Tinsley Green is an area in the

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

of Crawley, one of seven

local government districts The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county of

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

. Originally a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in the parish of Worth, it was absorbed by the New Town of Crawley in the 1940s and became part of the

Pound Hill Pound Hill is one of 14 neighbourhoods within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Pound Hill is located on the east of Crawley. It is bordered by Three Bridges and Manor Royal to the west and Maidenbower to the south. It is the larg ...

neighbourhood. As well as houses, farms and woodland, it became the site of the 1930s

aerodrome An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

at Gatwick—now London Gatwick Airport. The airport's first railway station was briefly known as Tinsley Green. The game of

marbles A marble is a small spherical object often made from glass, clay, steel, plastic, or agate. They vary in size, and most commonly are about in diameter. These toys can be used for a variety of games called ''marbles'', as well being placed in mar ...

has a strong local tradition, and Tinsley Green's

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

hosts the British and World Marbles Championship each year.

Location

Tinsley Green is in the north-east of the Borough of Crawley. The surrounding land is flat and between and above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

Gatwick Stream The Gatwick Stream is a tributary of the River Mole in southern England. The Gatwick Stream rises in Worth Forest below Clays lake in West Sussex, flows northwards through Tilgate Forest, alongside Tilgate golf course, through Maidenbower, ...

, a tributary of the

River Mole The River Mole is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows northwest through Surrey for to the Thames at Hampton Court Palace. The river gives its name to the Surrey distri ...

, passes under Radford Road at Tinsley Bridge. The road runs east–west from the B2036 road to Crawley's Manor Royal industrial estate. The

Brighton Main Line The Brighton Main Line (also known as the South Central Main Line) is a major railway line in the United Kingdom that links Brighton, on the south coast of England, with central London. In London the line has two branches, out of and station ...

between London and Brighton runs to the west.

History

The name was first recorded in the 13th century, when Richard de Tyntesle (Richard of Tinsley) was recorded on a tax return. The iron industry thrived in the area from the late 14th century, when the blast furnace was developed; conditions and raw materials around Crawley were ideal for iron production, and many forges were established. One of these was Tinsley Forge.

Cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...

was produced at a blast furnace at Tilgate and taken to Tinsley Green, where it was formed into the more useful

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" ...

. Although the industry declined in the 17th century, Tinsley Forge was still successful until well into the 18th century, when it finally shut down. Forge Farm was established on the site; the name Black Corner, a bend on the Balcombe–

Horley Horley is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England, south of the towns of Reigate and Redhill. The county border with West Sussex is to the south with Crawley and Gatwick Airport close to the town. It has its own eco ...

road (the B2036; an old route to London) which runs through Tinsley Green, also refers to the old industry. Some 16th- and 17th-century farmhouses and cottages survive. Radford Farmhouse, a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

, is one of only two buildings in Crawley with a

thatched roof Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

. The

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large woode ...

cottage may originally have been a barn on the land of its neighbour, Brookside—another Grade II-listed timber-framed house. Oldlands Farmhouse, also 17th-century, was built and owned by the ironmaster who owned Tinsley Forge. Tinsley Green was served by the Anglican church at Lowfield Heath, St Michael and All Angels, from its opening in 1868. It is now within the parish of Crawley Team Ministry, whose main church is St John the Baptist's in the town centre.

London Country Bus Services London Country Bus Services was a bus company that operated in South East England from 1970 until 1986, when it was split up and later sold as part of the bus deregulation programme. History Formation London Country Bus Services Ltd was ...

, a

bus company A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for char ...

which served southeast England between 1970 and deregulation in 1986, built its main engineering workshop in Tinsley Green. Opened in 1976, it was used to carry out painting, repairs and mechanical overhaul of the company's fleet (1,267 vehicles in 1970), and to hold spare parts. At the time of deregulation, a private company, Gatwick Engineering Ltd, was set up to own and operate the works. About 150 people were employed at the site in Tinsley Lane, next to the railway line.

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

now owns the site.

