122-558: Burgess Hill ( / ˌ b ɜː dʒ ə s ˈ h ɪ l / ) is a town and civil parish in West Sussex , England, close to the border with East Sussex , on the edge of the South Downs National Park , 39 mi (63 km) south of London , 10 mi (16 km) north of Brighton and Hove , and 29 mi (47 km) northeast of the county town, Chichester . It had an area of 3.7 sq mi (9.6 km) and
244-513: A London borough . (Since the new county was beforehand a mixture of metropolitan boroughs , municipal boroughs and urban districts, no extant parish councils were abolished.) In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 retained rural parishes, but abolished most urban parishes, as well as the urban districts and boroughs which had administered them. Provision was made for smaller urban districts and boroughs to become successor parishes , with
366-417: A civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government . It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes , which for centuries were the principal unit of secular and religious administration in most of England and Wales. Civil and religious parishes were formally split into two types in
488-606: A regional level do not take it into account properly. Following the enactment of the West Sussex (Electoral Changes) Order 2016, Burgess Hill is divided into ten different wards ; the most of any settlement in Mid Sussex. These wards (with numbers of councillors representing each denoted in parentheses) are Dunstall (1), Gatehouse (1), Franklands (3), Hammonds (1), Leylands (3), Meeds (2), Norman (1), St Johns (1), St Andrews (3) and Victoria (2). A total of eighteen councillors represent
610-475: A Lidl supermarket. The town is set for the development of 3,500 new houses as part of the Northern Arc development. Three schools as well as community facilities will be included and the planning of the development is at an advanced stage with the county, district and town councils working together to finalise this development, which is being promoted by the government's housing agency Homes England . In addition
732-515: A Special Expense, to residents of the unparished area to fund those activities. If the district council does not opt to make a Special Expenses charge, there is an element of double taxation of residents of parished areas, because services provided to residents of the unparished area are funded by council tax paid by residents of the whole district, rather than only by residents of the unparished area. Parish councils comprise volunteer councillors who are elected to serve for four years. Decisions of
854-576: A boundary coterminous with an existing urban district or borough or, if divided by a new district boundary, as much as was comprised in a single district. There were 300 such successor parishes established. In urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes, the parishes were simply abolished, and they became unparished areas . The distinction between types of parish was no longer made; whether parishes continued by virtue of being retained rural parishes or were created as successor parishes, they were all simply termed parishes. The 1972 act allowed
976-472: A city council (though most cities are not parishes but principal areas, or in England specifically metropolitan boroughs or non-metropolitan districts ). The chairman of a town council will have the title "town mayor" and that of a parish council which is a city will usually have the title of mayor . When a city or town has been abolished as a borough, and it is considered desirable to maintain continuity of
1098-456: A city council. According to the Department for Communities and Local Government , in England in 2011 there were 9,946 parishes. Since 1997 around 100 new civil parishes have been created, in some cases by splitting existing civil parishes, but mostly by creating new ones from unparished areas. Parish or town councils have very few statutory duties (things they are required to do by law) but have
1220-548: A city was Hereford , whose city council was merged in 1998 to form a unitary Herefordshire . The area of the city of Hereford remained unparished until 2000 when a parish council was created for the city. As another example, the charter trustees for the City of Bath make up the majority of the councillors on Bath and North East Somerset Council. Civil parishes cover 35% of England's population, with one in Greater London and few in
1342-481: A civil parish which has no parish council, the parish meeting may levy a council tax precept for expenditure relating to specific functions, powers and rights which have been conferred on it by legislation. In places where there is no civil parish ( unparished areas ), the administration of the activities normally undertaken by the parish becomes the responsibility of the district or borough council. The district council may make an additional council tax charge, known as
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#17328545915081464-648: A contemporary art gallery, ran a programme of outdoor sculpture exhibitions in Southwood Garden in the grounds of the church in 2009–2010. The first exhibition was of work by the Swiss sculptor Hans Josephsohn . From 23 December 2013 to 5 January 2014 the "Bethlehem Unwrapped" demonstration against the Israeli West Bank barrier featured an art installation by Justin Butcher, Geof Thompson, and Dean Willars, which included
1586-632: A few gravestones lining the edges of the park. Part of the Gardens, located between Hampstead Road and Euston railway station , was built over when Euston station was expanded in around 1887. To avoid public outcry, the affected remains were reinterred at St Pancras Cemetery . The Gardens were closed to the public in 2017 to allow the further expansion of Euston station for the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project. Between October 2018 and 2020, archaeologists working on HS2 excavated approximately 40,000 burials. It
1708-411: A large replica section of the wall. The installation blocked the view of the church, other than a section of the top of the tower, which was stated by church authorities to be part of the point of the demonstration. Following a short-term residency based in the bell tower at St James's, Turner Prize nominated artist Jesse Darling's Miserere (a substantial new work in the form of a choir or congregation)
1830-517: A new code. In either case the code must comply with the Nolan Principles of Public Life . A parish can be granted city status by the Crown . As of 2020 , eight parishes in England have city status, each having a long-established Anglican cathedral: Chichester , Ely , Hereford , Lichfield , Ripon , Salisbury , Truro and Wells . The council of an ungrouped parish may pass a resolution giving
1952-431: A new smaller manor, there was a means of making a chapel which, if generating or endowed with enough funds, would generally justify foundation of a parish, with its own parish priest (and in latter centuries vestry ). This consistency was a result of canon law which prized the status quo in issues between local churches and so made boundary changes and sub-division difficult. The consistency of these boundaries until
