85-572: The Queen Victoria Hospital ( QVH ), located in East Grinstead , West Sussex, England is the specialist reconstructive surgery centre for the south east of England, and also provides services at clinics across the region. It has become world-famous for its pioneering burns and plastic surgery. The hospital was named after Queen Victoria . It is managed by the Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Proposals that
170-635: A Rhenish helm unique in England and St. Nicholas Church, Worth , a 10th-century church in Worth , Crawley . Some Anglican churches and many of the numerous nonconformist chapels in the county have been converted to residential use. Cittaviveka is a Buddhist monastery in Chithurst . Pallant House Gallery in Chichester houses one of the most significant collections of 20th-century British art outside London. It includes
255-596: A chalk escarpment which falls away sharply into the Weald to the north and more gently toward the south, where there is a narrow strip of flat land between the hills and the coast. The coastal strip widens to the west, where it is punctuated by Chichester Harbour which is a ria . The county has a long history of human settlement dating back to the Lower Paleolithic era. During the Roman conquest of Britain , Romans conquered
340-691: A 21-year period beginning in 1891, the Decorated Gothic Revival church was consecrated in 1905 and has its own parish. It was established by adherents of the Oxford Movement , and services still follow a more Anglo-Catholic style than East Grinstead's other Anglican churches. East Grinstead's first Nonconformist church was the Zion Chapel, built in 1810 for the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion . The small evangelical Calvinistic group owned
425-571: A cathedral until the foundation of the diocese in 1965. Bosham Church is partly of Saxon construction and is shown on the Bayeux Tapestry as the local church of late Saxon and Danish kings of England. Many other Saxon and early Norman churches have survived in the county with little alteration including the Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin, Sompting , an 11th-century Anglo-Saxon church with
510-536: A documentary, Why East Grinstead? , was produced for Channel 4 's Witness strand of documentaries. It sought to examine and explain the convergence of such a wide variety of religious organisations in the East Grinstead area. The documentary, produced by Zed Productions and directed by Ian Sellar, reached no definite conclusion: explanations ranged from the local presence of ley lines to the more prosaic idea that religious leaders had settled there because they liked
595-741: A grass airfield handling light aircraft and helicopters at Chichester/Goodwood Airport . There are three main railway routes: the Brighton Main Line , the Arun Valley Line and the West Coastway Line . The Portsmouth Direct Line serves and occasionally enters the westernmost part of West Sussex, although it has no railway stations in the county. Since the 2024 general election , West Sussex has been represented by two Conservative , Three Labour and three Liberal Democrat Members of Parliament (MPs). West Sussex County Council (WSCC)
680-667: A gym and sports hall. There are floodlit tennis courts and bowling green at Mount Noddy and also tennis courts and a variety of pitches at East Court where Non-League football club East Grinstead Town F.C. play. The athletics club, East Grinstead AC, which was formed in 1978 train at Imberhorne School . The senior team competes in the Southern Athletics League Division 3 and has young athletes teams competing in regional leagues. East Grinstead Rugby Football Club currently play in Harvey's of Sussex 1. EGRFC are supported by
765-464: A helicopter landing site for visiting pilots (3.5 miles (5.6 km) from the town). East Grinstead station became a railway terminus in 1967, after the line from Three Bridges to Royal Tunbridge Wells was closed under the Beeching cuts , a rationalisation of British Railways ' branch lines based on a report by Dr Richard Beeching , a resident of the town at that time. The line to Lewes , part of
850-421: A junior section which fields teams from Under 18's down to Under 7's. East Grinstead is also home to East Grinstead Hockey Club and East Grinstead Lacrosse Club established in 2004, with two men's teams and a women's team catering to a variety of skill levels. East Grinstead Runners meet every Tuesday and Thursday evenings usually at the station top car park for various training runs and every Sunday morning for
