Haywards Heath I

https://freelondonfromvictoria.blogspot.com/

We live in Haywards Heath. Originally because I worked across the whole of Sussex and we needed a house right in the centre chosen for us in Gatesmead off Birchen Lane. After a spell working in Horsted Keynes we needed to find our own house without moving too far from friends. So it was through Anne’s intrepid searching that we landed in the Bentswood suburb of Haywards Heath on the other side of town from where we lived 2001-9. It's great to be near shops, to have moved from two spells on the periphery to live close to the hub of our vibrant town.


Haywards Heath is a Mid Sussex town with population 39,079 (2020) 36 miles south of London and 14 miles north of Brighton. I first saw it flashing by over 60 years ago on that remarkable speeded up London to Brighton train journey. Its primarily a commuter town - there are relatively few jobs in the town - and many of our residents commute daily via road or rail to London, Brighton, Crawley or Gatwick for work. Anne and I have lived here - or in its ‘suburb’ Horsted Keynes - for 21 years with easy access to family in Burgess Hill, Brighton and London.


We live in Marylands off New England Road which is a continuation of America Lane in Haywards Heath. The America estate traces back to the 1820s when Quaker philanthropist William Allen set up a colony of distressed agricultural workers from Lindfield providing an acre of land apiece to encourage their self-sufficiency. No one’s sure why the colony became known as the America estate. In ‘The Story of Haywards Heath’ (1998) Wyn Ford suggests the paupers received there were said to have been ‘sent to America’ as if sent overseas! 200 years on the America estate is home from home for us, an increasingly upbeat community which is no longer on the periphery.


Village politics affected the development of Haywards Heath from its very start. Neither Lindfield or Cuckfield cared for the disturbance a railway represents so the route to Brighton through Balcombe and Haywards Heath was the compromise sealed by Act of Parliament on 15 July 1837. In the 1841 census the 100 or so railway labourers, mainly Sussex men but with quite a few Irish, were the largest single element in the population. There were two police constables for this small group suggesting Haywards Heath began life as a rather troublesome community!


As Haywards Heath residents we value the Orchards shopping precinct which is partly weather proofed and has five pay and display car parks around it as well as some places you can park for free if you stay for a short period. Its a community hub. Having lived in or near the town for 21 years Anne and I usually meet someone we know when we’re out shopping. That’s also the case with Sainsbury’s and Waitrose near the station. At holiday time there’s often some entertainment laid on for families which helps make our town centre even more of a hub.


Where would we be in Haywards Heath without the Dolphin? I’ve been a member of our municipally supported Leisure Centre Gym - formerly called Olympos - as long as its existed from around 2002. Besides the Gym - reasonably priced - there’s a Teaching Pool, Sports Hall, Studios, Indoor Cycling Studio, Squash Courts, Café, Crèche and Treatment rooms. The Health suite feels especially lavish as it replaced the old diving pool and has a very high ceiling. This makes for spacious reflection in the small pool, jacuzzi, steam room or sauna frequently assisted by the philosophising of the locals!


Besides the circular buses we use to get from our home in Bentswood to the station Haywards Heath is served by buses to Brighton, Burgess Hill, Crawley, East Grinstead, Hurstpierpoint and Uckfield. These are a great service to walkers. It's great to bus it to Scaynes Hill and walk back through the woods, or to Ardingly returning via the reservoir and golf course. I like walking through Victoria Park then through the woods alongside the railway to Burgess Hill taking a bus back or to Crawley Down, walking on the old railway track to East Grinstead or Forest Row then taking a bus home.


