This is Knights Acre, also known as St Barbs Cottage, at the southern end of Poles Lane; an 18th century house (the range visible in this picture) with sizeable 19th century extensions behind. The house, which in 2007 was the scene of a murder when a man named Edward Edrich shot his wife Claire after becoming depressed by the expansion plans of nearby Gatwick Airport (which would have resulted in the destruction of this house, along with many other historic properties in the area), appears to have been abandoned and I was regularly instructed by the two robo cops sited in the garden (see the final image at this property) to 'leave the area immediately'!

 

 

 

 

 

Having left Knights Acre I headed eastwards along the bridleway which runs parallel to the parish boundary 150 metres to the south and exits onto the A23 London Road almost opposite Hydenhurst Lane. The picture above shows what was originally the common land known as Lowfield Heath!

 

 

The countryside and modern urban buildings collide.

 

Having now joined the footway alongside the A23 I have 1.5 miles of walking along the boundary southwards to the junction of Crawley High Street and Haslett Avenue.

 

 

 

 

The Toby Carvery is based in a barn that can be dated precisely to 1642 and was formally the social club for APV, one of the largest new town employers based on Manor Royal.

 

Next door is Jordans, a 16th century farmhouse with extensions added in the 18th & 19th centuries. The 16th century range is to the rear and not visible from the A23.

 

A little further south is 'The Old House', built in the late 1600s and probably largely unnoticed by those passing on the London Road.

 

 

 

 

Boscobel House, a 17th century house opposite The Driftway and one of the few survivors at the northern end of the High Street.

 

The Tree, home to Crawley Museum. Contrary to external appearances, this is the oldest (originally) residential property surviving in Crawley, with the timbers of the earliest range (the southern wing running east to west) having being dendrodated to 1328. There have been several extensions added in the 18th & 19th centuries as well as in 1936 (to the north). The brick skin was added during Victorian times, when hiding the timber framing was seen as a fashionable thing to do - a fashion which didn't serve the run of medieval buildings between the Punch Bowl and Brewery Shades very well when the wrecking balls of the 50s and 60s arrived.

 

With the Ancient Ifield Exhibition, which I have contributed much material to, currently open I decided to take a break for half an hour to sit in the shade and have a chat with Richard Symonds and David Moon who, along with Iain Dickson, Sally-Claire Fadelle and all the staff and volunteers at the Museum, have been instrumental in putting the exhibition together.

 

The modern, opposite.

 

The gable to the right is the eastern end of the 1328 range.

 

The Punch Bowl, formally Mitchells Farm and dating to 1450.

 

Grand Parade and the Jubilee Oak, which was planted in 1887 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

 

The earliest part of the George is a residential open hall house which dates to the early to mid 15th century, this being the central section of the modern whole. Several additions and reconfigurations have been made, both in the later 15th and early 17th centuries as well as in modern times. It has been an inn since at least 1580, benefitting from its position at the halfway point of the what was the main London to Brighton route until 1938, and one with an esteemed guest list which includes George IV, Queen Victoria & Lord Nelson. Queen Elizabeth II dined at the George in 1958 and, more infamously, John Haigh, the acid bath murderer, stayed at the hotel on numerous occasions and dined there on the day that he killed one of his victims.

 

The original early to mid 15th century house is identified by the two upper floor windows immediately to the left of the gable end of the cross wing (which itself was added as early as 1450) and, oddly, the window to the left of that in the higher range is in part of the original house. If you look closely at the bottom of the hood of this third window you can see a slight change in the structure where the southern bay of the first house has been built on top of by the taller range, which dates to c.1600.

 

The gallows outside of the George were, contrary to popular local belief, NOT for carrying out executions. They are in fact market gallows, used for weighing livestock and produce on market days, so the only living creatures hanged from here were cows, pigs and sheep! The structure in situ now is not the original gallows.

 

 

At the junction with Haslett Avenue I can turn eastwards and follow the parish boundary past St Johns, the Parish church of Crawley which was originally built in the 13th century as a chapel of ease for the Parish of Slaugham before Crawley became a parish in its own right. The tower was (re?)built in 1807 using old materials and the rest of the church was much restored in 1879 & 1880.

 

As I pass the Broadway, the boundary becomes one with Worth parish, rather than Crawley, and the boundary cuts diagonally through County Mall - not something I can do, so I turn right and walk through the bus station and then turn left along Station Way.

 

 

The Friary Church, A mere youngster, dating to the 1950s!