935-474: A near-continuous urban area which includes the towns of Bognor Regis (63,855), Littlehampton (55,706), and Worthing (111,338); the latter two are part of the Brighton and Hove built-up area , which extends into East Sussex and has a total population of 474,485. The interior of the county is generally rural; the largest towns are Crawley (118,493) and Horsham (50,934), both located in the north-east; Chichester
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#17328522728191020-603: A parkland setting. In 1968, the East Grinstead Society was founded as an independent body, both to protect the historically important buildings of East Grinstead (and its environs) and to improve the amenities for future generations. Three miles (5 km) east of the town, in Hammerwood , is Hammerwood Park , a country house built by Benjamin Henry Latrobe in 1792, and once owned by the rock band Led Zeppelin . On
1105-525: A popular spacious cafe with outdoor seating. In addition to the nearby Ashdown Forest , East Grinstead is served by the Forest Way and Worth Way linear Country Parks which follow the disused railway line from Three Bridges all the way through to Groombridge and which are part of the Sustrans national cycle network. East Grinstead has an unusually diverse range of religious and spiritual organisations for
1190-599: A presence in nearby Greenwood Gate. Jehovah's Witnesses worship at a modern Kingdom Hall . The community, established in 1967, previously used a former Salvation Army building. The meetinghouse of the LDS Church on Ship Street was built in 1985. The London England Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , is just over the Surrey border at Newchapel . The United Kingdom (and former world) headquarters of
1275-617: A substantial body of early and mid-20th-century work bequeathed by Walter Hussey and many later works donated by Colin St. John Wilson . Worthing Museum and Art Gallery houses a large collection of Georgian and Victorian costume. The Cass Sculpture Foundation has an outdoor sculpture park at Goodwood . Significant companies in the county include Rolls-Royce Motor Cars , a substantial employer near Chichester. Gatwick Airport , with associated airlines including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic ,
1360-442: A town of its size. A broad range of mainstream Christian denominations have places of worship in the town. Protestant Nonconformism has featured especially prominently for the last two centuries, in common with other parts of northern Sussex. Several other religious groups have connections with the town, from merely owning property to having national headquarters there. The Church of England has four places of worship in
1445-654: A £5.9 million deficit, around 10% of its turnover, and needed to borrow money to pay its bills. It forecasts deficits of around £7 million, roughly 10% of its turnover, each year from 2019 to 2023. Local bus services are provided by Metrobus. The following routes pass the hospital: East Grinstead East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex , England, near the East Sussex , Surrey , and Kent borders, 27 miles (43 km) south of London , 21 miles (34 km) northeast of Brighton , and 38 miles (61 km) northeast of
1530-469: Is twinned with: East Grinstead is served by local sports and social clubs. Municipal facilities include the King George's Field , which was left to the town by a local benefactor and was named as a memorial to King George V . The King's Centre leisure centre, currently owned and operated by Mid Sussex District Council is on this land. The centre includes an indoor swimming pool and other facilities such as
1615-517: Is a ceremonial county in South East England . It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Crawley , and the county town is the city of Chichester . The county has a land area of 1,991 square kilometres (769 sq mi) and a population of 892,336. Along the south coast is
1700-621: Is a major source of direct and indirect employment. Thales Group also has a presence in the county. Nestlé has their UK headquarters in Crawley. West Sussex developed distinctive land uses along with its neighbours in the weald. The Landrace cattle transformed into Sussex cattle and Sussex chickens emerged about the time of the Roman conquest. Some of the earliest evidence of horses in Britain has been found at Boxgrove , dated to 500,000 BC. Viticulture
1785-453: Is a part of the economy, with wineries producing mainly sparkling wine of varied quality. The table below shows the population change up to the 2011 census, contrasting the previous census. It also shows the proportion of residents in each district reliant upon lowest income and/or joblessness benefits, the national average proportion of which was 4.5% as at August 2012, the year for which latest datasets have been published. It can be seen that
