Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 – 1930) was, of course, the famous writer of the Sherlock Holmes novels. Born in Edinburgh, he led a varied and fascinating life and enjoyed many other achievements, but in 1907, he moved to Crowborough in East Sussex, where he lived for the rest of his life. So whether you are a massive Holmes fan or just exploring Crowborough, this is our Little Sussex Exclusive Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Trail (c).
Logistics
Getting around: If you’re arriving by train, it’s a 2.6 km (1.6 mile) walk from Jarvis Brook railway station to the Conan Doyle statue at Crowborough Cross, with a steady uphill climb into the town centre. From there it’s a further 2.3 km (1.4 miles) to Windlesham House, before another 3 km (1.9 miles) back to the station.
Keen walkers can certainly complete the entire route on foot, but if you’d rather spend more time exploring than walking between locations, you may prefer to drive or take a short taxi ride between the town centre and Windlesham. Free parking is available in Crowborough town centre and there is limited free parking in the lane opposite Windlesham House.
Arriving in Jarvis Brook
If you are arriving in the area by train, you’ll arrive in Jarvis Brook. Before you head off, linger in the ticket office where they have some photographs of Doyle. It’s not a massive display, but it’s interesting, and they also have some photos of places in Crowborough that have been lost.
Crowborough Town Centre and the Conan Doyle Statue
Begin your trail at Crowborough Cross, the heart of the town. Crowborough is a busy High Weald market town, and few places are more closely associated with the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Standing proudly at Cloke’s Corner is a bronze statue of Conan Doyle, unveiled in 2001. Remarkably, despite his worldwide fame, this was the first public statue of the author anywhere in the world and was created by sculptor David Cornell. Look carefully and you’ll notice he is facing along the High Street towards Rotherfield, said to have been one of his favourite views.
Although Sherlock Holmes made Conan Doyle famous, he was much more than a crime writer. He was a doctor, historian, campaigner, sportsman, soldier, war correspondent and one of the leading public figures of Edwardian Britain. Crowborough offered him something London could not: fresh air, wide horizons and the peace to write. Here he found not only a family home, but a community in which he threw himself wholeheartedly.
Before setting off, spend a few moments around the town centre. Imagine Crowborough as Conan Doyle first knew it in 1907, when horse-drawn carts still shared the roads with the first few cars. Perhaps grab a coffee and a bite to eat before you set off to Hurtis Hill and Windlesham House, where Conan Doyle lived, wrote and entertained some of the greatest names of the early twentieth century.
Windlesham House
Tucked away on the outskirts of town, is Windlesham, the house where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle lived from 1907 until his death in 1930 with his second wife, Lady Jean, and their family. Today it is a residential care home, but it remains one of the most important literary houses in Sussex. You can see it from the street, but you cannot visit, and please be respectful of the residents. That said, even from the street, it’s easy to see why Doyle fell in love with it. It is right opposite Crowborough Common and close to the golf course, and although arboreal now, presumably he had stunning views across to the South Downs in his day.
It was here, that Conan Doyle produced some of his finest work. Sherlock Holmes continued to flourish, but so too did the adventures of the larger-than-life Professor Challenger. The sweeping Sussex landscape found its way into his writing, and local discoveries, including prehistoric footprints on the Hastings coast and a nearby quarry, helped spark the imagination that became The Lost World. It is said that the view from his study even found its way into The Poison Belt.
But Windlesham was much more than a writer’s retreat. It was a lively family home, famous for its enormous billiard room where chapters of newly written novels were read aloud by the fire before an audience of family and friends. It was here that fictional jungles, prehistoric monsters and Sherlock Holmes mysteries first came to life. The guest list was extraordinary. Rudyard Kipling, H.G. Wells, Lord Kitchener, Sir Edward Marshall Hall and Arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson were all welcomed here. You can almost picture conversations ranging from literature and law to exploration and politics continuing late into the evening around the billiard table.
Windlesham was also where another side of Conan Doyle emerged. Having spent decades wrestling with questions of life after death, it was here that his belief in spiritualism became central to his life. He published The History of Spiritualism while living at the house and devoted much of his later years to defending what he believed to be the greatest truth he had discovered.
For Conan Doyle, Windlesham was more than simply a house. It was his sanctuary, his workplace, his family home and the place where he entertained some of the greatest minds of the age. It was also where he died in 1930. He was first buried in the garden he loved so much before later being reinterred at Minstead, Hampshire, beside Jean.
Crowborough Beacon Golf Club and Crowborough Common
From Windlesham, cross the road to High Broom Road and follow in Doyle’s footsteps into the woods. Crowborough Common has a long history and has been owned by the Beacon Golf Club since 1906. It includes 222 acres of healthland which in turn includes the golf course. The Crowborough Beacon Golf Club has a reputation for being one of the best in the country and has spectacular views.
Conan Doyle made this walk countless times. The golf course was one of his great passions, and as captain he became a familiar figure on the fairways, while Lady Jean served as ladies’ captain.
Despite being privately owned, there are footpaths across the common and course, and from Windlesham House, there is a short walk you can do through the woods, down one side of the steep Ghyll and up the other side. But stick to the designated paths and look out for golfers and their balls! The walk is just under 2 km.
Whether or not Sherlock Holmes ever wandered these paths in his creator’s imagination, Conan Doyle certainly did. Walking here today, with Windlesham hidden behind the trees, the Beacon beside you and the incredible views ahead, offers perhaps the closest connection to the world that inspired one of Britain’s greatest storytellers.
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