Crawley
Town and borough in West Sussex, England / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Crawley (pronunciationⓘ) 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 the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of 17.36 square miles (44.96 km2) and had a population of 106,597 at the time of the 2011 Census.
Crawley | |
---|---|
Borough of Crawley | |
Motto(s): "I Grow and I Rejoice" | |
Coordinates: 51°6′33″N 0°11′14″W | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Constituent country | England |
Region | South East England |
Ceremonial county | West Sussex |
Historic county | Sussex (Town centre and outlying areas) Surrey (Gatwick Airport) |
Admin HQ | Crawley Town Hall |
Founded | 5th century |
Borough status | 1974 |
Government | |
• Type | Borough |
• Body | Crawley Borough Council |
• Leadership | Leader and cabinet |
• Council Leader | Cllr Michael Jones (L) |
• Mayor | Cllr Jilly Hart (L) |
• MPs | Henry Smith (C) |
Area | |
• Borough | 17.36 sq mi (44.96 km2) |
Population (2021) | |
• Borough | 118,580 (ranked 199th) |
• Density | 5,750/sq mi (2,221/km2) |
Ethnicity (2021) | |
• Ethnic groups | |
Religion (2021) | |
• Religion | List
|
Time zone | UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time) |
Postcode | |
Area code | 01293 |
ISO 3166-2 | GB-WSX (West Sussex) |
ONS code | 45UE (ONS) E07000226 (GSS) |
OS grid reference | TQ268360 |
NUTS 3 | UKJ24 |
Website | https://crawley.gov.uk/ |
The area has been inhabited since the Stone Age,[2] 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 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 designated Crawley as the site of one of these.[3] 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 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.[4] 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 the airport. The commercial and retail sectors continue to expand.[3]
Origins
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.[2] Tools and burial mounds from the Neolithic period, and burial mounds and a sword from the Bronze Age, have also been discovered.[5][6] Crawley is on the western edge of the High Weald, which produced iron for more than 2,000 years from the Iron Age onwards.[7] Goffs Park—now a recreational area in the south of the town—was the site of two late Iron Age furnaces.[8] Ironworking and mineral extraction continued throughout Roman times, particularly in the Broadfield area where many furnaces were built.[5][9]
In the 5th century, Saxon settlers named the area Crow's Leah—meaning a crow-infested clearing, or Crow's Wood.[10] This name evolved over time, and the present spelling appeared by the early 14th century.[5] By this time, nearby settlements were more established: the Saxon church at Worth, for example, dates from between 950 and 1050 AD.[11]
Although Crawley itself is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086,[12] the nearby settlements of Ifield and Worth are recorded.[13] The first written record of Crawley dates from 1202, when a licence was issued by King John for a weekly market on Wednesdays.[14] 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 the two) prospered as a coaching halt.[15] By 1839 it offered almost an hourly service to both destinations.[16][17] 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.[18] The original building has become the George Hotel, with conference facilities and 84 bedrooms; it retains many period features including an iron fireback.[19][20]
Crawley's oldest church is St John the Baptist's, between the High Street and the Broadway. It is said to have 13th-century origins,[21] 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 a new set of eight bells were cast and installed by the Croydon-based firm Gillett, Bland & Company.[22][23][24]
Railway age and Victorian era
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)[25] 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 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).[26] 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 a site next to Crawley station in 1881.[27] In 1898 more than 700 people were employed at the site.[28]
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;[26][29] the West Green area, west of the High Street on the way to Ifield, was built up; and housing spread south of 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.[30] 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.[5] The course had its own railway station on the Brighton Main Line.[31]
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.[32] 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 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.[26] 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.[5]
New Town
In May 1946, the New Towns Act of 1946 identified Crawley as a suitable location for a New Town;[3] but it was not officially designated as such until 9 January 1947.[33] 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.[34] A court challenge to 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.[35] This proposed filling in the gaps between the villages of Crawley, Ifield and Three Bridges.[36] 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.[37]
Work began almost immediately to prepare for 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.[35] The neighbourhoods would consist mainly of three-bedroom family homes, with a number of smaller and larger properties. Each would be built around a centre with shops, a church, a public house, a primary school and a community centre.[36] Secondary education was to be provided at campuses at Ifield Green, Three Bridges and Tilgate.[38] Later, a fourth campus, in Southgate, was added to the plans.[39]