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#17328522728191870-420: Is in the south-west and has a population of 26,795. West Sussex contains seven local government districts , which are part of a two-tier non-metropolitan county administered by West Sussex County Council . West Sussex and East Sussex were historically the single county Sussex . The South Downs are a defining feature of the county, crossing it from east to west and dividing the north and south. The downs are
1955-606: Is needed to recharge the chalk aquifers from which much of the water supply is drawn. The M23 motorway runs from London to the south of Crawley . The A23 and A24 roads run from London to Brighton and Worthing respectively with the A29 a little further west ending in Bognor Regis . Other major roads are the A272 which runs east to west through the middle of the county and the A27 which does
2040-559: Is provided by the University of Chichester and Chichester College . At least 40 sports are active in West Sussex. Sussex CCC was the first first-class county cricket club, formed in 1839, and was a cradle for club cricket. Sussex is home to Fontwell Park Racecourse . The county has one Football League club located in Crawley , that is Crawley Town F.C. BBC South television covers
2125-433: Is provided through a mix of around 240 infant , junior , primary , first and middle schools. Colleges include The College of Richard Collyer , Central Sussex College , Northbrook College and The Weald School . Independent schools in the county include Christ's Hospital near Horsham , whose students wear Tudor style uniform, Seaford College , Lancing College and Hurstpierpoint College . Tertiary education
2210-571: Is the authority that governs the non-metropolitan county of West Sussex. The county contains 7 district and borough councils ( Adur , Arun , Chichester , Crawley , Horsham , Mid Sussex and Worthing ), and 159 town, parish and neighbourhood councils. West Sussex County Council has 70 councillors ; the majority of them being Conservative. There are 46 Conservative councillors, 11 Liberal Democrats , 9 Labour Party councillors and 4 Green and Independent Alliance councillors. The Chief Executive and their team of executive directors are responsible for
2295-675: The Atrebates , West Sussex's indigenous Britons, and incorporated the area as a Roman province . During the Early Middle Ages , the Saxons settled the area, establishing the Kingdom of Sussex in 477, which lasted until c. 827 when the kingdom was annexed by Wessex . It has a number of stately homes including Goodwood , Petworth House and Uppark , and castles such as Arundel Castle and Bramber Castle . The name Sussex, derived from
2380-467: The Bluebell Railway , closed in 1958. In the late 1970s, the town's inner relief road was built along a section of one of the closed railway lines and is officially named "Beeching Way". It has been nicknamed "Beeching Cut" as it runs through a cutting and was once one of the lines that Beeching cut. Much of rest of the trackbed of the disused Three Bridges to Groombridge line now forms the route of
2465-535: The Church of Scientology is at Saint Hill Manor on the southwestern edge of East Grinstead. Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard bought the Georgian mansion and its 24 hectares (59 acres) of grounds from the Maharaja of Jaipur in 1959 and lived in the town until 1967. The East Grinstead Town Centre Master Plan was adopted on 10 July 2006 as a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD). The scheme proposed regeneration of
2550-553: The Guinea Pig Club , which then became a support network for the aircrew and their family members. The club remained active after the end of the war, and its annual reunion meetings at East Grinstead continued until 2007, when the club was wound down in view of the increasing frailty of its surviving members. As such, the townspeople became very supportive of the patients at the Queen Victoria Hospital. Even though many of
2635-489: The Heathfield and Crystal Palace TV transmitters. However, the local relay transmitter only broadcast programmes from London . The town is covered by both BBC Radio Surrey on 104.0 FM and BBC Radio Sussex on 104.5 FM. Other radio stations including Heart South on 102.7 FM, Greatest Hits Radio South on 106.6 FM and 107 Meridian FM , a based community station which from the town on 107 FM and also online. In 1994,
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2720-765: The Norman and the Gothic styles, and has been called by the architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner "the most typical English Cathedral". The Cathedral Church of Our Lady and St Philip Howard in Arundel is the Roman Catholic cathedral of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton . Built in French Gothic style and dedicated in 1873 as the Catholic parish church of Arundel, it was not designated