2074-496: A number of bus services across Burgess Hill, and to surrounding towns and villages. Compass runs the current town service, the 35A & 35C (Clockwise and Anti-Clockwise) They also operate other services, serving other towns and villages, including service 33 which runs from Hurstpierpoint to Haywards Heath via Burgess Hill, the 100 which runs to Horsham via Henfield , Steyning , Storrington , Pulborough , Billingshurst and Slinfold before arriving into Horsham. They also run
2196-792: A parish (a "detached part") was in a different county . In other cases, counties surrounded a whole parish meaning it was in an unconnected, "alien" county. These anomalies resulted in a highly localised difference in applicable representatives on the national level , justices of the peace , sheriffs, bailiffs with inconvenience to the inhabitants. If a parish was split then churchwardens, highway wardens and constables would also spend more time or money travelling large distances. Some parishes straddled two or more counties, such as Todmorden in Lancashire and Yorkshire. St. James Church, Piccadilly St James's Church, Piccadilly , also known as St James's Church, Westminster , and St James-in-the-Fields ,
2318-416: A parish council, and instead will only have a parish meeting : an example of direct democracy . Alternatively several small parishes can be grouped together and share a common parish council, or even a common parish meeting. A parish council may decide to call itself a town council, village council, community council, neighbourhood council, or if the parish has city status, the parish council may call itself
2440-431: A population in excess of 100,000 . This scope is similar to that of municipalities in continental Europe, such as the communes of France . However, unlike their continental European counterparts, parish councils are not principal authorities , and in most cases have a relatively minor role in local government. As of September 2023 , there are 10,464 parishes in England, and in 2020 they covered approximately 40% of
2562-488: A population of 30,635 at the 2011 Census, making it the fourth most populous parish in the county (behind Crawley , Worthing and Horsham ) and the most populous in the Mid Sussex District . Other nearby towns include Haywards Heath to the northeast and Lewes , the county town of East Sussex, to the southeast. Burgess Hill is just on the West Sussex side of the border dividing the two counties, although parts of
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#17328545915082684-503: A population of between 100 and 300 could request their county council to establish a parish council. Provision was also made for a grouped parish council to be established covering two or more rural parishes. In such groups, each parish retained its own parish meeting which could vote to leave the group, but otherwise the grouped parish council acted across the combined area of the parishes included. Urban civil parishes were not given their own parish councils, but were directly administered by
2806-569: A railway station in Burgess Hill), and Wivelsfield Green are other nearby villages. One of the tributaries of the River Adur weaves its way through the town, known locally as Hambrook. The town is a nuclear settlement, radiating out from the centre, curbed on the western side by the ring road, and on the east side by the East/West Sussex border (although some development on the eastern side of
2928-1079: A range of discretionary powers which they may exercise voluntarily. These powers have been defined by various pieces of legislation. The role they play can vary significantly depending on the size, resources and ability of the council, but their activities can include any of the following: Parish councils have powers to provide and manage various local facilities; these can include allotments , cemeteries, parks, playgrounds, playing fields and village greens , village halls or community centres , bus shelters, street lighting, roadside verges, car parks, footpaths, litter bins and war memorials. Larger parish councils may also be involved in running markets , public toilets and public clocks, museums and leisure centres . Parish councils may spend money on various things they deem to be beneficial to their communities, such as providing grants to local community groups or local projects, or fund things such as public events, crime prevention measures, community transport schemes, traffic calming or tourism promotion. Parish councils have
3050-492: A residence) and one at Queen's Crescent, in the west of what is now Burgess Hill. Until the nineteenth century, however, the town was known as St John's Common, and much of what is now the town centre was common land used by the tenants of Clayton and Keymer manors for grazing and as a source of fuel. Buildings which supported the common land were the King's Head pub (now demolished), a blacksmith 's forge , and several cottages. From
3172-409: A role in the planning system; they have a statutory right to be consulted on any planning applications in their areas. They may also produce a neighbourhood plan to influence local development. The Localism Act 2011 allowed eligible parish councils to be granted a " general power of competence " which allows them within certain limits the freedom to do anything an individual can do provided it
3294-492: A science park and industrial park are planned along the A2300. Burgess Hill is in the constituency of Mid Sussex . The Member of Parliament representing Mid Sussex is currently Mims Davies , elected in the 2019 General Election . Davies succeeded Sir Nicholas Soames , who was first elected during the May 1997 election . It was in the historic county of Sussex , and in 1974 swapped from
3416-589: A set number of guardians for each parish, hence a final purpose of urban civil parishes. With the abolition of the Poor Law system in 1930, urban parishes became a geographical division only with no administrative power; that was exercised at the urban district or borough council level. In 1965 civil parishes in London were formally abolished when Greater London was created, as the legislative framework for Greater London did not make provision for any local government body below
3538-525: A small early version of a roller coaster , known as a switchback (an alternative general term for a roller coaster). The lake was used for boating in the summer, and skating in the winter. The frozen lake was always tested by Mr Street, a man of 23 stone, before being used in the winter. This area is now the Victoria Business Park, an industrial estate . On 12 July 1944 a Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfire fighter crashed at Greenlands Farm, off