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 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" was allocated for housing use, eventually becoming the new neighbourhood of Furnace Green.[35]
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 was given to an eventual expansion of up to 120,000.[35]
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.[35]
By April 1960, when Thomas Bennett made his last presentation as chairman of the Development Corporation, the town's population had reached 51,700; 2,289,000 square feet (212,700 m2) 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.[37]
A new plan 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 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.[40]
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 the earlier neighbourhoods in which most of the housing was owned by the council.[40]
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 the proposals when a possible expansion at Gatwick Airport was announced,[41] construction started in 2015.[42] Forge Wood is to have a maximum of 1900 homes.[43] 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.[4]
Local government
Crawley became a parish in the sixteenth century, having previously been 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.[44]
Following the designation as a New Town in 1947, the parish of Crawley 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.[45][44] The Local Government Act 1972 led to the district being reformed as a borough in April 1974,[46] gaining a mayor for the first time.[47] The new borough in 1974 also saw its boundaries enlarged, gaining other areas which had been included in 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.[48]
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 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 a phrase from the Epistulae of Seneca the Younger.[46] Despite a petition to save it,[49] the old Crawley Town Hall, which was built in 1964, was demolished in 2020[50] and a new Crawley Town Hall was completed in 2023.[51]
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 the council. The authority's boundaries were extended in 1983 to accommodate the Bewbush and Broadfield neighbourhoods.[52]
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 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.[53]
As of the 2021 local elections, the council is run by Labour in coalition with the sole independent councillor,[54] with seats held as follows:
Political party | Seats held |
---|---|
Labour | 17 |
Conservative | 18 |
Independent | 1 |
United Kingdom government
Crawley Borough is coterminous with 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.[55][56] In the 2005 general election, the winning margin was the slimmest of any UK constituency: Moffatt won by just 37 votes.[57]
Brook House and Tinsley House Immigration Removal Centres, operated by UK Visas and Immigration, are within the grounds of Gatwick Airport in Crawley.[58][59]
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 the destruction of all data stored for the identity card scheme brought about by the Identity Cards Act 2006.[60]
At 51°6′33″N 0°11′14″W (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 is surrounded by towns including Horley, Redhill, Reigate, Oxted, Dorking, Horsham, Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and East Grinstead.[61][62] 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 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.[63][64] 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.[64] The highest point in the borough is 486 feet (148 m) above sea level.[65] 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.[66]
In 1822 Gideon Mantell, an amateur fossil collector and palaeontologist, discovered teeth, bones and other remains of what he described as "an animal of 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.[67] In 1832 he discovered and named the Hylaeosaurus genus of dinosaurs after finding a fossil in the same forest.[68]
Climate
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 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 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)[69] and Gatwick recording 36.4C (97.5F)[70] on 19 July 2006, just 0.2C and 0.1C lower, respectively, than the UK monthly record for that day set at Wisley, 20 miles to the west. The overall maximum stands at 36.5C (97.7F)[71] 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.[72] The maximum temperature was 25.1C (77.2F) or higher on 15.9 days of the year[73] on average (1971-00) and the warmest day will typically rise to 29.4C (84.9F).[74]
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)[75] and Gatwick −11.1C (12.0F)[76] on 20 December 2010. Typically the coldest night at Gatwick will fall to −8.9C (16.0F).[77] Air frost is recorded on 58.2 nights at Gatwick[78] (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 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 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 the year.[79]
Climate data for Gatwick, elevation 62m,1971–2000, Sunshine 1961–90, extremes 1960– | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 14.0 (57.2) |
17.0 (62.6) |
22.2 (72.0) |
24.5 (76.1) |
30.0 (86.0) |
33.8 (92.8) |
36.4 (97.5) |
35.6 (96.1) |
31.6 (88.9) |
24.7 (76.5) |
18.3 (64.9) |
15.2 (59.4) |
36.4 (97.5) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 7.3 (45.1) |
7.6 (45.7) |
10.4 (50.7) |
12.8 (55.0) |
16.7 (62.1) |
19.5 (67.1) |
22.2 (72.0) |
22.1 (71.8) |
18.9 (66.0) |
14.8 (58.6) |
10.5 (50.9) |
8.2 (46.8) |
14.3 (57.7) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.1 (34.0) |
0.8 (33.4) |
2.3 (36.1) |
3.7 (38.7) |
6.8 (44.2) |
9.6 (49.3) |
11.9 (53.4) |