2805-747: The Old English 'Sūþseaxe' (' South Saxons '), dates from the Saxon period between AD 477 to 1066, and the history of human habitation in Sussex goes back to the Old Stone Age . The oldest hominin remains known in Britain were found at Eartham Pit, Boxgrove . Prehistoric monuments include the Devil's Jumps , a group of Bronze Age burial mounds, and the Iron Age Cissbury Ring and Chanctonbury Ring hill forts on
2890-676: The Worth Way and Forest Way , linear Country Parks allowing access to the Wealden countryside. A part of the Lewes line was re-constructed by the Bluebell Railway , a nearby preserved standard gauge railway . The extension work was carried out in stages. The first paid-passenger service departed from East Grinstead station at 9:45 on Saturday 23 March 2013, and the first train left Sheffield Park for East Grinstead at 9:30 a.m. with services running each way every 45 minutes thereafter. The town lies on
2975-491: The sandstone almshouse , built in 1609. In 1853 the warden of Sackville College, John Mason Neale , wrote the Christmas carol " Good King Wenceslas ". The college has sweeping views towards Ashdown Forest . The adjacent St Swithun's Church stands on the highest ground in the town and was rebuilt in the eighteenth century (the tower dating from 1789) to a perpendicular design by James Wyatt . The imposing structure dominates
3060-538: The (UK and Ireland) Caravan Club . During the Second World War , the Queen Victoria Hospital developed a specialist burns unit led by Sir Archibald McIndoe . It became world-famous for pioneering treatment of RAF and allied aircrew who were badly burned or crushed, and required reconstructive plastic surgery. In 1941 patients of McIndoe who had undergone experimental reconstructive plastic surgery formed
3145-419: The 1930s and moved to its present site in 1936. During the Second World War , it developed as a specialist burns unit under the leadership of Sir Archibald McIndoe , and became world-famous for pioneering treatment of RAF and allied aircrew who were badly burned or crushed and required reconstructive plastic surgery. It was where the Guinea Pig Club was formed in 1941, as a social club and support network for
3230-434: The 2001 Census , one in eight residents commuted to Crawley and Gatwick Airport for work with over 98% travelling by car. Education in the town is provided through both state and independent schools. West Sussex County Council provides seven primary schools along with two secondary schools. All these schools are co-educational and comprehensive. Private secondary education is provided by several day and boarding schools in
3315-426: The 29 years to 2011 it averaged 1902 hours of sunshine per year. Sunshine totals are highest near the coast with Bognor Regis often having the highest in mainland England, including a total of 2237 hours in 1990. Mean annual temperature for southern coastal counties is around 11 °C. The coldest month, January, has mean daily minimum temperatures of around 3 °C near the coast and lower inland. July tends to be
3400-601: The East Grinstead Town Museum was moved to new custom-built premises in the historic centre of the town, and successfully re-opened to the public as the East Grinstead Museum . Chequer Mead Theatre includes a modern 320-seat purpose-built auditorium, which stages professional and amateur plays/musicals and music (local rock groups to chamber music orchestras), opera , ballet , folk music , tribute bands , film, event cinema and talks. The venue also has
3485-495: The Institute of Engineering & Technology's 2008 Faraday Lecture on the overall theme of engineering in health and has been included in a documentary. In the national cancer patient survey for 2011/12, the hospital achieved the highest score for care quality out of all 160 hospital trusts providing cancer services. Ninety-four per cent of cancer patients surveyed rated the care they received at QVH as 'excellent' or 'very good'. In
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3570-675: The New Life Church—a Newfrontiers evangelical charismatic church—the Kingdom Faith Church, another independent charismatic congregation, and the Full Gospel Church. Roman Catholics worship at the Church of Our Lady and St Peter , founded in 1898 by Edward Blount of the Blount baronetcy , a resident of nearby Worth . Opus Dei has a conference centre at Wickenden Manor near the town, and Rosicrucians also have