Gatwick Aerodrome to Airport

Hunts Green Farm was one of Tinsley Green's old farms. In the 1920s, some of its land was converted into an

airfield An aerodrome ( Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for pub ...

as flying became more popular and more landing grounds were sought. Earlier in the decade, London's first airport had been established in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

. On 1 August 1930, Ronald Walters, a pilot, bought the of land at Hunts Green Farm and converted it into an

. In 1933 it was sold to A. M. (Morris) Jackaman, who planned to convert it into a relief aerodrome for Croydon Airport and start regular flights to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

using de Havilland DH.84 Dragon aircraft. From 1935 the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

were involved; they helped to develop Gatwick Aerodrome's role as a proper airport, and the first terminal building, the

Beehive A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...

, was built. Later that year, the Southern Railway,

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers ...

and the owners of Gatwick (now a proper airport rather than an aerodrome) jointly opened a new railway station on the Brighton Main Line, between

Gatwick Racecourse Gatwick Racecourse was a racecourse in the county of Surrey, England near to Horley and Lowfield Heath. It was in use from 1891 to 1940 when it was closed at the start of the Second World War. The land is now part of London Gatwick Airport. ...

and Three Bridges stations, to serve the airport. The station, called Tinsley Green, opened just north of the Radford Road overbridge on 3 September 1935. It was linked by a subway to the terminal, named The Beehive. The name was changed to Gatwick Airport station on 1 June 1936, and it closed on 28 May 1958 after the airport had been rebuilt and extended northwards, making the former Gatwick Racecourse station more convenient. Remains of the platforms could be seen until the 1980s and the subway is still in existence at the Beehive end.

Crawley North East Sector

Crawley New Town's

postwar In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period ...

residential areas are known as neighbourhoods. , the town has 13. Plans to build a fourteenth neighbourhood on land around Tinsley Green have existed since January 1998. The North East Sector, as it is known, is bounded by Radford Road to the north, the

M23 motorway The M23 is a motorway in the United Kingdom, running from the south of Hooley in Surrey, where it splits from the A23, to Pease Pottage, south of Crawley in West Sussex where it rejoins the A23. The northern end of the motorway starts on what ...

to the east, the A2011 Crawley Avenue to the south and the railway line to the west, and is characterised by rough pastureland, small woods and some

brownfield land In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...

. Tinsley Green occupies the northern part of this site. As one of the few areas of mostly open land left in the borough, the area around Tinsley Green has been suggested as a development site before: the Commission for New Towns' first masterplan in the late 1940s anticipated that the Manor Royal industrial estate would extend east of the railway line as far as the Balcombe–Horley road, which did not happen; and in the late 1980s, a "high-tech industrial park" was planned for the site of Forge Farm, which was no longer agricultural and had become the site of an

abattoir A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

. The original

planning application Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

proposed up to 1,900 residential units, office and retail space, a school, a community centre, playing fields and improvements to road and other infrastructure, including the moving of overhead power lines and pylons. Bus services would be provided to other parts of Crawley, and a new railway station (south of its predecessor) would be considered. Although permission was initially refused, several amendments and appeals were made, and in December 2009 the Government permitted another appeal. A decision would then be made by March 2010. Issues relevant to the scheme include aircraft noise (because of the proximity to Gatwick Airport), the possibility of a second runway being built on the south side of the airport, land contamination and housing density. In February 2011, outline planning permission was granted by

Eric Pickles Eric Jack Pickles, Baron Pickles, (born 20 April 1952) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Brentwood and Ongar from 1992 to 2017. He served in David Cameron's Cabinet as Secretary of State for ...

, the Community Secretary, on appeal. Crawley Borough Council adopted the name Forge Wood for the new neighbourhood in December 2013, and construction work started in 2014 along Steers Lane.

Marbles

The game of

has been played in Tinsley Green and the surrounding area for many centuries:

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

magazine traces its origins to 1588. The

British and World Marbles Championship British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

has been held at Tinsley Green's pub, The Greyhound, every year since 1932. Traditionally, the marbles-playing season started on Ash Wednesday and lasted until midday on Good Friday: playing after that brought bad luck. More than 20 teams from around the world take part in the championship, each Good Friday; German teams have been successful several times since 2000, although local teams from Crawley, Copthorne and other Sussex and Surrey villages often take part as well; the first championship in 1932 was won by a team from nearby Hookwood. The pub was rebuilt in its present form in 1936, and permanent rings were installed outside for marbles to be played upon.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{authority control Villages in West Sussex Areas of Crawley