Ifield is a former village and now one of 14 neighbourhoods within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Ifield is in the west of the town and is bordered by Ifield West, Horsham, Langley Green to the north east, West Green to the east across the ring road and Gossops Green and Bewbush to the south across the Arun Valley railway line.

History

The name Ifield is derived from "Yew-field". There were many Yew trees in the parish, and some can be seen in the churchyard of St Margaret's Church. Ifield contains some of the most historic parts of Crawley, and there is a mention in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

: "it is and was worth 20 shillings", where Ifield was spelt Ifelt. Locally there is much evidence of Saxon iron works and a stretch of Roman Road still exists today known locally as the "Quarter Mile".british-history.ac.uk
/ref> St Margaret's Church was built in the 13th century. It contains both the grave of Mark Lemon (the first editor of ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

''), and the

Holles Holles is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Denzil Holles (disambiguation), multiple people * Francis Holles (1627–1690), English statesman * Gervase Holles (1607–1675), English lawyer, antiquarian, and politician *William H ...

family vault. Adjacent to St Margaret's Church is the Ifield Barn Theatre. The old parish of Ifield contained most of the western part of modern-day Crawley, and the old village is on the very western edge of the new town. As well as containing two modern churches - St.Leonards in Langley Green and St.Albans in Gossops Green - Ifield Parish also contains a Friends' Meeting House. Founded in 1676 it was the first purpose-built meeting place for the

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

anywhere in the world. A V-1 flying bomb landed in Ifield during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. It damaged the village school and wounded one local man who remained slightly brain damaged for the rest of his life. Denzil Holles was created Baron Holles of Ifield in 1661, after his part in the restoration of Charles II of England. The peerage became extinct after his grandson died unmarried and without issue. Denzil was buried in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

, but his family are interred here.

Education

There are five schools in Ifield neighbourhood: * Primary Schools: St.Margaret's Church of England Primary School and Mill Primary Academy * Secondary School:

Ifield Community College Ifield Community College (ICC) is a maintained comprehensive secondary school in Crawley, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. Admissions It caters for around 1000 pupils in years 7 to 13, including over 100 in its sixth form. It is situated in ...

* Special Schools:

Manor Green School Manor Green School is a day special school located in Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estima ...

and

Manor Green College Manor may refer to: Land ownership * Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England * Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism * ...

Ifield station

Ifield station is located on the south side of the neighbourhood on the border with Gossops Green neighbourhood. The station is part of the Arun Valley line and was opened in 1907 as 'Ifield Halt'. Southern services run to

Three Bridges Three Bridges may refer to: England *Three Bridges, West Sussex, a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley **Three Bridges F.C., an association football team **Three Bridges railway station **Three Bridges depot, a rail depot * Three Bridges, Linc ...

and London Victoria from Platform 1 and Horsham from Platform 2. The level crossing that used to be in operation was replaced by the footbridge that now connects the two platforms.

Ifield Village Conservation Area

Originally the area around the church was designated a conservation area in 1981 and was later expanded to include Ifield village green, Tweed Lane and Rectory Lane. A further expansion in 2013 added Ifield Green and Langley Lane.

Ifield Water Mill and Mill Pond

Ifield Mill Pond lies between Bewbush, Gossops Green and Ifield West. It is the source of the River Mole which runs north to the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the ...

above Teddington Lock. In 1683

Ifield Water Mill Ifield Water Mill is a 19th-century weatherboarded watermill in the Ifield neighbourhood of Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Built on the site of an earlier, smaller flour mill, which itself replaced an iron forge—one of ...

, a corn mill, was built in the north of the pond; it used water from the mill pond to turn its

water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buck ...

. It was rebuilt in 1817 and is now being restored. The restoration has been led by a team of volunteers and spearheaded by Ted Henbery MBE, who has spent 34 years on the project after his son discovered the disused site in 1974. A second project to upgrade the Mill Pond concluded in July 2015 after £6.5 million was spent upgrading the dam, finished £1 million under budget. The Mill Pond is considered to be "the most important wetland site in Crawley" and supports a rich bird community.

Ifield Barn Theatre

The theatre is situated in Ifield, to the north of the 13th century church of St Margaret. The theatre buildings were converted from a group of agricultural buildings mainly based on a tithe barn and former Granary.

Ifield Cricket Club

Cricket was first recorded to have been played in Ifield in 1721, on the green. As of the 2022, Ifield CC 1st XI play in the Division 3 East of the Sussex Cricket League.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in West Sussex Neighbourhoods in Crawley