Crawley is a new town. And a very old town. It’s also a great place to head to if you’re looking for things to do.
Old Town Crawley
There have been people living in the Crawley area since the Stone Age and in due course, Crawley became an Anglo Saxon settlement. From the 13th century onwards, it was a busy market town. Crawley has a history of ironmaking and had a strategic position on the main road from London to Brighton, which by the 18th century was a turnpike road.
You can just imagine all the fashionable trend setters heading off to the new seaside resort of Brighton and stopping at Crawley on the way. So, although Crawley may create the impression of a being busy modern town, you don’t have to walk far to stumble across historic reminders of its past.
New Town Crawley
New towns emerged after WWII. They were planned developments designed to ease overcrowding and to relocate people from bombed and devastated areas. They were introduced under the New Towns Act 1946, in three phases, with Crawley being part of the first phase. For more about the history and development of Crawley:
Search for historic buildings
Crawley has 100 listed buildings, three of which have Grade I listing. The town centre’s church was first opened as a chapel in the mid 13th century. In the High Street, the Ancient Priors and the Punchbowl were built around 1450.
The George Hotel was built in 1615 on the site of an earlier building of the same name. The Tree is the oldest surviving Medieval house in the High Street. The section facing the Boulevard dates from the 1400s. Worth Church is Crawley’s oldest building, as well as being the 11th oldest church in the country.
The church was once owned by son in law of William the Conqueror, William de Warenne. The church in Ifield dates from early 13th century.
The Greenway
For the intrepid, you could try walking the Greenway, a 15-mile circular walk around Crawley which links the town’s green spaces, including Tilgate Park, Bewbush Water Gardens and Ifield Mill Pond. It connects with the Worth Way for even more intrepid exploring. You can download a PDF of the route from the Horsham District Council website.
Worth Way
Worth Way is an 11 km cycle route and footpath which runs from Three Bridges station to East Grinstead (where you can pick up the Forest Way and keep on cycling all the way to Groombridge). It follows the route of the disused railway line but beware as in January 2026, there are closures between Rowfant car park and Rowfant Business Park.
Trees
Crawley loves its trees. The Jubilee Oak on the High Street was planted in 1887 to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. One of the biggest trees in Sussex is a lime on the Worth Way, near Worth Church, and there are various Tree Trails around the town, including at Goffs Park and Tilgate Park.
Crawley Museum
Crawley Museum in the centre of town is housed in The Tree (with a more modern extension) and is well worth a visit. It is free and has an active programme of events and temporary exhibitions which reflect Crawley’s prehistory, Medieval settlement, Victorian town and the 20th century New Town development. John Leech, who illustrated the Christmas stories for Charles Dickens, once lived here.
Ifield Mill
Just out of the town centre, Ifield Watermill is a corn mill which sits on the edge of an old hammer pond, which in turn would have once powered a Medieval forge as part of the iron industry. It is believed that there has been a mill here since the 13th century when this part of Crawley was thick forest and part of Bewbush deer park. Having cleared the area of trees by the mid-17th century, the furnaces closed and the mill became a corn mill (in about 1660).
The mill ground corn until the 1920s, but it is now owned by Crawley Borough Council, and with the help of volunteers and National Heritage Lottery Fund finance, it has been reconditioned. As part of Crawley Museum, you can visit (but check the website for opening times first).
Goffs Park
Walkable from the town centre, Goffs Park has 20 hectares of woodland, lakes and lawns. There is a big house here (which at the time of writing was shut up), which was built in 1882 but the park probably dates back to the 13th century. Goffs Manor is a pub in the corner of the park, which dates back to about 1450. It was once owned by the actor Peter Vaughan, with whom my father used to hang out. On a less appealing note, my father also once met John Haigh, the famous acid bath murderer, in Goffs Park when he (my father) was a small boy.
There is a model railway in the park, a Tree Trail (with 20 trees to discover), pitch and putt and an outdoor gym.
Tilgate Park
Tilgate Park is perhaps Crawley’s best-known green space. It was originally part of Worth Forest and owned by William de Warenne after the Norman Conquest. Worth Forest had two enclosed deer parks –Paddockhurst and Tilgate and is still home to some fantastic walks. Later, Tilgate was a great country estate and mansion known as the Tilgate Estate.
There is lots to see and do here, with a zoo, a walled garden and a water sports centre where you can try rowing boats, pedalos, canoeing, kayaking, stand-up paddle boards and raft building. There is also a Go Ape centre, a fishing club and craft studios of local artisans and wellbeing practitioners. The park is also home to one of the oldest trees in Crawley and 10 different species of oak. Tilgate Park’s Tree Trail picks out 30 of the best champion trees of their particular species.
Other parks
If it’s green space you’re after, you can also visit Buchan Park, Worth Park and Southgate Park.
Entertainment
The Hawth is a great local theatre that also has an amphitheatre outside for the summer and an ongoing programme of arts and performance that includes theatre, music, dance and comedy. The town also has a large Cineworld centre and the K2 which has everything from a 50m pool, 12 metre climbing wall, Bowls green and much more.
Tulleys Farm
Tulleys Farm just outside the town has a whole of host of experiences on offer. In the autumn and winter expect Shocktober Fest, pumpkin nights, Christmas Lights and Santa experiences. In the warmer months, you’ll find a tulip festival and a drive in cinema.
Shopping
Crawley is well known for its large shopping centre, namely County Mall and Queens Square. As there are lots of cafés and restaurants, it’s a good base from which to set off and explore.
Gatwick
Gatwick Racecourse opened in 1891 and hosted the Grand National in WWI. Gatwick opened as an aerodrome in the late 1920s and as a commercial airport in 1933. It used to be a great place for some plane spotting, although it’s a bit large and commercial for that now. And yes, Gatwick is in West Sussex. Gatwick has its own Aviation Museum (although it is just over the border in Surrey).
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