Haywards Heath is an ideal base for visiting London, Sussex and the south coast. I’ve posted 100 half day tours of Free London sights from Victoria station 45 min up the railway line following 12 routes radially from Victoria station https://freelondonfromvictoria.blogspot.com/ I’ve also posted online 20 walks along the South Downs Way from stations easily accessed from Haywards Heath station 3 miles to 19 miles long, leaving 7 mid-Sussex stations and ending at 12 Sussex stations. Try https://southdownsrailtrails.blogspot.com/?m=1


Comments

  1. We have lived in Haywards Heath for over 20 years now. We moved in in 1987 the year of the hurricane. I own and run the local community website where I have free listings of local businesses as well as promoting my website design & hosting business. I have many local clients who are part of the local scene. for free ads goto www,hhandbh.co.uk for websites goto http://websitehostingsussex.co.uk/

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    1. Hi there - great to hear from you! Sorry to take so long to come back to you. I’m working with others from Bentswood on a local history project to help build our community. Roger Myall at the library knows about it. We may value your help. John

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    2. Hi my name is Ken Bourne, I was born in Bentswood Crescent in 1942. Went to St Wilfred's School, next to the church and then to the new school in New England Road. I have written a book about that area in the 1940's to the 1960's about my grandfather Sam Bourne ( Sam Bourne the best Poacher in Sussex) I am currently working on another of the same period but centered on Bentswood and the rest of that area of Haywards Heath. It will include the original "Bentswood Gang" . This period after the war was probably the best we have had for bringing the community together. It was such a fun, happy and safe time growing up where everyone knew everyone, (and their business), families ate together, neighbours helped neighbours. This is going to be a book about everyone that I knew in the area, what games the children played, like skipping in the road with rope tied to the oak tree opposite our house at number 8. I now live in Canada if any one who remembers me or is a member of a family in Bentswood I would love to hear from them. Ken Bourne. plantmanken@xplornet.ca

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    3. Hi Ken - how very good to hear from you and my apologies for the delay! I’m really interested in your writings. Why not message me on Facebook and I’ll give you my e mail?
      Go well. John

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    4. PS HH Town Team are working on a history celebration for September 2020

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  2. Just discovered this wonderful site.
    I came to the former St Francis Psychiatric Hospital - now redeveloped as Southdowns Park - in 1967 to study for the RMN (Registered Mental Nurse) qualification. I then went to London for my SRN training and returned to St Francis to build a career, raise a family and join in the life of the area.
    My book 'My Asylum' and my DVD 'Where there is despair - let me sow hope!' deals with the hospital's history and the book is also a memoir and contains stories of former staff and their experiences at the hospital and in community. Both are available on Amazon.
    St Francis Hospital, along with the coming of the railway in 1841 and the building of the Sussex pub (now demolished), formed the basis of modern Haywards Heath. Imagine my dismay at artist Margaret Joss when the hospital was left off the town's milennium poster which she designed! A fact made all the worse because she herself worked at the hospital for years. Why?
    From its smaller beginnings in 1859 when it had 400 beds to later providing over 1000 beds the hospital carried on its work until 1995 when it closed to make way for Care in the Community provisions.
    The Victorian asylum movement is a truly remarkable period in British social and medical history. Kendall's Haywards Heath asylum is well regarded architecturally as a good example of the coridoor style of asylum building.
    I will shortly make available, free of charge, a self guided tour of the former hospital which will be available at local libraries. I also provide walks/talks on the history.
    My short history of the hospital is also available online at www.friendsofstfrancis.btck.co.uk
    Contact me on joe.hughes2@sky.com for further details on any/all of the above.
    I will have a small history centre in the yet-to-be- built St Francis Community Hall. This will seek to combine the hospital building and its environs with a narrative and artefact display and so bring this portion of social history to life for the community to enjoy.
    Ours is, indeed, a town with a deep and interesting history which is free for all to enjoy.

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    1. Hi Joe. I’ve seen your book in HH Library and hope to read it. HH Town Team are working on a history celebration for September 2020. Blessings John

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  3. Very interesting and very informative. I am from Liverpool and have lived in this area for 14 years. Until now I knew nothing about the area so I have learned a lot just reading this site. I am a historian myself, having studied History and Politics at Liverpool University and then I went into teaching History to 11-18 year olds. Finding this site has been a godsend.

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    1. Thanks for your encouragement. HH Town Team are working on a history celebration for September 2020. If you message me on Facebook I’ll give you my e mail. John

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