11.5 (52.7) |
9.2 (48.6) |
6.5 (43.7) |
3.2 (37.8) |
2.0 (35.6) |
5.8 (42.4) |
Record low °C (°F) | −16.7 (1.9) |
−14.5 (5.9) |
−11.3 (11.7) |
−5.7 (21.7) |
−4 (25) |
−1.6 (29.1) |
2.8 (37.0) |
1.6 (34.9) |
−0.7 (30.7) |
−4.7 (23.5) |
−8.6 (16.5) |
−12 (10) |
−16.7 (1.9) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 83.85 (3.30) |
51.84 (2.04) |
59.89 (2.36) |
50.84 (2.00) |
49.30 (1.94) |
58.80 (2.31) |
42.36 (1.67) |
52.66 (2.07) |
65.29 (2.57) |
82.14 (3.23) |
78.86 (3.10) |
84.36 (3.32) |
746.97 (29.41) |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 52.4 | 71.3 | 113.4 | 153.0 | 204.3 | 204.3 | 204.5 | 195.3 | 148.1 | 110.5 | 69.3 | 47.8 | 1,574.2 |
Source 1: YR.NO[80] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: NOAA[81] |
Neighbourhoods and areas
There are 14 residential neighbourhoods,[82] 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.[83] 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 a school and recreational open spaces as well.[40] 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,[84] the number actually built ranged from 19 in the outlying Langley Green neighbourhood to just seven in West Green, close to the town centre.[37]
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.[85]
Number on map |
Name | Colour | Construction commenced[40] |
Population[86] |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Langley Green | Grey | 1952 | 7,286 |
2 | Northgate | Dark green | 1951 | 4,407 |
3 | Pound Hill | Orange | 1953 | 14,716 |
4 | Maidenbower | Blue | 1987 | 8,070 |
5 | Furnace Green | Light green | 1960 | 5,734 |
6 | Tilgate | Red | 1955 | 6,198 |
7 | Broadfield | Sky blue | 1969 | 12,666 |
8 | Bewbush | Light brown | 1975 | 9,081 |
9 | Ifield | Purple | 1953 | 8,414 |
10 | West Green | Dark blue | 1949 | 4,404 |
11 | Gossops Green | Maroon | 1956 | 5,014 |
12 | Southgate | Brown | 1955 | 8,106 |
13 | Three Bridges | Yellow | 1952 | 5,648 |
14 | Forge Wood | Pink | 2014 |
There are areas which are not defined as neighbourhoods but which are closely associated with Crawley:
- The Manor Royal industrial estate is in the north of the town. Although it is part of the Northgate ward, it is allocated a colour: its street name signs feature the word "Industrial" on a black background.
- Crawley's town centre is in the southernmost part of Northgate. Its street name signs do not follow the standard format of the neighbourhood signs but display only the street name.
- Gatwick Airport was built on the site of a manor house, Gatwick Manor, close to the village of Lowfield Heath. Most of the village was demolished when the airport expanded, but the Grade II*-listed St Michael and All Angels Church,[87] remains. The site of Lowfield Heath village, now occupied by warehouses and light industrial units,[88] is on the airport's southern boundary, between the perimeter road and the A23 close to Manor Royal.
- Worth was originally a village with its own civil parish, lying just beyond the eastern edge of the Crawley urban area and borough boundary;[89] but the development of the Pound Hill and Maidenbower neighbourhoods has filled in the gaps, and the borough boundary has been extended to include the whole of the village. The civil parish of Worth remains, albeit reduced in size, as part of the Mid Sussex district.
- Tinsley Green, a hamlet in Worth parish,[90] is now within the Forge Wood neighbourhood. Its houses, farms and public house, the Greyhound (at which the British and World Marbles Championship has been held annually since 1932),[91] lie on or around an east–west minor road running from the main Balcombe–Horley road to the Manor Royal estate.[92]
- The hamlet of Fernhill is 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) east of Gatwick Airport[93] and the same distance south of Horley.[94] It has been wholly within the borough since 1990, when the borough and county boundary was moved eastwards to align exactly with the M23 motorway.[95] Until then, its houses and farms straddled the boundary.[96] Fernhill was the site of a fatal aeroplane crash in 1969: 50 people (including two residents) died when Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashed into a house on Fernhill Road.[97]
Year | Population[30] |
---|---|
1901 | 4,433 |
1921 | 5,437 |
1941 | 7,090 |
1961 | 25,550 |
1981 | 87,865 |
2001 | 99,744 |
2011 | 106,597 |
2021 | 118,493 |
At the census in 2011 the population of Crawley was recorded as 106,597.[98] 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[30]) 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%.[99]
According to the 2021 census, Crawley's population had grown to 118,493.[100] White people made up 73.4% of the population, of those 61.8% identified as White British,[101] a decrease from 84.5% in 2001,[102] 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 the majority of "Other Asian" write-ins.[103] Those of Black descent made up 4.5% of the popultion. Crawley also has a noticeable Mauritian minority, made up of people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds.
Concerning religious affiliation, the largest 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 the population.[104] 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.[105]
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.[106] Crawley MP Henry Smith stated that Crawley "is home to perhaps the largest Chagossian population in the world".[107]
The town has a population density of around 2,635 persons per square kilometre,[108] 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,[109] although this varied by ward, with just 19.5% in Broadfield West, compared to 45.7% in Maidenbower.
The proportion of people in 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.[110]