3655-699: The South Downs. The Roman period saw the building of Fishbourne Roman Palace and rural villas such as Bignor Roman Villa together with a network of roads including Stane Street , the Chichester to Silchester Way and the Sussex Greensand Way . The Romans used the Weald for iron production on an industrial scale. The foundation of the Kingdom of Sussex is recorded by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for
3740-577: The Stone Quarry estate, was built in 1954 to serve the northeast of the town. The church was demolished around 2014 and flats have been built at the location. St Barnabas' Church in Dunnings Road serves the south of the town. The present wooden structure of 1975 replaced an older church built in 1912. The fourth church, in the northwest of the town, is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. Built by W.T. Lowdell over
3825-568: The Sunday social which is always on the trails around town. Chequer Mead Theatre (formerly Chequer Mead Community Arts Centre) was built in the 1990s and is a 320-seat theatre. It is home to the East Grinstead Music & Arts Festival, which exists to encourage and promote dancing, singing and speech and drama in Sussex and neighbouring counties. The honorary vice-president of the festival in 2018
3910-698: The ageing estate. In 2012, a new outpatients department opened, along with refurbished burns and paediatric units. Six new operating theatres were opened by the Princess Royal in October 2013. The hospital is the regional centre of excellence for burns and for reconstructive surgery – the use of specialist techniques such as tissue transplant and microvascular surgery in the restoration of people who have suffered disfigurement or destructive damage from disease, trauma, major surgery, or congenitally. Specialist units that carry out these services include: In July 2012,
3995-424: The aircrew and their family members. The club continued to provide assistance for Guinea Pigs for many years after the war, and met regularly in East Grinstead until 2007. The Queen Victoria Hospital remains at the forefront of specialist care today, and is renowned for its burns treatment facilities and expertise throughout England. In recent years a major programme of site developments has been underway to replace
4080-552: The church until 1980; it is now used by Baptists and is called West Street Baptist Church . Trinity Methodist Church is the much-expanded successor to older places of Methodist worship in the town; the community dates back to 1868. The United Reformed Church community meets in the Moat Church, a former Congregational chapel built in the Early English Gothic Revival style in 1870. A 2007 book also noted
4165-423: The county a winterbourne , the River Lavant , flows intermittently from springs on the dip slope of the chalk downs north of Chichester. Some intermittent streams are known in the local dialect as "rifes". The county makes up 1.52% of the total land of England , making it the 30th largest county in the country . West Sussex is the sunniest county in the United Kingdom, according to Met Office records. Over
4250-441: The county excluding Haywards Heath , Burgess Hill , East Grinstead and Shoreham-by-Sea which are covered by BBC South East . ITV Meridian also covers the county. Crawley is covered by both regions and by BBC London and ITV London . BBC Radio Sussex is the BBC local radio station for the county, broadcast from studios in Brighton . The commercial local radio station is Heart South , and community radio stations in
4335-457: The county of Sussex. With its origins in the kingdom of Sussex , the later county of Sussex was traditionally divided into six units known as rapes . By the 16th century, the three western rapes were grouped together informally, having their own separate Quarter Sessions . These were governed by a separate county council from 1888, the county of Sussex being divided into the administrative counties of East and West Sussex. In 1974, West Sussex
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#17328522728194420-421: The county town of Chichester . Situated in the northeast of the county, the civil parish has an area of 2,443.45 hectares (6,037.9 acres). The population at the 2011 Census was 26,383. Nearby towns include Crawley and Horley to the west, Tunbridge Wells to the east and Redhill and Reigate to the northwest. The town is contiguous with the village of Felbridge to the northwest. Until 1974 East Grinstead
4505-478: The county town, has a cathedral and city status , and is situated not far from the border with Hampshire . Other conurbations of a similar size are Burgess Hill , East Grinstead and Haywards Heath in the Mid Sussex district, Littlehampton in the Arun district , and Lancing , Southwick and Shoreham in the Adur district. Much of the coastal town population is part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation . Rustington and Southwater are
