107-626: Maidenbower is one of 14 neighbourhoods 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. In 1986 Crawley Borough Council declared the farmland between the M23 and the London-Brighton railway line to be
214-548: A chapelry in the parish of Slaugham . When district and parish councils were established under the Local Government Act 1894 , Crawley was given a parish council and included in the Horsham Rural District . The parish was significantly enlarged in 1933, when it absorbed the neighbouring parish of Ifield . Following the designation as a New Town in 1947, the parish of Crawley
321-405: 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 martlets 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
428-475: 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
535-583: 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
642-421: 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
749-730: 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
856-610: A phrase from the Epistulae of Seneca the Younger . Despite a petition to save it, the old Crawley Town Hall, which was built in 1964, was demolished in 2020 and a new Crawley Town Hall was completed in 2023. 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
963-571: A prosperous economic hub with the largest economy of any region in the UK, after London . The region is home to Gatwick Airport , the UK's second-busiest airport, and Heathrow Airport (the UK's busiest airport) is located adjacent to the region's boundary with Greater London . The coastline along the English Channel provides numerous ferry crossings to mainland Europe . The region is known for its countryside, which includes two national parks:
1070-428: A school and recreational open spaces as well. Crawley 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
1177-480: A short distance. During calm, clear periods of weather this allows for some interesting temperature variations, although most of the time, when mobile westerly airstreams persist, the weather is typically Oceanic like the rest of the British Isles. Gatwick is the nearest weather station that publishes long-term averages that give an accurate description of the climate of the Crawley area, although more recently
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#17327835385781284-549: 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 house building 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
1391-582: A suitable location for a New Town ; but it was not officially designated as such until 9 January 1947 . The 5,920 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 Crawley Development Corporation . Members of the working group developing a master Plan included Lawrence Neal, Alwyn Sheppard Fidler , Caroline Haslett , Molly Bolton , Sir Edward Gillett , Eric Walter Pasold and Alderman James Marshall. A court challenge to
1498-570: 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
1605-701: Is a 144-ft beech at Devil's Dyke in Newtimber Woods in West Sussex. Until 1999, there was a south east Standard Statistical Region , which also included the counties of Bedfordshire , Greater London , Essex and Hertfordshire . The former south east Civil Defence Region covered the same area as the current official region. In unofficial usage, the South East can refer to a varying area – sometimes only to London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, and Surrey; but sometimes to an area corresponding to
1712-527: Is a level-1 NUTS region, coded "UKJ", which is subdivided as follows: Buckinghamshire, Medway and Kent, and Slough have an almost completely selective education system – not just a few grammar schools as other English areas may have – with secondary modern schools as the alternative. Kent has 33 grammar schools, Buckinghamshire 13, Medway 6 and Slough 4. The other areas are comprehensive . The top thirty schools at A level are almost exclusively selective schools; one or two are sixth form colleges . However,
1819-551: Is an official region for statistical and strategic planning purposes, but is not served by any directly elected regional government. From 1998 to 2010 local councils sent to the voluntary South East England Regional Assembly , based in Guildford . Delegates met six times a year and it was responsible for the South East England Development Agency , a project which oversaw investment projects in
1926-616: Is at the junction of the Varsity Line (between Oxford and Cambridge) and the West Coast Main Line . The Harwell computer (Dekatron), now at the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley, was built in 1949 and is believed to be the oldest working digital computer in the world. John Wallis of Kent introduced the symbol for infinity and the standard notation for powers of numbers in 1656. Thomas Bayes
2033-483: Is available for 1971 to 2000, but given increases at comparable sites nearby, annual averages are likely to be over 1,600 hours. Snowfall is often heavier in the Sussex Weald than in 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 snow to areas from South London southwards. However, again due to