3660-938: A small village or town ward to a large tract of mostly uninhabited moorland in the Cheviots, Pennines or Dartmoor. The two largest as at December 2023 are Stanhope (County Durham) at 98.6 square miles (255 km ), and Dartmoor Forest (Devon) at 79.07 square miles (204.8 km ). The two smallest are parcels of shared rural land: Lands Common to Axminster and Kilmington (Devon) at 0.012 square miles (0.031 km ; 3.1 ha; 7.7 acres), and Lands Common to Brancepeth and Brandon and Byshottles (County Durham) at 0.0165 square miles (0.043 km ; 4.3 ha; 10.6 acres). The next two smallest are parishes in built up areas: Chester Castle (Cheshire) at 0.0168 square miles (0.044 km ; 4.4 ha; 10.8 acres) (no recorded population) and Hamilton Lea (Leicestershire) at 0.07 square miles (0.18 km ; 18 ha; 45 acres) (1,021 residents at
3782-626: A smaller industrial estate in the North of the town developed, known as Sheddingdean Industrial Estate. Both Sheddingdean and Victoria have now been renamed as business parks . In the seventies and eighties several new housing estates were built, namely the Folders Lane estate (formerly known as Oakwood), the Oak Hall Park estate and the Sheddingdean estate. The 1980s saw the largest single development in
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3904-514: A spur to the creation of new parishes in some larger towns which were previously unparished, in order to retain a local tier of government; examples include Shrewsbury (2009), Salisbury (2009), Crewe (2013) and Weymouth (2019). In 2003 seven new parish councils were set up for Burton upon Trent , and in 2001 the Milton Keynes urban area became entirely parished, with ten new parishes being created. Parishes can also be abolished where there
4026-591: A sumptuous organ case of carved and gilded oak by Grinling Gibbons , which originally contained an organ by Renatus Harris, originally built for the Roman Catholic chapel in Whitehall Palace, and installed here in 1691. This organ was entirely rebuilt in 1852 by J. C. Bishop, who added the choir case that now sits in front of the original Gibbons Case. A restoration project has been underway since at least 1982, which has not yet come to fruition. The current proposal
4148-424: Is an Anglican church on Piccadilly in the centre of London, England. The church was designed and built by Sir Christopher Wren . The church is built of red brick with Portland stone dressings. Its interior has galleries on three sides supported by square pillars and the nave has a barrel vault supported by Corinthian columns . The carved marble font and limewood reredos are both notable examples of
4270-507: Is at present the only part of England where civil parishes cannot be created. If enough electors in the area of a proposed new parish (ranging from 50% in an area with less than 500 electors to 10% in one with more than 2,500) sign a petition demanding its creation, then the local district council or unitary authority must consider the proposal. Since the beginning of the 21st century, numerous parish councils have been created, including some relatively large urban ones. The main driver has been
4392-539: Is evidence that this is in response to "justified, clear and sustained local support" from the area's inhabitants. Examples are Birtley , which was abolished in 2006, and Southsea , abolished in 2010. Every civil parish has a parish meeting, which all the electors of the parish are entitled to attend. Generally a meeting is held once a year. A civil parish may have a parish council which exercises various local responsibilities prescribed by statute. Parishes with fewer than 200 electors are usually deemed too small to have
4514-691: Is no evidence that the Romans settled there. Burgess Hill originated in the parishes of Clayton , Keymer , and Ditchling – all of them mentioned in the Domesday Book . The town's name comes from the Burgeys family when the name John Burgeys appeared in the tax rolls. The name of Burgeys stood for 'bourgeois', the inhabitant of a borough. By the Elizabethan period, a community had established itself there, and many buildings dating from this era still stand. The hill in
4636-405: Is not prohibited by other legislation, as opposed to being limited to the powers explicitly granted to them by law. To be eligible for this, a parish council must meet certain conditions such as having a clerk with suitable qualifications. Parish councils receive funding by levying a " precept " on the council tax paid by the residents of the parish (or parishes) served by the parish council. In
4758-513: Is situated in the Sussex Weald , 10 miles (16 km) north of Brighton, and about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) south of Haywards Heath. Lewes, in East Sussex, is 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Burgess Hill, and the larger town of Horsham is 15 miles (24 km) to the northwest. Crawley , a major settlement, is 13 miles (21 km) to the north, and Gatwick Airport is 16 miles (26 km) in
4880-567: Is to re-build a new organ within the historic case. At present, the case sits empty, and an electronic replacement is used instead. Concerts are regularly held in the church. Concerts have included performances by popular contemporary musicians such as John Grant , Tokio Myers , Victoria Canal , R.E.M. , the folk musician Laura Marling as part of her "church tour", the collegiate Indian-American music group Penn Masala and Devin Townsend on his 2015 UK acoustic tour. Hauser & Wirth ,
5002-504: The 'Standards Board regime' with local monitoring by district, unitary or equivalent authorities. Under new regulations which came into effect in 2012 all parish councils in England are required to adopt a code of conduct with which parish councillors must comply, and to promote and maintain high standards. A new criminal offence of failing to comply with statutory requirements was introduced. More than one 'model code' has been published, and councils are free to modify an existing code or adopt
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5124-1010: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) to become the smallest geographical area for local government in rural areas. The act abolished the civil (non-ecclesiastical) duties of vestries . Parishes which straddled county boundaries or sanitary districts had to be split so that the part in each urban or rural sanitary district became a separate parish (see List of county exclaves in England and Wales 1844–1974 ). The sanitary districts were then reconstituted as urban districts and rural districts , with parishes that fell within urban districts classed as urban parishes, and parishes that fell within rural districts were classed as rural parishes. The 1894 act established elected civil parish councils as to all rural parishes with more than 300 electors, and established annual parish meetings in all rural parishes. Civil parishes were grouped to form either rural or urban districts which are thereafter classified as either type. The parish meetings for parishes with
5246-594: The London to Brighton railway in 1841 triggered a further expansion of the town, although Burgess Hill railway station was for many years a request stop and not a regular station. In 1877 the present station replaced the original one; some of the former buildings remain, however. Wivelsfield railway station serves the north end of Burgess Hill and was opened in 1886. Thameslink and Southern provide regular train services towards London and Brighton from both Burgess Hill stations. In addition, from Burgess Hill, one can travel on
