Horley
Encyclopedia
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. The Horley Master Plan, which was approved by Reigate & Banstead Borough Council
in February 2005, will see almost 2,600 new homes, built by Wates and Martin Grant Homes. This has caused much controversy as the area being built on is a green-belt and is prone to flooding. There are also frequent droughts in the summer so the adequate spreading of water sources is also debatable.
was a densely forest
ed and marsh
y area. During Saxon
times, the Manor of Horley came under the control of the Benedictine
Abbey of St Peter at Chertsey
. The Manor passed to Henry VIII
on the dissolution of the monasteries
in 1539 and changed hands several times during the next sixty years.
In 1602 it became the property of Christ's Hospital
in London
and the original map of the manor is now held at the Guildhall
in the City of London
. This shows that Horley consisted of three hamlets around a huge open common. One was around the area occupied by St Bartholomew's Church and the Six Bells public house; another by the River Mole
and the third in Horley Row where some of Horley's oldest buildings can still be seen.
The Common was enclosed in 1816, new roads were laid and the intervening land was sold. In 1809 and later in 1816, two turnpikes
were introduced to allow the operation of regular coach services from London
to Brighton
. The railway was laid in 1841 and a station was built in the town. From that position, and from that date, Horley grew at a slow rate until 1950. Since then its population has doubled.
To the south-east is the overgrown but well-preserved site of Thunderfield Castle, a twelfth century ring and bailey castle.
had its head office in the Newman House in Horley. At times in history, British Caledonian
, British United Airways
, and Laker Airways
had their head offices on the property of Gatwick Airport in Crawley
, West Sussex
, near Horley.
Road. There is currently no sixth form
provision, so most students go to Redhill
, Crawley
or Reigate
(e.g. St. Bede's School
and Reigate College
) to continue their studies.
constituency, currently represented by the MP Sam Gyimah
.
Horley is part of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead but also has a town council. The Town Mayor and Chairman of the Town Council, elected in May 2007 is Councillor Simon Marshall.
established in 1898. It also has a cricket
club, a hockey club, a tennis
club, a bowls
club and a newly formed rugby club.
. Located under the arches of the Victoria Road railway bridge, the theatre consists of a bar, auditorium, studio theatre and rehearsal rooms. The main auditorium seats 95 and the studio seats 40. The company presents 10 full productions each year as well as number of studio events and youth productions.
works which produced forklift trucks from the 1950s to the 1980s and pioneered telescopic handlers. The bright yellow Teleram 40 and Teleram C machines were very popular with farmers and construction companies.
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...
, 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...
, situated south of the twin towns of 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...
and 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:...
, and north of 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...
and Crawley
Crawley
Crawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...
.
With fast links by train to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
from Horley railway station
Horley railway station
Horley railway station serves the town of Horley in Surrey, England. It is on the Brighton Main Line south of London Victoria, and train services are provided by Southern.There are 4 platforms, all 247 m long, capable of accepting 12 car long trains....
, it has grown popular with commuters in recent years. The Horley Master Plan, which was approved by Reigate & Banstead Borough Council
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 February 2005, will see almost 2,600 new homes, built by Wates and Martin Grant Homes. This has caused much controversy as the area being built on is a green-belt and is prone to flooding. There are also frequent droughts in the summer so the adequate spreading of water sources is also debatable.
History
In the past the WealdWeald
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...
was a densely forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
ed and marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
y area. During Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
times, the Manor of Horley came under the control of the Benedictine
Chertsey Abbey
Chertsey Abbey, dedicated to St Peter, was a Benedictine monastery located at Chertsey in the English county of Surrey.It was founded by Saint Erkenwald, later Bishop of London, in 666 AD and he became the first abbot. In the 9th century it was sacked by the Danes and refounded from Abingdon Abbey...
Abbey of St Peter at Chertsey
Chertsey
Chertsey is a town in Surrey, England, on the River Thames and its tributary rivers such as the River Bourne. It can be accessed by road from junction 11 of the M25 London orbital motorway. It shares borders with Staines, Laleham, Shepperton, Addlestone, Woking, Thorpe and Egham...