2140-854: Is one of the nine official regions of England in the United Kingdom at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of Berkshire , Buckinghamshire , East Sussex , Hampshire , the Isle of Wight , Kent , Oxfordshire , Surrey and West Sussex . Cities and towns in the region include Aldershot , Ashford , Aylesbury , Basingstoke , Bracknell , Brighton and Hove , Canterbury , Chichester , Crawley , Eastbourne , Farnborough , Gosport , Guildford , Hastings , High Wycombe , Margate , Maidstone , Medway , Milton Keynes , Newport , Oxford , Portsmouth , Ramsgate , Reading , Slough , Southampton , Winchester , Woking and Worthing . South East England
2247-649: Is strong support for other parties, for example, Oxford , Slough and Southampton Test for Labour and Brighton Pavilion which is held by the Green Party . Out of 84 parliamentary seats, the Conservatives hold 72. In the 2017 general election, the Conservatives won 54.8% of votes, Labour 28.6%, Liberal Democrats 10.6%, Greens 3.1%, and UKIP 2.2%. In the Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), South East England
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#17327835385782354-513: Is surrounded by towns including Horley , Redhill , Reigate , Oxted , Dorking , Horsham , Haywards Heath , Burgess Hill and East Grinstead . 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 . Crawley lies in the Weald between
2461-442: Is the third-largest region of England, with a land area of 19,072 square kilometres (7,364 sq mi), and is also the most populous with a total population of 9,379,833 in 2022. The region contains eight legally chartered cities : Brighton and Hove , Canterbury , Chichester , Milton Keynes , Oxford , Portsmouth , Southampton and Winchester . The region's close proximity to London has led to South East England becoming
2568-444: The 2021 census , Crawley's population had grown to 118,493. White people made up 73.4% of the population, of those 61.8% identified as White British , a decrease from 84.5% in 2001, while those who identified as " Other White " were 10.5%. Asians made up 15.4% of the population, with Indians and Pakistanis making up 6.2% and 5.2% of the population respectively, while Sri Lankans (mostly of Tamil descent / background ) make up
2675-679: 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 . In May 1946, the New Towns Act of 1946 identified Crawley as
2782-714: The A32 , is an example of a site where the Romano-British grew Roman grapes . Much of the Battle of Britain was fought in this region, especially in Kent. RAF Bomber Command was based at High Wycombe . RAF Medmenham at Danesfield House , west of Marlow in Buckinghamshire, was important for aerial reconnaissance . Operation Corona , based at RAF Kingsdown (at West Kingsdown next to Brands Hatch in Kent, between
2889-596: 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
2996-518: The Met Office has also published data for its nearby weather station at Charlwood . 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 19 July 2006, just 0.2C and 0.1C lower, respectively, than
3103-1070: The New Forest and the South Downs , as well as the North Downs , the Chiltern Hills and part of the Cotswolds . The River Thames flows through the region and its basin is known as the Thames Valley . It is also the location of a number of internationally known places of interest, such as HMS Victory in Portsmouth, Cliveden in Buckinghamshire, Thorpe Park and RHS Wisley in Surrey, Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, Windsor Castle in Berkshire, Leeds Castle ,
3210-525: 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 highest point in
3317-765: The White Cliffs of Dover and Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, Brighton Palace Pier , and Hammerwood Park in East Sussex, and Wakehurst Place in West Sussex. The region has many universities; the University of Oxford is the oldest in the English-speaking world, and ranked among the best in the world. South East England is host to various sporting events, including the annual Henley Royal Regatta , Royal Ascot and The Derby , and sporting venues include Wentworth Golf Club and Brands Hatch . Some of
Maidenbower - Misplaced Pages Continue
3424-451: The census in 2011 the population of Crawley was recorded as 106,597. The 2001 census data showed that population then 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%. According to
3531-468: The circulation of blood . The Lilly Research Centre in Windlesham, Berkshire, part of Eli Lilly , developed Olanzapine in 1996 (for bipolar disorder , selling around $ 5bn worldwide annually). Beecham Research Laboratories at Brockham Park in 1959 discovered meticillin (or methicillin), the first semi-synthetic penicillin ( beta-lactamase stable), deriving from their discovery in 1958 of 6-APA ,