5368-582: The Royal Sussex County Hospital . Northbound, the 270 runs through Haywards Heath , Lindfield , Horsted Keynes and Danehilll before arriving at East Grinstead Station . This service connects to the Bluebell Railway . The 271 and 272 both run to Crawley , the 271 via Haywards Heath , Cuckfield , Staplefield and Handcross , while the 272 runs via Haywards Heath , Lindfield , Ardingly and Turners Hill . Railway : The opening of
5490-566: The administrative county of East Sussex to the shire county of West Sussex, under the Local Government Act 1972 . A small residential area in the northeast of the town, as well as land which may be developed for housing in the future, lie on the East Sussex side of the county boundary, which otherwise runs beyond the eastern edge of the urban area. Both Mid Sussex District Council and Lewes District Council, under whose control this area falls, have raised concerns that planning decisions made at
5612-472: The break with Rome , parishes managed ecclesiastical matters, while the manor was the principal unit of local administration and justice. Later, the church replaced the manor court as the rural administrative centre, and levied a local tax on produce known as a tithe . In the medieval period, responsibilities such as relief of the poor passed increasingly from the lord of the manor to the parish's rector , who in practice would delegate tasks among his vestry or
5734-588: The lord of the manor , but not all were willing and able to provide, so residents would be expected to attend the church of the nearest manor with a church. Later, the churches and priests became to a greater extent the responsibility of the Catholic Church thus this was formalised; the grouping of manors into one parish was recorded, as was a manor-parish existing in its own right. Boundaries changed little, and for centuries after 1180 'froze', despite changes to manors' extents. However, by subinfeudation , making
5856-403: The monarch ). A civil parish may be equally known as and confirmed as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council, a right not conferred on other units of English local government. The governing body of a civil parish is usually an elected parish council (which can decide to call itself a town, village, community or neighbourhood council, or a city council if
5978-585: The ordination of women to all the orders of the church, the just treatment of asylum seekers and those living in poverty. It celebrates what it regards as the "radical welcome" found in the heart of the Gospels and attested to by the Incarnation . The church was embroiled in a controversy in 2023 after organizing a drag show in the Church, it drew some criticism, being described as "inappropriate". In May 2024 St James's
6100-463: The (often well-endowed) monasteries. After the dissolution of the monasteries , the power to levy a rate to fund relief of the poor was conferred on the parish authorities by the Poor Relief Act 1601 . Both before and after this optional social change, local (vestry-administered) charities are well-documented. The parish authorities were known as vestries and consisted of all the ratepayers of
6222-464: The 167 and 168 "Village Rider" services, running only a couple of times a week in some cases, serving Hassocks , Ditchling , and Plumtpton , with the 167 continuing to Lewes and the 168 returning to Burgess Hill in a loop. Metrobus operate three services in Burgess, with the 270, 271 and 272 all heading to Brighton southbound, with the 270 running to Churchill Square and the 271 and 272 running to
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#17328545915086344-403: The 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through the Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), which established elected parish councils to take on the secular functions of the parish vestry . A civil parish can range in size from a sparsely populated rural area with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, to a large town with
6466-564: The 19th century is useful to historians, and is also of cultural significance in terms of shaping local identities; reinforced by the use of grouped parish boundaries, often, by successive local authority areas; and in a very rough, operations-geared way by most postcode districts. There was (and is) wide disparity in parish size. Writtle , Essex traditionally measures 13,568 acres (21 sq mi) – two parishes neighbouring are Shellow Bowells at 469 acres (0.7 sq mi), and Chignall Smealy at 476 acres (0.7 sq mi) Until
6588-584: The 2011 census, Newland with Woodhouse Moor and Beaumont Chase reported inhabitants, and there were no new deserted parishes recorded. Nearly all instances of detached parts of civil parishes (areas not contiguous with the main part of the parish) and of those straddling counties have been ended. 14 examples remain in England as at 2022, including Barnby Moor and Wallingwells , both in Nottinghamshire. Direct predecessors of civil parishes are most often known as "ancient parishes", although many date only from
6710-505: The 2021 census). The 2001 census recorded several parishes with no inhabitants. These were Chester Castle (in the middle of Chester city centre), Newland with Woodhouse Moor , Beaumont Chase , Martinsthorpe , Meering , Stanground North (subsequently abolished), Sturston , Tottington , and Tyneham (subsequently merged). The lands of the last three were taken over by the Armed Forces during World War II and remain deserted. In
6832-622: The A23 to the south and Haywards Heath on the A272 to the North, it follows the course of Jane Murray Way, directing traffic around the town centre. The A272 road runs north of Burgess Hill, from Winchester to near Uckfield . The B2112 runs east of Burgess Hill, going north–south, and both the B2036 and the B2113 pass through the town heading north–south and west–east respectively. Bus services: Compass Travel operate
6954-533: The District Council. 7 are Liberal Democrat, 2 are Green, 2 are Conservative and 1 sits as an independent, The representatives for Burgess Hill residents whose homes lie within the Lewes district are Conservative. Burgess Hill is split into three electoral divisions that send representatives to West Sussex County Council; Burgess Hill North and Burgess Hill East , and Hassocks & Burgess Hill South , which covers
7076-565: The English population. For historical reasons, civil parishes predominantly cover rural areas and smaller urban areas, with most larger urban areas being wholly or partly unparished ; but since 1997 it has been possible for civil parishes to be created within unparished areas if demanded by local residents . In 2007 the right to create civil parishes was extended to London boroughs , although only one, Queen's Park , has so far been created. Eight parishes also have city status (a status granted by