4590-496: The day-to-day running of the council. West Sussex County Council is based at County Hall, Chichester and provides a large range of services including education, social services, fire and rescue, libraries, trading standards, town and country planning, refuse disposal and consumer services. The West Sussex Youth Cabinet is a group of local representatives and four UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) representatives, who are elected by young people in West Sussex. The Youth Cabinet represents
4675-405: The east end of the High Street. It was funded by a public appeal and sculpted by Martin Jennings , whose own father was a Guinea Pig . It depicts a burned airman looking to the sky, with McIndoe placing reassuring hands on his shoulders. The stone ring around the statue is for visitors to sit and reflect and in doing so become part of the story representing "The town that did not stare". In 2006,
4760-416: The east. The English Channel lies to the south. The area has been formed from Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous rock strata, part of the Weald–Artois Anticline . The eastern part of this ridge, the Weald of Kent, Sussex and Surrey has been greatly eroded, with the chalk surface removed to expose older Lower Cretaceous rocks of the Wealden Group . In West Sussex the exposed rock becomes older towards
4845-427: The experience of the Second World War when "Archibald McIndoe, a plastic surgeon, treated desperately disfigured servicemen at the local Queen Victoria Hospital. East Grinstead was dubbed 'the town that did not stare', for its warmth and openness towards the outsiders." East Grinstead is the destination of the adulterous lovers Norman and Annie in Alan Ayckbourn 's trilogy of plays entitled The Norman Conquests . It
4930-411: The hospital produced a short film about its services: the Queen Victoria Hospital Short Film 2012. As the regional specialist centre for reconstructive surgery following trauma, Queen Victoria Hospital (QVH) has a well-established telemedicine referral system. In 2008 the service won the regional Innovation and Communications Technology Award and the QVH telemedicine system was also chosen to form part of
5015-406: The job. Most settlements in West Sussex are either along the south coast or in Mid Sussex, near the M23 / A23 corridor. The town of Crawley is the largest in the county with an estimated population of 106,600. The coastal settlement of Worthing closely follows with a population of 104,600. The seaside resort of Bognor Regis and the market town of Horsham are both large towns. Chichester,
5100-452: The junction of the A22 and A264 roads . For just over one mile (1.6 km), from just to the north of the Town Centre to Felbridge village in Surrey , the two routes use the same stretch of single carriageway road. This is one of the principal causes of traffic congestion in the town. The town is within commuting distance of London (about 30 miles (50 km)) and Crawley / Gatwick (about 10 miles (16 km)) by road. According to
5185-456: The matinée show were watching a Hopalong Cassidy film before the main feature. A total of 108 people were killed in the raid, including children in the cinema, many of whom were evacuees; and some twenty Canadian servicemen stationed locally, who were either in the cinema when it was hit, or arrived minutes later to help with rescuing survivors. A further 235 were injured. This was the largest loss of life of any single air raid in Sussex . In
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#17328522728195270-399: The most populous district of West Sussex is Arun containing the towns of Arundel , Bognor Regis and Littlehampton : The current total population of the county makes up 1.53% of England's population. West Sussex has a comprehensive education system, with a mix of county-maintained secondary schools and academies and over twenty independent senior schools. In addition primary education
5355-405: The most recommended NHS hospital in the country by the independent Dr Foster Hospital Guide . It was named by the Health Service Journal as one of the top hundred NHS trusts to work for in 2015. At that time it had 817 full-time equivalent staff and a sickness absence rate of 3.58%. 91% of staff recommend it as a place for treatment and 74% recommended it as a place to work. In 2018/9 it faced
5440-406: The national NHS inpatient survey for 2011, the hospital achieved the highest scores in the country for 27 of the 61 questions asked, including 'Overall, how would you rate the care you received?'. In the 2011 national NHS staff survey, 94% of doctors and nurses said they would recommend their hospital to friends and family, more than at any other hospital in the country. In 2011, it was found to be