3638-773: The flying tail or all-moving tail also known as a stabilator ; this would solve the problem of stability and aircraft control at supersonic speeds , and its design was taken wholesale into the American Bell X-1 , the first supersonic aircraft . The first Harrier aircraft XV738 flew on 28 December 1967; this was the first aircraft of the RAF to have a head-up display avionics system. The first two-seat Harrier XW174 flew on 24 April 1969, later crashing at Larkhill in June 1969. The British Aerospace Sea Harrier XZ450 first flew on 20 August 1978; on 4 May 1982 this aircraft
3745-663: The parliamentary constituency of Crawley . Henry Smith won the seat at the 2010 general election and was re-elected at the 2015, 2017 and 2019 general elections. Laura Moffatt , a member of the Labour Party , was the MP for Crawley from 1997 to 2010; she was the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Health , Alan Johnson . In the 2005 general election , the winning margin
3852-535: The plan position indicator method of radar display as most commonly known ever since; the site became Plessey Radar in 1965, and currently is run by BAE Systems. Sperry Gyroscope in Bracknell produced the guidance systems for Britain's 1960s space rockets. The Wealden iron industry in the Weald was the site of the first blast furnace in Britain in 1491, and produced much of Britain's cast iron until
3959-417: The 13th neighbourhood, named Maidenbower after one of the farms in the area. A consortium of builders was formed to develop the site which was to include community facilities and a new junction giving access to the M23. By 2000 development was almost complete, although small areas of infill development continue. The original 16th-century Frogshole farm building, unlike the adjoining Maidenbower farm that gave
4066-533: The 1770s. Portsmouth Block Mills were the site of the world's first metal machine tools , built for the manufacture of wooden pulleys , invented by Henry Maudslay , and the site of the world's first industrial assembly line in 1803. South Foreland Lighthouse on 8 December 1858 was the world's first lighthouse with electric light, with the first type of industrial electrical generator made by Frederick Hale Holmes , from work he had carried out with Floris Nollet of Belgium, and 36 permanent magnets. By 1880, of
4173-477: The A20 and M20), was implemented to confuse German night fighters with native German-speakers, and coordinated by the RAF Y service . Bletchley Park in north Buckinghamshire was the principal Allied centre for codebreaking. The Colossus computer , arguably the world's first, began working on Lorentz codes on 5 February 1944, with Colossus 2 working from June 1944. The site was chosen, among other reasons, because it
4280-554: The Brighton Main Line. In the early 20th century, many of the large country estates in the area, with their mansions 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
4387-602: The Development Corporation, the town's population had reached 51,700; 2,289,000 square feet (212,700 m ) of the factory and other industrial space had been provided; 21,800 people were employed, nearly 60% of whom worked in manufacturing industries, 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
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4494-631: 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
4601-524: The M40); on 13 March 1962, the first in-flight rocket-powered ejection took place by Peter Howard , an RAF doctor based at Farnborough's Institute of Aviation Medicine in Meteor WA364 at 250 ft over Chalgrove, with the rocket giving a maximum force of 16G. The Miles M.52 , designed at Woodley Aerodrome in Berkshire by Miles Aircraft , was an advanced design of aircraft which had the innovation of
4708-472: The UK monthly record for that day set at Wisley , 20 miles to the west. The overall maximum stands at 36.5C (97.7F) at Charlwood , set on 10 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 was 25.1C (77.2F) or higher on 15.9 days of the year on average (1971–00) and
4815-611: The UK was at Epsom telephone exchange from 18 May 1912. It was introduced as standard across the UK's 6,700 telephone exchanges in 1922, lasting for around 70 years; it could handle up to 500 lines. It used the Strowger design and was made by Automatic Telephone Manufacturing Company of Liverpool. The world's first automatic telephone exchange had opened in La Porte, Indiana in November 1892. UK-Belgium 5 , laid in 1986 from Kent,
4922-427: The UK, at Farnborough; on 14 May 1909 he flew it for more than a mile. On 13 August 1909, his wife was the first woman in the UK to fly in a plane, also at Farnborough. The first human airborne ejection seat firing took place on 24 July 1946 over Chalgrove Airfield , Oxfordshire, in a Meteor , piloted by Bernard Lynch ; the first dummy ejection had been 10 May 1945 over RAF Oakley in west Buckinghamshire (today near
5029-583: The administrative capital of England some time in the 13th century as its influence waned while the City of London dominated commerce. The last monarch to be crowned at Winchester was Richard II in 1377, although the last monarch to be crowned by the Bishop of Winchester was Queen Mary I in 1553. The Meonhill Vineyard, near Old Winchester Hill in east Hampshire on the South Downs south of West Meon on
