Crowborough
| Crowborough | |
 Crowborough Cross, 2007 |
|
  Crowborough Crowborough shown within East Sussex | |
| Area | 13.6 km2 (5.3 sq mi) [1] |
|---|---|
| Population | 20,000 (2007)[1] |
| - Density | 3,812 /sq mi (1,472 /km2) |
| OS grid reference | TQ518312 |
| - London | 33 miles (53 km) NNW |
| District | Wealden |
| Shire county | East Sussex |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CROWBOROUGH |
| Postcode district | TN6 |
| Dialling code | 01892 |
| Police | Sussex |
| Fire | East Sussex |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Wealden |
| Website | Crowborough Town Council |
| |
Crowborough is a town in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. It is situated on the Weald and at the edge of Ashdown Forest, in the High Weald Area of Outstanding National Beauty 7 miles (11 km) south-west of Royal Tunbridge Wells and 35 miles (56 km) south of London. It has road and rail links and is served by a town council. It is the largest inland town (by population) in East Sussex.
History
Various derivations for the town's name have been put forward.[2] Early local documents give the names Crohbergh, Crowbergh, Croweborowghe, Crowbarrow and Crowboro. Croh (Old English: saffron or golden-yellow colour) and berg means hill. Gorse, growing in profusion in the Crowborough Beacon area, and its yellow flowers might well have contributed to the meaning.
In 1734, Sir Henry Fermor, a local benefactor, bequeathed money for a church and charity school for the benefit of the "very ignorant and heathenish people" that lived in the part of Rotherfield "in or near a place called Crowborough and Ashdown Forest".[3] The church, dedicated to All Saints, and primary school still survive today.
In the late 19th century Crowborough was promoted as a health resort based on its high elevation, the rolling hills and surrounding forest. Estate Agents even called it Scotland in Sussex.
From 1942 to 1982, a site near Crowborough hosted notable radio transmitters including the Aspidistra transmitter during WWII and, after the war, the BBC External Service broadcasts to Europe transmitters.
Governance
Crowborough became an ecclesiastical parish in 1880: previously it had been part of Rotherfield. A civil parish was established on 6 April 1905; the parish council was renamed as a Town Council on 24 May 1988.[4]
Crowborough shares the headquarters of Wealden District Council with Hailsham, 14 miles (22 km) to the south; this sharing is due to transfer Hailsham alone by 2010.
Geography
| Crowborough | |
|---|---|
| Elevation | 242 m (794 ft) |
| Prominence | c. 159 m |
| Parent peak | Leith Hill |
| Listing | Marilyn |
| Location | |
| Location | High Weald, England |
| OS grid | TQ510305 |
| Topo map | OS Landranger 188 |
The highest point in the town is 242 metres above sea level. This summit is the highest point of the High Weald and second highest point in East Sussex (the highest is Ditchling Beacon). Its relative height is 159 m, meaning Crowborough qualifies as one of England's Marilyns. The summit is not marked on the ground.
Transport
Crowborough is located on the A26 road between Tunbridge Wells and Lewes.
Crowborough railway station is on the line to Uckfield which is operated by Southern taking passengers to London Bridge station; the journey takes approximately one hour.
Education
Crowborough is served by one secondary school: Beacon Academy; and by seven primary schools:
- Whitehill Infant School
- Herne Junior School
- High Hurstwood CE (controlled) School
- Jarvis Brook County Primary School
- St Johns CE (aided) School
- St Mary’s RC School
- Sir Henry Fermor (aided) CE School
- Grove Park Special School
There are also two independent preparatory schools.
Health
Crowborough Hospital is a small cottage hospital with a midwife-led maternity unit. It has been threatened with closure numerous times but services are still offered in part due to a strong local campaign.[5] Non-maternity services are provided at hospitals in Pembury and Haywards Heath.
