier of Western AustraliaThe Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions...
, was born in Crawley, but migrated to Australia with his family before his first birthday. - John George HaighJohn George HaighJohn George Haigh , commonly known as the "Acid Bath Murderer" , was an English serial killer during the 1940s. He was convicted of the murders of six people, although he claimed to have killed nine...
, the "Acid Bath Murderer", carried out some of his murders at a workshop in the West Green area. - Simon JeffesSimon JeffesSimon Jeffes was an English classically trained guitarist, composer and arranger. He formed, and was the core performer of, the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. He composed the ballet Still Life at the Penguin Cafe...
, classically-trained guitarist, composer, arranger and founder of the Penguin Cafe OrchestraPenguin Cafe OrchestraThe Penguin Cafe Orchestra was a collective of performing musicians created by classically trained British guitarist, composer and arranger Simon Jeffes...
was born here. - Peter VaughanPeter VaughanPeter Vaughan is an English character actor, known for many supporting roles in a variety of British film and television productions. He has worked extensively on the stage, becoming known for roles such as police inspectors, Soviet agents and similar parts...
, Starred in TV show Porridge, used to live in the town. - Philip LawsonPhilip Lawson (baritone)Philip Lawson is a composer and arranger, mostly of a cappella and sacred music. He is currently a baritone with The King's Singers and has been the group's principal arranger for the past fifteen years. In 2009 the group's album "Simple Gifts", on which Lawson arranged 10 out of 15 tracks, won...
, first baritone with The King's Singers was born and raised in Crawley. - Mark LemonMark LemonMark Lemon was founding editor of both Punch and The Field.-Biography:Lemon was born in London on the 30 November 1809. He was the son of Martin Lemon, a hop merchant, and Alice Collis. His parents married on 26 December 1808 at St Mary, Marylebone, London...
first editor of Punch lived on the High Street from 1858 until his death in 1870. A blue plaqueBlue plaqueA blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
outside the George HotelThe George Hotel, CrawleyThe George Hotel, also known as The George Inn and now marketed as the Ramada Crawley Gatwick, is a hotel and former coaching inn on the High Street in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England....
commemorates his time in the town. - Alan MinterAlan MinterAlan Minter is a former middleweight world champion boxer.-Amateur career:Minter was the 1971 ABA Middleweight Champion. He won the bronze medal at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games...
who won bronze at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games1972 Summer OlympicsThe 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....
in the light middleweightLight middleweightLight Middleweight , is a weight division in professional boxing, above 147 pounds and up to 154 pounds ....
boxing categoryBoxing at the 1972 Summer OlympicsFinal results for the Boxing competition at the 1972 Summer Olympics:It was held August 27 to September 10, with the participation of 357 fighters from 81 countries.-Medal table:-Light Flyweight :-First Round:...
and in 1980 became the WBC world middleweightMiddleweightMiddleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...
champion, was born in the town in 1951. - Kevin MuscatKevin MuscatKevin Muscat is an Australian football player who currently plays for Victorian State League Division 1 side Sunshine George Cross and is assistant coach of Melbourne Victory...
, a footballer who has played for Australia since 1994 and had a nine-year spell in Britain, playing for four different clubs was born in the town. - Gareth SouthgateGareth SouthgateGareth Southgate in Crawley, West Sussex is a retired English footballer and ex-manager. He is known as the "Penalty Misser of '96." He served as manager of Middlesbrough from June 2006, until he was dismissed in October 2009...
(was manager of Middlesbrough F.C.Middlesbrough F.C.Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...
and a former England international) attended the town's Hazelwick School. - Daley ThompsonDaley ThompsonFrancis Morgan Ayodélé "Daley" Thompson CBE , is a former decathlete from England. He won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and broke the world record for the event four times....
used facilities in Crawley to train for the Olympics in 19801980 Summer OlympicsThe 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...
and 19841984 Summer OlympicsThe 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...
. - Faye WhiteFaye WhiteFaye Deborah White, MBE is an English footballer who plays for Arsenal Ladies in the FA Women's Super League and the England women's national football team as a central defender...
, the ArsenalArsenal L.F.C.Arsenal Ladies Football Club are an English women's association football club affiliated with Arsenal F.C.. Founded in 1987, they are the most successful club in English women's football having won 34 major trophies to date; which are 12 FA Women's Premier League titles, 11 FA Women's Cups, ten...
and England women's teamEngland women's national football teamThe England women's national football team represents England in international women's football. The side has been quite successful of late, qualifying for three World Cups, 1995, 2007 and 2011...
captain, was born in the town. - The CureThe CureThe Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
were formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert SmithRobert Smith (musician)Robert James Smith is an English musician. He is the lead singer, guitar player and principal songwriter of the rock band The Cure, and its only constant member since its founding in 1976...
, Michael DempseyMichael DempseyMichael Dempsey is a bassist from England, who has performed as a member of several post-punk and New Wave bands including The Cure and Associates.-Early years:...
and Lol Tolhurst, all of whom attended St Wilfrid's RC School. - The FeelingThe FeelingThe Feeling are a BRIT award-nominated English pop band from West Sussex and London. The band categorise their music as "pop".Following a limited release of their first single "Fill My Little World" in late 2005, the band entered the UK Singles Chart at #7 with their first full release "Sewn" in...
's drummer Paul StewartPaul Stewart (musician)Paul Ronald Stewart is the drummer in the British band The Feeling.He went to St Wilfrid's Catholic School, Crawley, where he met Kevin Jeremiah and Ciaran Jeremiah, now fellow members of The Feeling....
, guitarist Kevin Jeremiah and keyboard player Ciaran Jeremiah were also at St Wilfrids. - Tom Wort, sophomore All-American linebacker with the Oklahoma SoonersOklahoma SoonersThe University of Oklahoma features 19 varsity sports teams. Both men's and women's teams are called the Sooners, a nickname given to the early participants in the land rushes which initially opened the Oklahoma Indian Territory to non-native settlement. They participate in the NCAA's Division I-A,...
, lived in Crawley until age 14. - Brian "Manuel" Hinojosa, Spanish international rugby player and one of the co-founders of the ELITEEliteElite refers to an exceptional or privileged group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence...
group of UPRFC, born in Seville but lived in Crawley for a large period of his life.
See also
- List of places of worship in Crawley
- Urban planningUrban planningUrban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
- West SussexWest SussexWest Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
- Worth ChurchSt. Nicholas' Church, WorthSt Nicholas Church is a Church of England parish church in Worth, a village in Crawley, England. At one time it had the largest geographical parish in England.-History:...
- City Place GatwickCity Place GatwickCity Place Gatwick is an office complex located on the property of London Gatwick Airport in Crawley, West Sussex, England. The complex includes four buildings: The Beehive, an approximately former terminal building at Gatwick Airport located on a site; the BT building, a facility on a site, 2...