. The Manor passed to Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
on the dissolution of the monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
in 1539 and changed hands several times during the next sixty years.
In 1602 it became the property of 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...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and the original map of the manor is now held at the Guildhall
Guildhall, London
The Guildhall is a building in the City of London, off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. It has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London and its Corporation...
in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
. This shows that Horley consisted of three hamlets around a huge open common. One was around the area occupied by St Bartholomew's Church and the Six Bells public house; another by 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...
and the third in Horley Row where some of Horley's oldest buildings can still be seen.
The Common was enclosed in 1816, new roads were laid and the intervening land was sold. In 1809 and later in 1816, two turnpikes
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...
were introduced to allow the operation of regular coach services from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to 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...
. The railway was laid in 1841 and a station was built in the town. From that position, and from that date, Horley grew at a slow rate until 1950. Since then its population has doubled.
To the south-east is the overgrown but well-preserved site of Thunderfield Castle, a twelfth century ring and bailey castle.
Economy
At one time the airline Dan-AirDan-Air
Dan-Air was a leading private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline based in the United Kingdom....
had its head office in the Newman House in Horley. At times in history, 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...
, 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...
, 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...
had their head offices on the property of Gatwick Airport in Crawley
Crawley
Crawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...
, 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...
, near Horley.
Education
Horley has one secondary school (Y7-Y11), one primary school (Reception-Yr6) (Manorfield), two junior schools (Y3-Y6) (Yattendon and Meath Green), and three infant schools (Langshott, Meath Green Infants and Horley Infants). The main secondary school is Oakwood School, on BalcombeBalcombe, West Sussex
Balcombe 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...
Road. There is currently no 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,...
provision, so most students go to 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:...
, Crawley
Crawley
Crawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...
or 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...
(e.g. St. Bede's School
St. Bede's School
Saint Bede's School is a mixed comprehensive secondary school in the English town of Redhill, Surrey. It was opened in 1976 as a girls' middle school but now has over 2300 male and female pupils aged 11–18 , with around 400 students in the sixth form...
and Reigate College
Reigate College
Reigate College is a state sixth form college in Reigate, Surrey, for students over 16 years of age. The College is situated very near to both the town centre and the train station...
) to continue their studies.
Politics
The town is within the East SurreyEast Surrey (UK Parliament constituency)
East Surrey is a county 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....
constituency, currently represented by the MP Sam Gyimah
Sam Gyimah
Samuel Phillip Gyimah is a British Conservative Party politician. He was elected as the Member of Parliament for East Surrey at the 2010 general election.-Education:...
.
Horley is part of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead but also has a town council. The Town Mayor and Chairman of the Town Council, elected in May 2007 is Councillor Simon Marshall.
Sports
Horley is the home town of Horley Town F.C.Horley Town F.C.
Horley Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Horley, Surrey, England. They currently run 3 senior teams with the first team playing at step 5 of the National League System in the Combined Counties Football League. They have a junior section with teams from Under 7 to...
established in 1898. It also has a cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
club, a hockey club, a tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
club, a bowls
Bowls
Bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...
club and a newly formed rugby club.
Culture and the arts
Horley is home to the Archway Theatre, Britain's only "under the arches" theatreTheatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
. Located under the arches of the Victoria Road railway bridge, the theatre consists of a bar, auditorium, studio theatre and rehearsal rooms. The main auditorium seats 95 and the studio seats 40. The company presents 10 full productions each year as well as number of studio events and youth productions.
Industry
Horley was home to the MatbroMatbro
Matbro was a brand of lifting equipment, popular with farmers. Matbro produced a wide range of all terrain forklifts and telescopic handlers in their distinctive yellow livery, using engines derived from Ford and Perkins. Matbro began operating at a loss in the late 1990s and in the end went under...
works which produced forklift trucks from the 1950s to the 1980s and pioneered telescopic handlers. The bright yellow Teleram 40 and Teleram C machines were very popular with farmers and construction companies.