Sport and leisure
Crowborough has several recreation grounds, perhaps most notably Goldsmiths, which is the site of the local leisure centre. The Goldsmiths Recreation Ground was given to the parish by private owners in 1937. The town council has since purchased additional land and has developed the ground into a much needed recreation centre for the whole community. The ground houses a sports centre including a swimming pool, a boating lake and a miniature railway.[6]
Crowborough Common is an ancient common covering over 220 acres to which the public was granted a legal right of access "for the taking of air and exercise" in 1936.[7] The common is owned by Crowborough Beacon Golf Club and several private owners. Most of the common is heathland and woodland, with less than half of the total area comprising golf links. In 2012 the golf club was refused permission to build a new car park in woodland on the common by Wealden District Council after a campaign involving local residents and organisations including the Open Spaces Society.[8][9][10]
Crowborough hockey club has four male and two female teams, playing their home matches at Beacon community collage. Established 50 years ago they play their fixtures throughout the county in the Sussex league.
The town also has its own fishing association. It owns two lakes in the town with waters in nearby Eridge and Marsfield as well as lakes around Sussex. There is a thriving senior section but they also boast a successful junior programme, fishing every other Saturday from June until the climax of the season with a joint junior and adult match on the first Saturday in October.
The Crowborough Players, established in 1933, are the resident community drama group at the Crowborough Community Centre (opened in June 2012). After resting between 2009 and 2011, the group was relaunched in 2012 with 60 members [November 2012]. The Players put on the town's first community pantomime, Cinderella in December 2012. In December 2013, they are putting on another community pantomime, Dick Wittington.
Crowborough Netball is a coaching club formed, with help from Crowborough Town Council, in 2012. The club coaches children and adults from those new to the game to league players at Crowborough Leisure Centre, and Goldsmiths outdoor court and plays in East Sussex tournaments.
Crowborough Athletic F.C. and Jarvis Brook F.C. are the town's main football clubs, and Crowborough currently play in Sussex County League Division One.[11]
Crowborough Rugby Football Club won promotion from the Sussex leagues in 2006 and now plays in the London South 2 division.[12]
Crowborough Tennis and Squash Club has nine outdoor all-weather tennis courts and four squash courts, as well as offering racketball and other sporting activities. The club competes in Sussex County leagues in both tennis and squash. The Club is open to the public for Pay and Play tennis, squash and racketball. There are also a host of social events from quizzes to live music.
Crowborough Scout Group, the third largest in the UK,[13] is actively involved with the Crowborough community.
Crowborough Country Park is a 16 acre nature reserve located in the southern part of Crowborough. The park started life as a clay quarry serving the Crowborough Brickworks that closed in 1980. Evidence of its industrial past can still be seen by the interesting topography on the site. The site of the brickworks was developed into Farningham Road industrial estate and housing in the area of Osborne Road. For nearly 30 years the quarry was left to natural regeneration and local people used it for informal play, with stories of swimming in the ponds and losing Wellington boots in the wet areas of the site. In 2008 Crowborough Town Council acquired the site with the intention of developing it for use by the Public for informal recreation and also to enhance the site's biodiversity. In 2008 work began in the Country Park with a stone track and bridges installed. The site was declared a Local Nature Reserve in 2009 ensuring the future management of the site for the benefit of the wildlife and for people to enjoy quiet recreation.
Notable people
- Isaac Roberts (1829–1904), engineer, pioneer in astrophotography of nebulae[14]
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930), the author of the Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories, whose statue stands in the town centre[15]
- David Jason (born 1940), actor, most commonly known for playing the character Del Boy in the TV sitcom Only Fools And Horses lived in the town during the 1980s[16]
- Mark Donovan (born 1968), screen actor, has lived in the town on-off since 2007
- Richard Jefferies (1848–1887): writer and naturalist[17]
- Jehst, hip hop artiste
- Lord Derek Rayner (Baron Rayner of Crowborough in the County of East Sussex) was a chairman and chief executive of Marks & Spencer plc
- James Dagwell (born 1974), British journalist, currently BBC News presenter
- Ross Kemp, best known for his role in EastEnders as Grant Mitchell[16]
- Dylan Hartley, England Rugby Union player
- Piers Sellers, NASA astronaut
- Kim Woodburn, television presenter
- Tom Baker, most notable for playing the role of the fourth Doctor in Doctor Who, currently lives in the town
- Luxford House, on Luxford Road at the southern end of town, was once owned by the rock manager Tony Stratton-Smith of Genesis. His own in-house recording studio played host to, among others, Neil Diamond, Genesis and Van Der Graaf Generator, whose Pawn Hearts album cover features a photo of the house
- Crowborough is also home of the English Grand Lodge for Europe and Africa of the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC.