5136-645: The airport. The commercial and retail sectors continue to expand. 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. 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
5243-640: The area its name, remains as the public house for the neighbourhood. It was refurbished and opened in 1994. On 8 February 2007 it suffered a major fire. Frogshole Farm Pub re-opened in July 2008 after a major refurbishment. A secondary school, the Oriel High School , has been built at Maidenbower under the Private Finance Initiative : a private company designed and built the school and is planned to provide facilities management for
5350-412: The astronomer, from Kent, invented the term photography in 1839, meaning light writing . and discovered the first photographic fixer , sodium thiosulphate , known as hypo , also in 1839. GLEEP was Britain's first nuclear reactor, in August 1947 at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE) at Harwell, it would stay operational until 1990. William Harvey of Folkestone, in Kent, discovered
5457-507: 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. South East England South East England
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#17327835385785564-560: The borough is 486 feet (148 m) above sea level. 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
5671-410: The borough's neighbourhoods, but three neighbourhoods are divided: Broadfield , Northgate , and Pound Hill into "Pound Hill North and Forge Wood " and "Pound Hill South and Worth". The council is elected in thirds. As of the 2021 local elections , the council is run by Labour in coalition with the sole independent councillor, with seats held as follows: Crawley Borough is coterminous with
5778-414: The conurbation known as the Greater London Urban Area . The South East has the highest percentage of people born outside of Britain other than London . According to the 2021 census, 78.8% of residents were White British , 7.1% Other White (inc. 0.8% Irish ), 7.0% British Asian , 2.8% Mixed Race , 2.4% Black British , and 1.4% of other groups . There was no census in 1941. South East England
5885-430: The core constituent; the team, led by Prof George Rolinson, won the Mullard Award in 1971. Bipyridine compounds (Paraquat-Gramoxone and Diquat) were discovered for herbicide use in 1954 by William Boon at ICI's Plant Protection division at Jealott's Hill, being released onto the market in 1958. AZT/Retrovir ( zidovudine ) was first manufactured by Wellcome in 1987 in Kent; they also introduced Zovirax ( aciclovir ), and
5992-430: 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 13 wards, each of which is represented by two or three local councillors, forming a total council of 36 members. Most wards are coterminous with
6099-480: The county town of Chichester . Crawley covers an area of 17.36 square miles (44.96 km ) and had a population of 118,493 at the time of the 2021 Census . The area has been inhabited since the Stone Age , and was a centre of ironworking 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 passing trade, which encouraged
6206-404: The designated area of the New Town as well as the area north of the town including Gatwick Airport , which had previously been in Surrey . 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
6313-491: 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
6420-424: The destruction of all data stored for the identity card scheme brought about by the Identity Cards Act 2006 . At 51°6′33″N 0°11′14″W / 51.10917°N 0.18722°W / 51.10917; -0.18722 (51.1092, −0.1872), Crawley is in the northeastern corner of West Sussex in South East England , 28 miles (45 km) south of London and 18 miles (29 km) north of Brighton and Hove . It
6527-498: The development of coaching inns . A rail link to London opened in 1841. Gatwick Airport , one of Britain's busiest international airports, opened for commercial flights on the edge of the town in 1933, 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 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 6 . c. 68) designated Crawley as
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#17327835385786634-405: The earlier neighbourhoods in which most of the housing was owned by the council. In 1999, plans were announced to develop the 14th neighbourhood on land at Tinsley Green to the northeast of the town; this was given the go ahead in 2011 and is officially the town's 14th neighbourhood, named Forge Wood after the ancient woodland that is enclosed within the development. After a temporary halt to
6741-434: The early 1960s. Donald Watts Davies invented packet switching in the late 1960s at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington . Packet-switching was taken up by the Americans to form the ARPANET , the precursor to the Internet. Surrey's Alec Reeves invented pulse-code modulation (PCM) in 1937 (at ITT 's research laboratories in Paris), the standard for digital audio recordings. Sir John Herschel , son of