7198-464: The Hydro for short. The property was bought up and converted by a Professor Weidhaus when Copestake moved on, and converted to a nature cure establishment. It is thought that the views from the property, along with the fresh country air and proximity to Burgess Hill railway station, were the reasons for this enterprise. The Hydro remained until 1909, when the business was moved to Franklands, a large property to
7320-741: The Keymer Road, killing the Belgian pilot. The town continued to grow, experiencing its largest population increase between the years of 1951 and 1961, when the population of about 7,000 residents almost doubled. This earned Burgess Hill the title of fastest growing town in the South East. By 1956, the Victoria Industrial Estate was completed, and has since expanded. It now contains the British headquarters of two substantial international companies. In 1986
7442-582: The Market Place and the Martlets as well as shops in Church Road, Church Walk, Cyprus Road, Junction Road, Keymer Road, London Road, Lower Church Road, Mill Road, and Station Road. There are several local commercial districts around the town, at Maple Drive, World's End, Weald Road and Sussex Way. Hammonds Place, to the west of London Road as it leaves the town to the south, is a handsome Elizabethan residence which
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#17328545915087564-667: The South and West of the Town in the early 1990s. This became the Hammonds Ridge estate (known colloquially as the 'Tesco estate' due to its proximity to the supermarket) which was built at the time. The Triangle, a large leisure and conference centre, was built in the Northwest of the town and opened by the Queen in 1999. In 2005 St Paul's Catholic College moved from Haywards Heath to their new site opposite
7686-528: The Triangle. In 2004 Mid-Sussex District Council announced the Burgess Hill Master Plan, a scheme arranged with Thornfield Properties plc to massively redevelop Burgess Hill Town Centre. The Master Plan was part of a larger scheme that would have seen the redevelopment of Haywards Heath and East Grinstead town centres. The plan would result in the complete reconstruction of most of the town centre, and
7808-781: The UK diagnostics headquarters . American Express , CAE , Honeywell , Porsche and Rockwell Collins also all have offices in the town. Almost half of those employed in Burgess Hill's are residents of the town. Many residents commute to nearby towns such as Horsham, Lewes or Haywards Heath, where 11% of Burgess Hill's population work, or larger employment centres like Crawley and Gatwick (11%), London (8%) or Brighton and Hove (7%). Similarly, people from surrounding villages and towns commute into Burgess Hill, particularly Brighton and Hove, where 14% of Burgess Hill's workers come from, Haywards Heath (5%) and Hassocks (3%). The town has two shopping centres,
7930-668: The World's End district are across the county boundary in the Lewes district of East Sussex. On its northwest border of the Bedelands Farm Nature Reserve . Burgess Hill is twinned with Schmallenberg in Germany and Abbeville in France. The London to Brighton Way was built connecting London to the South coast and passing through what is now Burgess Hill, and although a Roman road , there
8052-675: The administration of the poor laws was the main civil function of parishes, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866 , which received royal assent on 10 August 1866, declared all areas that levied a separate rate or had their own overseer of the poor to be parishes. This included the Church of England parishes (until then simply known as "parishes"), extra-parochial areas , townships and chapelries . To have collected rates this means these beforehand had their own vestries, boards or equivalent bodies. Parishes using this definition subsequently became known as "civil parishes" to distinguish them from
8174-482: The area changed from an insignificant rural settlement to a town of 4,500 residents. In 1857, in an area now known as either 'the top of the town', or Hoadley's Corner, the Hoadley family of Heathfield established a large department store , of which the original building still stands, on the corner of Station Road and Junction Road. This successful business also had branches at nearby Ditchling , and Seaford too, but it
8296-628: The branch of the West Coastway Line to Worthing , Littlehampton and Portsmouth , and from Wivelsfield, one can travel on a branch of the East Coastway Line towards Hastings . Burgess Hill is also served by Downlands Community School in nearby Hassocks, Warden Park Secondary Academy in Cuckfield and Oathall Community College in Haywards Heath. Civil parish In England,
8418-512: The building of a parish church and churchyard on the south side of what is now Piccadilly. Christopher Wren was appointed the architect in 1672 and the church was consecrated on 13 July 1684 by Henry Compton , the Bishop of London . In 1685 the parish of St James was created for the church. The church was severely damaged by enemy action in the London Blitz on 14 October 1940. After the war ended,
8540-473: The celebration of the principal Christian sacrament . It finds expression in a wide range of interest groups: spiritual explorers, labyrinth walking, Julian prayer meetings, the Vagabonds group (a lively discussion group which takes its name from a William Blake poem and in faithfulness to that text meets in a local alehouse), an LGBT group and many others. The community has actively supported, and supports,
8662-399: The charter, the charter may be transferred to a parish council for its area. Where there is no such parish council, the district council may appoint charter trustees to whom the charter and the arms of the former borough will belong. The charter trustees (who consist of the councillor or councillors for the area of the former borough) maintain traditions such as mayoralty . An example of such
8784-458: The church was restored by Sir Albert Richardson . Specialist contractors, Rattee and Kett , of Cambridge, under the supervision of Messrs. W. F. Heslop and F. Brigmore, undertook restoration work, which was completed in 1954. The old lead-covered spire was replaced by a much lighter fibreglass copy. The restored interior, with its pews and light fittings, represents a rare survival of a full suite of church furnishing by Richardson. Southwood Garden
8906-454: The common. Craftsmen such as smiths, shoemakers and weavers also worked there. Brickmaking by hand was still undertaken until very recently, by Keymer Tiles (formerly the Keymer Brick and Tile Company) whose tiles can be found in buildings such as St. James Church, Piccadilly and Manchester Central Station (now G-Mex ). The arrival of the London and Brighton Railway in the 1840s (the line
9028-529: The council are carried out by a paid officer, typically known as a parish clerk. Councils may employ additional people (including bodies corporate, provided where necessary, by tender) to carry out specific tasks dictated by the council. Some councils have chosen to pay their elected members an allowance, as permitted under part 5 of the Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003. The number of councillors varies roughly in proportion to
