Colgate is a small

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

and

civil parish In England, 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, w ...

in the

Horsham Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

district of

West Sussex, England West Sussex 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 t ...

, about four miles (6 km) north east of

. A small village, with its origins at the northern edge of St. Leonards Forest, it has no shops or retail facilities. There is a

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

"The Dragon", and a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

and a small

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, which in 2012 received a Good report rating from

OFSTED The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

. There is a range of architectural styles in the village, with houses present from several different design eras. In the late twentieth century there were some small developments of new houses in the centre of the village. Nearby settlements include villages of a similar size, architectural design, layout, and administrative status in Faygate and

Pease Pottage Pease Pottage is a village in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the southern edge of the Crawley built-up area, in the civil parish of Slaugham. The village has a motorway service station, named after the villag ...

, and the village is located close to the towns of both Horsham and

Crawley Crawley () is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a populat ...

History

The area is associated with the

Wealden iron industry The Wealden iron industry was located in the Weald of south-eastern England. It was formerly an important industry, producing a large proportion of the wrought iron, bar iron made in England in the 16th century and most British cannon until abou ...

, and ''Col'' possibly refers to charcoal burners. Many hammer ponds are still visible within the parish. The ''Gate'' is thought to refer to an entrance to the historically much larger

St Leonards Forest St Leonard's Forest is at the western end of the Wealden Forest Ridge which runs from Horsham to Tonbridge, and is part of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It lies on the ridge to the south of the A264 between Horsham and Cra ...

. The centre of the village was dominated by the Red Cedar Farm and Colgate House. Over the road to the north was Black Hill wood, part of the traditional St Leonards Forest that no longer exists. In 1887 the ecclesiastical parish, for which the living benefice was a vicarage of a small Early English style Victorian church was subordinated by the larger civil parish of Horsham and Beeding thanks to the local government reorganization of 1885. The population at the time was 485. Twelve sons of Colgate were killed in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. During the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

the village was bombed by the Nazis and four people were killed. And a total of seven sons were killed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Furthermore, five deaths occurred during the conflict among villagers serving in the Civil Defences that would have included the Home Guard.Roll of Honour - Colgate
/ref>

Notes

References

External links

Colgate Primary SchoolHall-Woodhouse BreweryColgate OS
Date accessed: 30 December 2015 Horsham District Villages in West Sussex Infobox teamplates {{authority control