Popular culture
The town also serves as territorial designation in the title of the Duke of Crowborough (portrayed by Charlie Cox) in the premier episode of the show Downton Abbey. Cox grew up in the vicinity of the town.
Local traditions
A main event in the town's calendar is its celebration of Guy Fawkes Night, held annually on 5 November. An average of five thousand people descend upon Goldsmiths Recreation Ground for this town council event. Donations on the night are traditionally collected by the local Lions Club and now also the Rotary Club, and donated to the mayor's charity.
However this is overshadowed by Carnival night, which sees the whole of the town taking to the streets on the second Saturday in September, run by the town's Bonfire and Carnival Society. It involves a fête on the town green during the day, followed by a torchlight parade led by the carnival princess in the evening, with various Sussex bonfire societies joining the march round the streets, culminating in a bonfire on Crowborough Green or at Goldsmiths Recreation Ground. Street collections are received on the night and are given to around six different local charities a year. On average the society manages to raise approximately £2,000 - £3,000 per year. This tradition dates back around 70 years, celibrating the discovery of the gunpowder plot and is part of the build up to the Lewes Bonfire Celebrations on November the 5th. The town council also puts on a summer fair and a Christmas fair, for which the dates are agreed annually. A summer funday is organised by the Crowborough Chamber of Commerce and Crowborough Hospital has a fête every August Bank Holiday.
There is a monthly Farmers' Market on Saturdays and an annual French Market in the summer.
Twin towns
The town is twinned with:
On 22 April 1990, Crowborough and Horwich became the first towns in England to be twinned with other English towns.[18]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "East Sussex in Figures". East Sussex County Council. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
- ↑ A newspaper article of 1933 suggested that, since iron smelting was carried on here,[citation needed] it was derived from the Irish for iron, which is croe.
- ↑ "Historical Notes about Crowborough".
- ↑ The Weald of Kent, Surrey and Sussex
- ↑ Hallett, Richard (8 July 2003). Mavis Kirkham, ed. The Crowborough birthing centre story. Elsevier Health Sciences. pp. 53–60. ISBN 978-0-7506-5497-5. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
- ↑ "Crowborough Town Council official guide". Retrieved 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "Law of Property Act 1925 (section 193) (1) (b)". Crowborough Beacon Golf Club. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ↑ "Group opposes Crowborough golf club car park plans". BBC News. 14 May 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ↑ "Crowborough Beacon Golf club in bunker over car park plan". this is Sussex. 8 June 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ↑ "Wealden woodland saved from private car-park plans". Open Spaces Society. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ↑ "Crowborough Rugby Football Club website". Retrieved 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "Crowborough Rugby Football Club website". Retrieved 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "Crowborough Scout Group website". Retrieved 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "Obituary Notices of Fellows deceased: Isaac Roberts. 1929-1904.". Retrieved 17 February 2013. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 75: 356, 362. 1904-1905.
- ↑ Peter Costello (25 October 2012). Conan Doyle, Detective. Constable & Robinson Ltd. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-4721-0365-9. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Mackelden, Hilary (10 June 2011). "Word on the Street". Kent and Sussex Courier (subscription required). Retrieved 15 January 2013.
- ↑ Wilde, Arthur (June 2010). Richard Jefferies - A Tribute. Read Books. pp. 137–139. ISBN 978-1-4455-0696-8. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
- ↑ Crowborough Town Council (2011). "Twinned Towns". Retrieved 11 November 2012.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Crowborough. |
 |
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Crowborough. |
| ||||||||||||||||||||