6848-412: The entrance roads to Maidenbower leading from the Balcombe Road, a large piece of public art was installed. A community project, it was created in five pieces by the four schools in the neighbourhood and one piece by the community. The pieces fit together like a giant jigsaw puzzle to form an outline representing a map of the neighbourhood. The streams that run through it create the joins between each of
6955-469: The events of the 2012 Summer Olympics were held in the south east, including the rowing at Eton Dorney and part of the cycling road race in the Surrey Hills . In medieval times , South East England included much of the Kingdom of Wessex , which was the precursor to the modern state of England . Winchester was the capital of England after unification of the various states, including the kingdoms of Kent , Sussex and Mercia . Winchester stopped being
7062-405: 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
7169-439: The first point of sale terminal in Europe - the NCR 280 in 1973. The National Fruit Collection is the largest collection of fruit trees in the world, at Brogdale , and is next to the M2 at the A251 junction in Ospringe . Scalextric was invented by Fred Francis in 1956, who founded Minimodels in Havant; initially the model cars had been clockwork ; it was made from 1967 at Triang in Margate. The world's first Mars Bar
7276-405: The first to assign the correct atomic number to elements in periodic table ; he did not receive any Nobel Prize as it is not awarded posthumously (he was killed in 1915 at Gallipoli with the Royal Engineers). Carbon fibre was invented in 1963 at the RAE in Farnborough by a team led by William Watt. The Apollo LCG space-suit cooling system originated mostly from work done at RAE Farnborough in
7383-414: The former Standard Statistical Region. The South East is also occasionally used as a synonym for the home counties . The population of the region at the 2011 census was 8,634,750 making it the most populous English region. The major conurbations of the region include South Hampshire (855,000), Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton (474,000) and Reading (318,000). Settlements closer to London are part of
7490-444: The largest Chagossian population in the world". The town has a population density of around 2,635 persons per square kilometre, making it the second most densely populated district in West Sussex , after Worthing . In 2021, around 28.6% were in managerial, administrative or professional occupations, although this varied by ward, with just 19.5% in Broadfield West , compared to 45.7% in Maidenbower . The proportion of people in
7597-479: 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. Crawley lies within the Sussex Weald , an area of highly variable terrain so that many microclimates of frost hollows, sun traps and windswept hilltops will be encountered over
7704-515: The majority of " Other Asian " write-ins. Those of Black descent made up 4.5% of the population. Crawley also has a noticeable Mauritian minority, made up of people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. The largest religious affiliation was Christianity at 42.6%, followed by those with no religion at 35.1%, Islam at 9.7%, Hinduism at 5.1%, Sikhism at 0.7%, Buddhism at 0.4%, Judaism at 0.1% and any other religion at 0.5%. Those who recorded their main language as English made up 84.3% of
7811-530: The naturally occurring digoxin , a cardiac glycoside . After a plane crashed near his house in Oxford in 1940, Sir Peter Medawar helped the injured pilot, and in the process discovered homograft rejection , leading to organ transplantation using azathioprine . Viagra ( Sildenafil ) was synthesized at Pfizer in Sandwich, Kent. Sir Francis Pettit Smith of Kent invented the screw propeller . On 3 May 1830
7918-489: The new town at various stages in its development. In 2009, expansion was being planned in the west and north-west of the town, in cooperation with Horsham District Council , which has now become a new neighbourhood named Kilnwood Vale , but it is not in Crawley. Economically, the town has developed into the main centre of industry and employment between London and the south coast. Its large industrial area supports manufacturing and service companies, many of them connected with
8025-476: The next 25 years. West Sussex County Council provides all the educational services and staff. Maidenbower also has two infants schools and a large junior school. There is a parade of shops and a community centre that provides daycare facilities for elderly people and people with disabilities. The Gatwick Stream runs through Maidenbower (formerly through Frogshole farm), past the back of the parade of shops and on to Three Bridges. In September 2006, close to one of
8132-458: 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
8239-455: The outlying Langley Green neighbourhood to just seven in West Green , close to the town centre. Each of the 14 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
8346-421: The pieces. The overall theme of the piece is the history and development of Maidenbower. This West Sussex location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Crawley Crawley ( ) is a town and borough in West Sussex , England . It is 28 miles (45 km) south of London , 18 miles (29 km) north of Brighton and Hove , and 32 miles (51 km) north-east of