9150-464: The council of the urban district or borough in which they were contained. Many urban parishes were coterminous (geographically identical) with the urban district or municipal borough in which they lay. Towns which included multiple urban parishes often consolidated the urban parishes into one. The urban parishes continued to be used as an electoral area for electing guardians to the poor law unions . The unions took in areas in multiple parishes and had
9272-466: The council will an election be held. However, sometimes there are fewer candidates than seats. When this happens, the vacant seats have to be filled by co-option by the council. If a vacancy arises for a seat mid-term, an election is only held if a certain number (usually ten) of parish residents request an election. Otherwise the council will co-opt someone to be the replacement councillor. The Localism Act 2011 introduced new arrangements which replaced
9394-511: The creation of town and parish councils is encouraged in unparished areas . The Local Government and Rating Act 1997 created a procedure which gave residents in unparished areas the right to demand that a new parish and parish council be created. This right was extended to London boroughs by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 – with this, the City of London
9516-404: The dawn of the 20th century, livestock trading had all but ceased in the Burgess Hill area. By the early seventeenth century small scale brick and tile manufacture was flourishing and during this time parcels of common land were allocated for house building and small businesses. By the early eighteenth century brick making had been extended and four shops and one or two alehouses established on
9638-463: The desire to have a more local tier of government when new larger authorities have been created, which are felt to be remote from local concerns and identity. A number of parishes have been created in places which used to have their own borough or district council; examples include Daventry (2003), Folkestone (2004), Kidderminster (2015) and Sutton Coldfield (2016). The trend towards the creation of geographically large unitary authorities has been
9760-439: The ecclesiastical parishes. The Church of England parishes, which cover more than 99% of England, have become officially (and to avoid ambiguity) termed ecclesiastical parishes . The limits of many of these have diverged; most greatly through changes in population and church attendance (these factors can cause churches to be opened or closed). Since 1921, each has been the responsibility of its own parochial church council . In
9882-521: The established English Church, which for a few years after Henry VIII alternated between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England , before settling on the latter on the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558. By the 18th century, religious membership was becoming more fractured in some places, due in part to the progress of Methodism . The legitimacy of the parish vestry came into question, and
10004-556: The four business parks in and around the town, organised by the Burgess Hill Business Parks Association. Altogether the Business Parks Association, representing about 200 companies, employs approximately 8000 people, with a combined yearly turnover of 2 billion pounds. Victoria Business Park is the larger of the two parks in the town, to the south west, with the smaller Sheddingdean Business Park to
10126-593: The fourteenth century or earlier, the annual Midsummer Fair was held on this common land on 24 June, the feast of the birth of St John the Baptist . The last such sheep and lamb fair was held in 1913. With the development of the London to Brighton mainline railway , those in the business soon realised that transporting sheep by train was more cost effective and easier than using the old roadways. Most livestock trading began to centre on railside markets such as those at Hassocks , Haywards Heath, and Lewes railway stations. By
10248-455: The government at the time of the Local Government Act 1972 discouraged their creation for large towns or their suburbs, but there is generally nothing to stop their establishment. For example, Birmingham has two parishes ( New Frankley and Sutton Coldfield ), Oxford has four, and the Milton Keynes urban area has 24. Parishes could not however be established in London until the law was changed in 2007. A civil parish can range in area from
10370-471: The late 19th century, most of the "ancient" (a legal term equivalent to time immemorial ) irregularities inherited by the civil parish system were cleaned up, and the majority of exclaves were abolished. The census of 1911 noted that 8,322 (58%) of "parishes" in England and Wales were not geographically identical when comparing the civil to the ecclesiastical form. In 1894, civil parishes were reformed by
10492-455: The late Tudor period, as do Pollards Farm and Freckborough Manor House on the eastern boundary of the town. High Chimneys in Keymer Road is a handsome farmhouse once called Woodwards, Fowles Farm, a 17th-century dwelling is now called Old Timbers and West End Farm is now the Woolpack Pub. They were all built, or, more correctly, rebuilt, in the 17th and early 18th centuries. The farm from which
10614-465: The mid 19th century. Using a longer historical lens the better terms are "pre-separation (civil and ecclesiastical) parish", "original medieval parishes" and "new parishes". The Victoria County History , a landmark collaborative work mostly written in the 20th century (although incomplete), summarises the history of each English "parish", roughly meaning late medieval parish. A minority of these had exclaves , which could be: In some cases an exclave of
10736-465: The new district councils (outside London) to review their parishes, and many areas left unparished in 1972 have since been made parishes, either in whole or part. For example, Hinckley , whilst entirely unparished in 1974, now has four civil parishes, which together cover part of its area, whilst the central part of the town remains unparished. Some parishes were sub-divided into smaller territories known as hamlets , tithings or townships . Nowadays
10858-510: The north. The town's residents may also commute to Ditchling Common Industrial Estate, another small business park just over the county border, or the Bolney Business Park, located off the A2300 between Burgess Hill and Hickstead. Both of these are also associated with the aforementioned organisation. Filofax has its UK headquarters in the town, Technetix has its global headquarters in the town, and Roche 's offices in Burgess Hill are
10980-488: The other conurbations. Civil parishes vary greatly in population: some have populations below 100 and have no settlement larger than a hamlet , while others cover towns with populations of tens of thousands. Weston-super-Mare , with a population of 71,758, is the most populous civil parish. In many cases small settlements, today popularly termed villages , localities or suburbs, are in a single parish which originally had one church. Large urban areas are mostly unparished, as
