Furnace Green is one of 14

neighbourhoods A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

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 ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, 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 Cr ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and a local government ward. Furnace Green is located to the east of the town centre. It is bordered by

Tilgate Tilgate is one of 14 neighbourhoods within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. The area contains a mixture of privately developed housing, self-build groups and ex-council housing. It is bordered by the districts of Furnace Green to the ...

to the south west, Three Bridges to the north and Maidenbower to the east (on the other side of the London-Brighton railway line and linked by two pedestrian tunnels). The name Furnace Green is a reference to the

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

smelting which is reputed to have taken place in

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times - the local

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

is the Charcoal Burner. Like much of Crawley, the street naming is themed i.e. different areas are linked by associated names. There are racecourses – including Newmarket, Fontwell and others, forests - including Arden, Savernake and Epping, references to

The Broads The Broads (known for marketing purposes as The Broads National Park) is a network of mostly navigable rivers and lakes in the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Although the terms "Norfolk Broads" and "Suffolk Broads" are correctly used ...

- including Waveney, Oulton, Norwich, and Yarmouth. There are also references to the iron industry - Coltash Road, Weald Drive, and the name Feroners Close also recalls the iron smelting.

Crawley New Town

With the creation of Crawley New Town in 1947 the Tilgate East area was reserved for housing. It was proposed to use this area for around 1000 houses because of the expansion of Crawley. The area was renamed ''Furnace Green'' after a farm in the area. Work started in 1960 and carried on into the 1980s. Furnace Green had a population of 6737 in 1981.

Features

There is a Nature Reserve and flood plain named Waterlea Meadow lying between Norwich Road and Waterlea. It is split by a meandering stream and has several ponds and footpaths. The stream is largely fed from the lake at Tilgate Park and in times of heavy rain often overflows onto the paths. National Cycle Route 20 passes through Furnace Green, entering via Tilgate Drive from Three Bridges, to the north, at the point where it passes over the Horsham railway line and continuing south into Tilgate Forest en route for

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

. Part of it also forms a section of the Avenue Verte (Greenway) long-distance cycling route from London to Paris which branches off towards

East Grinstead East Grinstead () is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the northeast corner of the county, bord ...

via the

Worth Way The Worth Way is a footpath and bridleway linking the West Sussex towns of Crawley and East Grinstead via the village of Crawley Down. Mostly following the trackbed of a disused railway the path is an important wildlife corridor. It is part of ...

as part of NCR 21. Crawley's only full scale theatre is located on the northern edge of Furnace Green. The Hawth takes its name from the large area of woodland to its rear.

Health

Primary Care in Furnace Green is served by the GP practice in The Glade.

References

* Elrington, C.R (editor) (1987) ''The Victoria History of the County of Sussex'' (Vol IV, Part 3) Oxford University Press. * Gwynne, Peter. (1990) ''A History of Crawley'' (2nd Edition) Philmore. Neighbourhoods in Crawley {{WestSussex-geo-stub