5525-426: The next largest settlements in the county. There are several more towns in West Sussex, including Arundel , Midhurst , Petworth , Selsey , Steyning , Henfield , Pulborough and Storrington . Other notable villages include Billingshurst , Copthorne , Crawley Down , Cuckfield , Hassocks , Hurstpierpoint and Lindfield . West Sussex is bordered by Hampshire to the west, Surrey to the north and East Sussex to
5610-439: The north of the county with Lower Greensand ridges along the border with Surrey including the highest point of the county at Blackdown . Erosion of softer sand and clay strata has hollowed out the basin of the Weald leaving a north facing scarp slope of the chalk which runs east and west across the whole county, broken only by the valleys of the River Arun and River Adur . In addition to these two rivers which drain most of
5695-402: The outskirts of the town is Standen , a country house belonging to the National Trust, containing one of the best collections of Arts and Crafts movement furnishings and fabrics. Kidbrooke Park (today Michael Hall School), a home of the Hambro family, was restored by the noted Sussex architect and antiquarian, Walter Godfrey , as was Plawhatch Hall. East Grinstead House is the headquarters of
5780-401: The same but closer to the coast. The A259 is a local alternate route to the A27 in the eastern coastal strip. Gatwick Airport , which handled over 33 million passengers and had over 250,000 aircraft movements in 2011, is located within the borders of Crawley , and is the second largest airport in the United Kingdom. There is also a considerably smaller local airport at Shoreham Airport and
5865-422: The surrounding areas straddling Kent and Sussex. Queen Victoria Hospital was founded as a cottage hospital in 1863, and was rebuilt on its current site in the 1930s. Queen Victoria Hospital has been known for its burns treatment facilities and expertise. There are many facilities for mental healthcare in East Grinstead, including Springvale Community Mental Health Centre and Charters Court. East Grinstead
5950-400: The surrounding countryside for many miles around. In the churchyard are commemorated the East Grinstead Martyrs, and in the south-east corner is the grave of John Mason Neale. The Greenwich Meridian runs through the grounds of the historic 1769 East Court mansion, home of the Town Council, giving the visitor an opportunity to stand with a foot in both the east and west. The mansion stands in
6035-413: The town became a secondary target for German bombers which failed to make their primary target elsewhere. On the afternoon of Friday 9 July 1943, a Luftwaffe bomber became separated from its squadron, followed the main railway line and circled the town twice, then dropped eight bombs. Two bombs, one with a delayed-action fuse, fell on the Whitehall Theatre, a cinema on the London Road, where 184 people at
6120-647: The town centre in association with Thornfield Properties PLC. Thornfield Properties had submitted plans to the council for the start of an ambitious development of the Queens Walk and West Street area. It was expected that other redevelopment companies would fulfil targets outlined in the SPD over the next 20 years. Gatwick Airport is 10 miles (16 km) from the town, whilst Redhill Aerodrome and Biggin Hill Airport are both within half an hour's drive. Hammerwood Park has
6205-708: The town. St Swithun's Church was founded in the 11th century. Architect James Wyatt rebuilt it in local stone in 1789 after it became derelict and collapsed. Near the entrance to the church, three stones mark the supposed ashes of Anne Tree, Thomas Dunngate and John Forman who were burned as martyrs on 18 July 1556 because they would not renounce the Protestant faith. John Foxe wrote about them in his 1,800-page Foxe's Book of Martyrs . Two other churches are in St Swithun's parish. St Luke's Church, in Holtye Avenue on
6290-403: The trust should be taken over by University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust in 2021 were objected to by the governors of the trust. In September 2021 66% of the consultants said they had no confidence in the chief executive. In September 2022 the merger plans were abandoned. Founded as East Grinstead Cottage Hospital in 1863, the hospital adopted the name, "Queen Victoria Hospital", in
6375-405: The victims were horribly disfigured (often missing limbs, and in the worst cases faces, their faces made up of burn tissue), the townspeople would go out of their way to make the men feel normal. Families invited the men to dinner, and girls asked them to go on dates. Patients of the burn units remember, and cherish, the charity received from the townspeople of East Grinstead. During the same War,