8453-632: The population. Other languages were Romanian (2.1%), Polish (1.7%), Portuguese (1.4%), Tamil (1.3), Gujarati (1.1%) and Hindustani ( Hindi / Urdu ) (1.1%). There is also a Tamil learning centre. Many Chagossians expelled from the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean settled in Crawley in the 1960s and 1970s, and it was reported in 2016 that the town's Chagossian community numbered approximately 3,000 people. Crawley MP Henry Smith stated that Crawley "is home to perhaps
8560-414: The proposals when a possible expansion at Gatwick Airport was announced, construction started in 2015. Forge Wood is to have a maximum of 1900 homes. Development of another neighbourhood began in 2012 on the western side of Crawley in the Horsham district , named Kilnwood Vale . A plan for a new railway station fell through. Crawley became a parish in the sixteenth century, having previously been
8667-699: The region are at state secondary schools (the highest in England) with 101,000 in Kent (the highest in England for a county and completely selective) then 70,000 in Hampshire, 60,000 in Surrey, 45,000 in West Sussex, 36,000 in Oxfordshire, 35,000 in Buckinghamsire. The lowest is 6,000 at Bracknell Forest, then Reading with about 6,000. Of all regions, the South-East has the greatest percentage that attend
8774-742: The region is the chimney of Grain Power Station at 801 ft; it is the second-tallest chimney in the UK after Drax power station . George Albert Smith developed the first colour film process, known as Kinemacolor , in 1906 at Southwick, West Sussex . George E. Davis from Slough, is the founding father of chemical engineering. Wiggins Teape, later ARJO Wiggins Fine Papers , had the largest paper research centre in Europe at Butlers Court in Beaconsfield; built in 1891 and vacated in 2009. Bentalls in Bracknell (now Fenwick since 2017) had
8881-507: The region. It was abolished on 31 March 2009 and replaced with South East England Councils in Kingston upon Thames . The region is divided into several local council areas, most composed of two-tiered councils (the tiers are county councils and district councils) and unitary authorities : The South East of England is the most Conservative voting region of Britain in terms of both seats and votes. The area also has some seats where there
8988-546: The results for each county as a whole are not always directly related to the number of grammar schools, as Kent and Medway perform below average at A-level. The King's School, Canterbury claims to be oldest in England: 597 AD. Herschel Grammar School in Slough is the most oversubscribed school in England, with 14 people per place, Langley Grammar School in Slough is next with 13 per place, then Burnham Grammar School. 508,000 in
9095-469: 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 over a few decades. The town contains 14 residential neighbourhoods radiating out from 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
9202-471: The southerly location of the area, with warmer air from the nearby English Channel , the snow is often temporary as low-pressure systems track north bringing in milder air; areas immediately north of London tend 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
9309-525: The ten lighthouses with electric light, five were in the UK. From the lighthouse in 1899, the first international radio broadcast to France was made. Zénobe Gramme of Belgium made a much better design in 1870 with self-excitation of magnets, and the first modern dynamo . North Foreland Lighthouse was the UK's last-staffed lighthouse until 1998. Portland cement was developed in Northfleet, Kent, by William Aspdin, son of Joseph Aspdin . The development
9416-413: The town with higher education qualifications is lower than the national average. Around 27.5% have a qualification at level 4 or above, compared to 33.9% nationally. Crawley 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
9523-602: 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
9630-598: The warmest day will typically rise to 29.4C (84.9F). The overall minimum for Gatwick Airport for the period from 1960 is −16.7C (1.9F), set in January 1963. More recently, Charlwood fell to −11.2C (11.8F) and Gatwick −11.1C (12.0F) on 20 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 in Crawley are higher than many inland areas due to its southerly location: Gatwick averaged 1,574 hours per year over 1961–90. No data
9737-602: The world's first bus service was by Eastbourne Buses from Eastbourne railway station to Meads . The world's first submarine telephone cable was laid between England and France in 1891 by HMTS Monarch, enabling London-Paris calls from April 1891. On 3 December 1992, Neil Papworth of Reading, an engineer from Sema Group Telecoms at Vodafone in Newbury, sent the world's first text message from his computer to an Orbitel 901 handset of Richard Jarvis, Vodafone's technical director. The first public automatic telephone exchange in
