Crawley

Sister cities

• Dorsten
• Alytus

History

The area may have been settled during the Mesolithic period: locally manufactured flints of the Horsham Culture type have been found to the southwest of the town. 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. Passing through the north of the modern borough, the historic Sussex–Surrey border follows ridges and a trackway, in contrast to the Sussex–Kent border to the east, which follows waterways. According to Mark Gardiner, the border dates at least as far back as the Saxon period, although may in fact be earlier and represent the border between Roman cantons or Iron Age kingdoms. This name evolved over time, and the present spelling appeared by the early 14th century. Although Crawley itself is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, the nearby settlements of Ifield and Worth are recorded. Crawley's High Street was built on part of the route from London to the port of New Shoreham, a major port in the 12th and 13th centuries that was on the most direct route between London and Normandy, used by the king and his knights and soldiers. The first written record of Crawley dates from 1202, when King John issued a licence for a weekly market on Wednesdays. As a small market town, Crawley grew slowly in importance over the next few centuries and as the Wealden iron industry declined, the town became an important centre for smuggling between the Sussex coast and London. Later in the 18th century, Crawley was boosted by the construction of the…

Geography

At (51.1092, −0.1872), Crawley is in the north-east of West Sussex in South East England, south of London and north of Brighton and Hove. The borough of Crawley is bordered by the districts of Mid Sussex and Horsham in West Sussex as well as the districts of Mole Valley and Tandridge and the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey. Nearby towns include Horsham, Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and East Grinstead as well as the Surrey towns of Horley, Redhill, Reigate, Oxted and Dorking. Crawley lies in the Low Weald, on the edge of the High Weald between the North and South Downs. The town centre lies on a gentle slope above sea level where the High Street meets Kilnmead, rising to above sea level where the High Street meets the railway line. The highest point in the borough is above sea level. This forms part of the Forest Ridge of the High Weald, which extends eastwards through the north of Sussex into Tunbridge Wells and Cranbrook in Kent. 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. To the south-west of the town lies St Leonard's Forest, including Buchan Country Park; to the south-east is Tilgate Forest, originally part of Worth Forest. This area forms part of the Weald to Waves wildlife corridor, providing a key link between Knepp Wildland and Ashdown Forest, which connects further to coast via the Rivers Adur, Arun and Ouse. In 1822 Gideon Mantell, an amateur fossil collector and palaeontologist, discovered teeth, bones and other remains of what he described as…