11102-448: The parish has city status). Alternatively, in parishes with small populations (typically fewer than 150 electors) governance may be by a parish meeting which all electors may attend; alternatively, parishes with small populations may be grouped with one or more neighbours under a common parish council. Wales was also divided into civil parishes until 1974, when they were replaced by communities , which are similar to English parishes in
11224-401: The parish the status of a town, at which point the council becomes a town council . Around 400 parish councils are called town councils. Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 , a civil parish may be given one of the following alternative styles: As a result, a parish council can be called a town council, a community council, a village council or occasionally
11346-404: The parish. As the number of ratepayers of some parishes grew, it became increasingly difficult to convene meetings as an open vestry. In some, mostly built-up, areas the select vestry took over responsibility from the entire body of ratepayers. This innovation improved efficiency, but allowed governance by a self-perpetuating elite. The administration of the parish system relied on the monopoly of
11468-562: The parish; the church rate ceased to be levied in many parishes and became voluntary from 1868. During the 17th century it was found that the 1601 Poor Law did not work well for very large parishes, which were particularly common in northern England. Such parishes were typically subdivided into multiple townships , which levied their rates separately. The Poor Relief Act 1662 therefore directed that for poor law purposes 'parish' meant any place which maintained its own poor, thereby converting many townships into separate 'poor law parishes'. As
11590-499: The perceived inefficiency and corruption inherent in the system became a source for concern in some places. For this reason, during the early 19th century the parish progressively lost its powers to ad hoc boards and other organisations, such as the boards of guardians given responsibility for poor relief through the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 . Sanitary districts covered England in 1875 and Ireland three years later. The replacement boards were each entitled to levy their own rate in
11712-411: The population of the parish. Most rural parish councillors are elected to represent the entire parish, though in parishes with larger populations or those that cover larger areas, the parish can be divided into wards. Each of these wards then returns councillors to the parish council (the numbers depending on their population). Only if there are more candidates standing for election than there are seats on
11834-624: The proposed housing quota for the area high, it is expected to grow further in the 21st century, and new housing will be created in the town centre in the form of flats as a result of the redevelopment plans put forward by New River Retail and for which planning has been approved. Town centre development includes the redevelopment of the Martlets Shopping Centre to add a ten-screen cinema complex, hotel, new shops and parking. The gasometer in Leylands Road has been removed and replaced with
11956-453: The redevelopment of the Victorian era train station. However early in 2010 Thornfield Properties was reported to be in financial difficulties and ultimately the scheme did not move forward. Many of the proposed changes were included by New River Retail in their redevelopment plans for the town centre. As well as the aforementioned developments, there have been two more housing estates built in
12078-541: The road from Cuckfield to Brighton across St John's Common was turnpiked . The A23 is the London-Brighton Trunk road and runs to the west of the town and is largely a high quality dual carriageway . The A23 is connected to Burgess Hill via the A2300 which was built as a single carriageway road in the 1990s, and widened in 2021 to a dual carriageway. The A273 runs along the former turnpike connecting to Pyecombe on
12200-547: The same direction. The amenities and shopping services in Burgess Hill are also well used by the surrounding villages. The larger villages of Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint are 5 to 10 minutes' drive away from the town centre, to the south and southwest respectively. Albourne , Ansty , Bolney , Clayton , Ditchling , Ditchling Common , East Chiltington , Goddards Green , Hickstead , Jacob's Post , Keymer , Plumpton , Plumpton Green , Sayers Common , Streat , Twineham , Westmeston , Wivelsfield (which has given its name to
12322-588: The south of the town. By 1914 Wynnstay had become a hotel and by the 1950s it was known as St Joseph's Convent and became a convent and school for Catholic children. In 1897 the Victoria Pleasure Gardens were opened by local household name Edwin Street, a well-known farmer and butcher. The gardens were opened in honour of Queen Victoria 's Diamond Jubilee , and contained a large lake, which covered 3 acres (12,000 m), and what can only be described as
12444-524: The town derives its name, referred to as Burgeshill Land in the 16th century, is now the site of the Burgess Hill Academy and the Chanctonbury Estate. The farmhouse itself is long demolished. Almost all the Victorian detached houses and workmen's terraced cottages built in the second half of the nineteenth century (when the town was renowned as a health resort) have survived. Road : In 1770
12566-631: The town of Burgess Hill and its surroundings. As of May 2019, a majority of eleven councillors are representatives of the Liberal Democrat Party. They are followed by four councillors from the Green Party. The Leader of the Town Council is Councillor Robert Eggleston and the Town Mayor is Councillor Roger Cartwright. From each of the six wards, two councillors are elected to represent their ward in
12688-450: The town – one in the town's north east, and the other in the area known as Folders Meadow in the east. Some of the areas currently being developed are the old Keymer Tileworks and around the south east off Folders Lane. Almost 1,000 houses will be built on these sites over the next few years. Mid Sussex District Council put forward its master plan for the development of the town in 2006. The town approved its Neighbourhood Plan in 2015. With
12810-467: The town's history; new housing was created in the northwest of the town with a development known as West End Meadows. Along with this a link road to the A23 was built, easing traffic on the previous route along Gatehouse Lane and Jobs Lane. Bedelands Farm Nature Reserve to the northwest was designated a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) at around this time, preserving at least this area from the otherwise relentless building, but further development took place to
12932-418: The town's name is taken to mean different things to different people. Many believe that the hill in question is the hill on which the railway station currently stands, but there is a Burgess Farm on a hill in the south-east of the town, in Folders Lane. Whether this is the hill referred to in the town's name is not known. The few buildings in the area were the two farmhouses, at Hammonds Ridge (still standing as