 

 

 

The line of trees in the centre of the picture mark the eastern side of Malthouse Lane which, as well as being the parish boundary, provided access to Malthouse Farm from Three Bridges road, joining it by the gates to the Memorial Gardens. Until fairly recently the trees lining the west of Malthouse Lane were also extant, but these were removed for development when the nightclub was demolished.

 

As the railway prevents me following the boundary, I continued to Southgate Avenue and turned right.

 

 

Outside St Francis School at the bottom of Southgate Drive I am once again able to pick up the boundary, albeit briefly, and this is another section marked by a line of old oak trees. This line can be traced, with small gaps, all the way to Holmbury Close, off Chanctonbury Way, in Southgate West, but I am unable to follow it exactly due to the presence of peoples houses and gardens!

 

 

Southgate Parade

 

The oaks behind these houses in Sullington hill continue the line of trees marking the boundary first encountered outside St Francis School

 

And again behind the houses of Kithurst Close...

 

...along Chanctonbury Way...

 

...until just after Wolstonbury Close, where a sharp turn to the south is marked by a couple of substantial oaks.

 

 

 

I now turn south and walk along the boundary line through Holmbury Close from where I cut across Captains Walk and through Caburn heights, almost on the boundary, before crossing Downland Drive and heading into Dovedale Cresent.

 

The new(ish) houses on the former car park and underground garage complex behind Southgate West shops.

 

The boundary cuts through Patterdale Close and there are a handful of oaks marking this.

 

At the end of Patterdale Close the boundary goes straight across the A23 and into Broadfield. As I am unable to get through the hedgerow here I walk down to the pedestrian crossing near Cheals and into Broadfield Brook Wetlands

 

Via Calderdale Close

 

 

 

The boundary cuts across Colonsay Road, Lismore Crescent and Broadfield Drive, so I took a route through Arran Close and Lismore Crescent to get to Broadfield Drive

 

and into Heather Walk, where I could pick up the boundary again marked by a 350 metre long line of oaks, which continue across Seymour Drive and into the grounds of Seymour Primary School.

 

 

Diverting along Trefoil crescent and crossing Pelham Drive to access Selsey Road via the zig zag path I was heading towards Beachy Road...

 

...from where I turned right after 75 metres towards these trees, which sit on the boundary, though these were once a part of Broadfield Forest rather than being part of a hedgerow.

 

After a little left turn through another little green area between the houses of Beachy Road and Seaford Road I headed down the alley splitting Longhurst and Seaford Roads towards the pathway alongside Creasys Brook. This alleyway follows the parish boundary exactly, including the little kinks and bends.

 

 

The boundary then turns through 90 degrees again and follows Creasys Brook as far as the pond, with the bridge roughly aligned with the boundary so I crossed the brook and followed the path out onto Broadwood Rise.

 

 

Having first turned right instead of left, I retraced my steps for 50 metres and followed the boundary along Hobbs Road.

 

Just after the junction with Edrich Road, as Hobbs Road veers to the right, the boundary keeps going for another 150 metres, to just the other side of the A264. Obviously I couldn't follow that so turned straight into Target Hill nature reserve to pick it up again, as this small finger of Parish is only around 50 metres wide here.

 

An immediate right turn keeps me very close to the boundary until the path takes a 90 degree left, and the next right takes me back across the boundary just before I exit Target Hill onto Jersey Road.

 

I took the Bridleway from Jersey Road to Pelham Drive, but the boundary follows Jersey Road and then through Breezhurst Roundabout into Bewbush.

 

Plantain Crescent residents doing all in their power to dispel the stereotypes about Broadfield...

 

I took a more pedestrian friendly route to Bewbush, using the subway to Jewel Walk, climbing up the embankment into Kingsley Road and then Gunning Close.

 

Joining Curteys Walk, I am now broadly on the boundary again, following it to Bewbush Drive where it takes a sharp left westwards.

 

The 130m long line of trees opposite the end of Mowbray Drive mark the boundary

 

 

As do this little cluster opposite Elman Road, before it disappears under the houses of Byrd Road and Bittern Close.

 

Having passed beneath the dentists, it crosses Breezehurst Drive...

 

... before crossing the Dowster Brook and Ivory Walk

 

and splitting Bewbush Green Cricket pitch in two, taking a 90 degree turn north at the western boundary of the pitch through Saturn Close and Andromeda Close.

 

This path from Andromeda Close to the water gardens runs besides the boundary, little more than 2 metres to it's left

 

Then we're back to our starting point once we've crossed the bridge.

 

 

Text & photographs © Ian Mulcahy. Contact photos@iansapps.co.uk or visit my 'Use of my photographs' page for licensing queries (ground level photographs only).