6460-633: The views of the young people West Sussex at county level. Elections for the Youth Cabinet and UKYP in West Sussex run every year in March. The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, otherwise called Chichester Cathedral , is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester . It was founded as a cathedral in 1075, when the seat of the bishop was moved from Selsey Abbey . The cathedral has architecture in both
6545-641: The views. In 2016 The Guardian called East Grinstead "Britain's strangest town", citing the presence of The Church of Scientology , the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosæ Crucis , the ultra-Catholic order of Opus Dei , Christian Scientists , Ashworth Dowsers and the Pagan Federation . In 2017 The Economist published an article titled The Joy of Sects asking why Scientologists, Mormons, Opus Dei and others have settled around East Grinstead. It reported views that included ley lines, proximity to London, and to
6630-638: The warmest month when mean daily maxima tend to be around 20 °C. A maximum temperature of 35.4 °C occurred at North Heath, Pulborough on 26 June 1976. Coastal high temperatures are often moderated by cooler sea breezes. Monthly rainfall tends to be highest in autumn and early winter and lowest in the summer months, with July often being the driest month. There is less rainfall from summer convective showers and thunderstorms than in inland areas. The county can suffer both from localised flooding caused by heavy rainfall and from water shortages caused by prolonged periods of below average rainfall. Winter rainfall
6715-601: The winter of 2010, Claque Theatre produced the East Grinstead Community Play, which focussed on the bombing of the town in 1943, the work of Archibald McIndoe and his team at the hospital, and the Guinea Pig Club and its members. It was performed by local residents. On 9 June 2014 The Princess Royal unveiled a monument to Sir Archibald McIndoe and the Guinea Pigs. It stands in front of Sackville College at
6800-417: The year AD 477; it says that Ælle arrived at a place called Cymenshore in three ships with his three sons and killed or put to flight the local inhabitants. The foundation story is regarded as somewhat of a myth by most historians, although the archaeology suggests that Saxons did start to settle in the area in the late 5th century. The Kingdom of Sussex was absorbed into Wessex as an earldom and became
6885-475: Was chosen because Norman, after some effort, couldn't get in at Hastings. In the 1978 Thames Television version of the trilogy, Norman and Annie were portrayed by Tom Conti and Penelope Wilton . East Grinstead also features in Christopher Fowler 's novel, Psychoville (1995), in which the town features as harbouring the fictional Invicta Cross, as well as the eventual New Invicta. The town of New Invicta
6970-848: Was former ballerina Beryl Grey . Local groups include the East Grinstead Choral Society and the East Grinstead Operatic Society. There are two weekly newspapers: the East Grinstead Courier , published each Tuesday by Local World Ltd and the East Grinstead Gazette , published each Wednesday by the Johnston Press . Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South East & BBC London on BBC One and ITV Meridian & ITV London on ITV. Television signals are received from either
7055-597: Was in East Sussex, before joining with Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill as the Mid-Sussex district of West Sussex. The town is on the Greenwich Meridian . It has many historic buildings, and the Weald and Ashdown Forest lie to the south-east. The High Street contains one of the longest continuous runs of 14th-century timber-framed buildings in England. Other notable buildings in the town include Sackville College ,
7140-569: Was later used by Jo Amey in Heist as a safehouse. East Grinstead is the home of Harry Witherspoon, one of the lead characters in a musical comedy by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens called Lucky Stiff . East Grinstead is the home town of the pop band Right Said Fred . The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Parish of East Grinstead. West Sussex West Sussex
7225-602: Was made a single ceremonial county with the coming into force of the Local Government Act 1972 . At the same time a large part of the eastern rape of Lewes (the Mid Sussex district which includes the towns of Haywards Heath , Burgess Hill and East Grinstead ) was transferred into West Sussex. Until 1834, provision for the poor and destitute in West Sussex was made at parish level. From 1835 until 1948 eleven Poor Law Unions , each catering for several parishes, took on
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