9844-488: The world's first multi-channel flight data recorders in 1965. Although the Comet is generally accepted as the world's first production-run jet airliner, the first jet airliner ever built (individual) was a Nene -powered Vickers VC.1 Viking on 6 April 1948 from Wisley Airfield ; the world's first turboprop airliner would fly from there on 16 July 1948 by Mutt Summers . In 1939 at Cowes ( Northwood ) John Godeck invented
9951-583: The world's first passenger train service, the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway (6 miles or 10 km) began. It was built by George Stephenson and hauled by the locomotive Invicta . It introduced the world's first railway season ticket in 1834. Maidenhead Railway Bridge , known for its flat arch, was built in 1839 with 39-metre spans. The Military Vehicles and Engineering Establishment , in Chertsey, developed Chobham armour . On 12 April 1903,
10058-496: The year. There are 14 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, apart from the 8-storey Milton Mount Flats at the North end of Pound Hill . Many houses have their own gardens and are set back from roads. The hub of each neighbourhood is a shopping parade, community centre and church, and each has
10165-565: 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
10272-553: Was an important statistician from Tunbridge Wells; his theorem (of probability theory ) is used for spam filters and Google's search . Sir David N. Payne at the University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre invented the erbium-doped fibre amplifier , a type of optical amplifier , in the mid-1980s, which became essential for the internet. Henry Moseley at Oxford in 1913 discovered his Moseley's law of X-ray spectra of chemical elements that enabled him to be
10379-630: 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 King Edward VII Sanatorium in Midhurst —moved to
10486-722: Was built in 1986. This is the world's highest-capacity submarine HVDC cable; it goes from France and lands near Folkestone, with the large transformer station (built by GEC) squeezed between the CTRL and the M20 in Aldington and Smeeth , made of eight 270 kV cables. On 16 October 1908 the British Army Aeroplane No 1 , flown by the American Samuel Franklin Cody , was the first aircraft flown in
10593-523: Was enlarged in 1953 to take in territory from the parishes of Slaugham and Worth . Three years later, on 1 April 1956, the parish of Crawley was made an urban district , making it independent from Horsham Rural District. 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 new borough in 1974 also saw its boundaries enlarged, gaining other areas which had been included in
10700-490: 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
10807-656: Was hit by anti-aircraft fire at Goose Green , killing the pilot with 800 Naval Air Squadron from HMS Hermes ; the aircraft had no radar warning receiver (RWR), due to testing the Sea Eagle , so could not detect the Skyguard radar had locked on to it. It was destroyed with the Oerlikon GDF (35mm) of GADA 601 ; it was the first Sea Harrier lost in the Falklands campaign. Royston Instruments of Byfleet developed
10914-520: 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"
11021-695: Was made in Slough in 1932; it was modelled on the Milky Way , popular at the time in the USA. Twix was introduced at Slough in 1967, with production moving to eastern France (Mars Chocolat France at Haguenau in Alsace ) in 2005. The Ford GT40 was developed by Ford Advanced Vehicles at Slough in the mid-1960s. The highest point is Walbury Hill in Berkshire at 297 m (974 ft). Britain's tallest native tree, according to The Tree Register in April 2015,
11128-450: 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
11235-691: Was the slimmest of any UK constituency : Moffatt won by just 37 votes. Brook House and Tinsley House Immigration Removal Centres , operated by UK Visas and Immigration , are within the grounds of 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
11342-589: Was the world's first optical fibre submarine cable, and is 36 miles long. ThrustSSC , the fastest car in the world in 1997, was built in Aldingbourne , West Sussex, by G-Force Engineering, designed by Ron Ayers , with further work done by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency at Farnborough. The BritNed 1000MW power-supply submarine cable from Isle of Grain to Rotterdam, was built in 2009. The HVDC Cross-Channel (2000MW) submarine cable
11449-497: Was to heat the ingredients to around 1450 °C, producing clinker . Previously, temperatures were taken to only 800 °C, which was not enough. The first ever cement kiln is still in Northfleet today in a cardboard factory. In the late 1800s, the rotary kiln made the process much more efficient. Concrete, effectively human-made stone, is the most widespread human-made material. 5% of all carbon emissions worldwide are from concrete production. The tallest freestanding structure in
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