13054-554: The town, particularly in the northeast, is in Lewes District ) and by Ditchling common. The northeastern side of the town (which includes Wivelsfield railway station ) is known as World's End . Burgess Hill experiences an oceanic climate ( Köppen climate classification Cfb ) similar to almost all of the United Kingdom. Burgess Hill is home to the offices of many national and international companies, many based at one of
13176-504: The villages of Clayton, Hassocks and Keymer as well as the Victoria town council ward of Burgess Hill. Three councillors in total were elected to represent the three divisions in the West Sussex county council, all of whom are Conservatives. The part of Burgess Hill in East Sussex, which lies in the Chailey electoral division, is also represented by a Conservative at the county level. Burgess Hill
13298-644: The way they operate. Civil parishes in Scotland were abolished for local government purposes by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 ; the Scottish equivalent of English civil parishes are the community council areas established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , which have fewer powers than their English and Welsh counterparts. There are no equivalent units in Northern Ireland . The parish system in Europe
13420-418: The work of Grinling Gibbons . In 1902, an outside pulpit was erected on the north wall of the church. It was designed by Temple Moore and carved by Laurence Arthur Turner . It was damaged in 1940, but restored at the same time as the rest of the fabric. In 1662, Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans , was granted land for residential development on what was then the outskirts of London. He set aside land for
13542-505: Was constructed to provide accommodation for all who needed it on Railway business. The arrival of the railway shaped the traffic pattern of the Town and continues to this day; all road traffic has to cross the line either in the South on Station Road or in the North on Leylands Road. The opening of the Lewes Branch connected the Keymer Brick and Tile Company to the railway network providing access to greater markets. Wivelsfield railway station
13664-467: Was created in the churchyard by Viscount Southwood after the Second World War as a garden of remembrance, "to commemorate the courage and fortitude of the people of London", and was opened by Queen Mary in 1946. Like many central London churches surrounded by commercial buildings and ever fewer local people, St James's lost numbers and momentum in the 1960s and 1970s. When, in 1980, Donald Reeves
13786-552: Was developed in Camden , in use from 1790 until 1853. It had been obtained via a 1789 act of Parliament ( 29 Geo. 3 . c. 47), which also provided for the erection of a chapel of ease for the parish, designed by Thomas Hardwick and opening in 1791. With the railway-related expansion around Euston Station , the Chapel was given a parish of its own in 1871, but the cemetery fell into disrepair and became St James's Gardens in 1878 with only
13908-491: Was established between the 8th and 12th centuries, and an early form was long established in England by the time of the Norman Conquest . These areas were originally based on the territory of manors , which, in some cases, derived their bounds from Roman or Iron Age estates; some large manors were sub-divided into several parishes. Initially, churches and their priests were the gift and continued patronage (benefaction) of
14030-564: Was in Burgess Hill that the head offices were based. In 1876, a large house known as Wynnstay was constructed opposite Hoadley's store in Junction Road, and became the principal residence of Sampson Copestake. Copestake later provided land and money and to build a new Church in World's End, which later became the parish of St Andrew's in its own right. Wynnstay eventually became the Wynnstay Hydropathic Institution, known as
14152-461: Was installed in the church 12-16 October 2022. In September 2023, a series of murals by Che Lovelace were unveiled in the church, to mark the 250th anniversary of the baptism of abolitionist Ottobah Cugoano , which took place at St James's in 1773; it was the first permanent artwork commissioned by the church, as well as the first anywhere in the world to commemorate Cugoano. † Rector died in post A separate burial ground of St James's Church
14274-457: Was offered the post of rector , the bishop allegedly said "I don't mind what you do, just keep it open." During that decade and most of the 1990s numbers and activity grew, the clergy and congregation gaining a reputation for being a progressive, liberal and campaigning church . That has continued. The "congregation" rejects that description and prefers "community". It is centred on the Eucharist ,
14396-460: Was officially opened to Brighton from Haywards Heath on 21 September 1841) was an important milestone in the Town's history and development, despite the station remaining a request stop on the route for a number of years after opening. The influx of trades associated with railway construction and operation, including many navvies changed the demography of the town. The Railway Tavern in Station Road
14518-484: Was originally built nearby on the Lewes branch. The arrival of the railway and the proximity of Burgess Hill to Brighton, itself expanding as a result of the arrival of the railway, led to an influx of professional people looking for places to live. Not far from the station, the common was ripe for development with the result that the Keymer and Clayton portions were enclosed in 1828 and 1855 respectively. Between 1850 and 1880
14640-426: Was proposed to re-bury the remains after they had been examined by osteo-archaeologists . The remains were agreed to be re-interred at Surrey's Brookwood Cemetery which has received relocated remains from London since the 1870s. While almost all remains would be relocated there, it was agreed in 2019 that Matthew Flinders ' remains would be buried in his home village of Donington, Lincolnshire . Work to prepare for
14762-478: Was substantially re-built by the Michelbourne family in 1565, the date engraved on its porch. Part of a structure dating from about 1500 was retained with the house. Grove Farm House, just south of Station Road, can be dated to about 1600 and was built about the same time as Farthings in Keymer Road. Chapel Farm House and Walnut Tree Cottages on Fairplace Hill are on medieval sites and the present buildings date from
14884-469: Was the first church to have a show garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show . Its gold award-winning 'Imagine the World to be Different' garden was designed by Robert Myers to highlight the restorative power of urban green spaces and was sponsored by Project Giving Back in support of its fundraising campaign for the Wren Project, to revitalise the church and garden. The west wall of the Church is dominated by
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