It has its own economy that comprises business parks and a shopping centre with a long high street. Because of its position, it has good commuter links to London and other surrounding towns, with good rail links at the railway station and bus services at the bus station.
Toponymy
The first written record of Horley is a charter from the late-12th century, in which it appears as Horle. In 1203, it is recorded as Horleg and in 1219 as Horlei.[3] In the 13th century, it appears as Horleia,[4]Hornle and Hornly, and in 1428 as Horneele.[3] The second half of the name, –ley, derives from Old English: leah meaning a woodland or clearing. The first part may indicate ownership by a person called "Horne" or that the land was horn-shaped.[3][4]
History
In the past the Weald was a densely forested and water-logged clay area. During Saxon times, the Manor of Horley came under the control of the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter at Chertsey. In the Domesday Book of 1086, the Manor was within the hundred known as Cherchefelle which in 1199 became known as Reigate. The Manor passed to Henry VIII on the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 and changed hands several times during the next sixty years.
A gold quarter noble coin of Edward III, dating from c.1363– c.1369, found in Horley in 2011
In 1602 it became the property of Christ's Hospital in London and the original map of the manor is now held at the Guildhall in the City of London. This shows that Horley consisted of three hamlets around a huge open common. One was around the area occupied by St Bartholomew's Church and the Six Bells public house; another by the River Mole and the third in Horley Row where some of Horley's oldest buildings can still be seen.
The Common was enclosed in 1816, new roads were laid and the intervening land was sold. In 1809 and later in 1816, two turnpikes were introduced to allow the operation of regular coach services from London to Brighton. The railway was laid in 1841 and a station was built in the town. From that position, and from that date, Horley grew at a slow rate until 1950. Since then its population has doubled as it became a dormitory town for London commuters.[7]
From 1904 until 1909 the Horley Motor & Engineering Co. manufactured cars and vans at their premises on Balcombe road. These were reportedly sold as Horley and No Name.
In 1908 the first scout patrol, the Pewit Patrol, was established. After gaining members this patrol formed the 1st Horley Scout Group. In 2006 1st Horley merged with 2nd Horley due to a lack of leaders. Notably Robert Baden-Powell was briefly a resident of Horley. When he left for Kenya in 1938 he gifted a Malayan basket and autographed photograph of himself to the Scouts Horley District.[8][9]
Map of Horley from 1946
The Local Government Act 1972 changed the boundary of Surrey and West Sussex and placed Horley, Gatwick and Charlwood in West Sussex. The removal of Gatwick Airport and the surrounding area from Surrey into West Sussex met some fierce local opposition with the result that the parishes of Horley and Charlwood were subsequently returned to Surrey in the eponymous Charlwood and Horley Act 1974, leaving the airport to stay in West Sussex.
The Horley Master Plan, approved by Reigate & Banstead Borough Council in February 2005, permits almost 2,600 new homes to be built.[10] This prompted immediate controversy as the area as with most of non-metropolitan Surrey, i.e. since its reduction in 1974, is Metropolitan Green Belt however is permitted where in pursuance with the local plan, and meeting national criteria including demonstrating environmental sustainability and upholding the character of existing localities.
Horley is part of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead, but also has a town council. The Town Mayor and Chairman of the Town Council for the year 2023-24 is Residents' Association Independent Councillor Martin Saunders.[12] In May 2016, the Conservative-led town council elected David Jackson as deputy mayor, even though he was at the time on bail and under investigation for sexually and indecently assaulting girls under the age of thirteen; he was subsequently convicted.[13][14]
The proportion of households in the civil parish who owned their home outright compares to the regional average of 35.1%. The proportion who owned their home with a loan compares to the regional average of 32.5%. The remaining% is made up of rented dwellings (plus a negligible% of households living rent-free).
There has been a substantial increase in housing and population since 2011, including the large new development at Westvale Park north west of the town centre.
Economy
At one time the airline Dan-Air had its head office in the now demolished Newman House in Horley.[19]
From 1947 until 1955, Horley was home to the Wade Engineering Ltd, who made Wade superchargers. Horley was also home to the Matbro works which produced forklift trucks from the 1950s to the 1980s and pioneered telescopic handlers.[citation needed] The bright yellow Teleram 40 and Teleram C machines were very popular with farmers and construction companies.
Today, about a third of the population work locally, while another third commute south to Gatwick and Crawley, and the final third travel further to London, Redhill and Reigate.[21]
Culture and the arts
Entrance to the Archway Theatre, Horley, Surrey, UK.
Horley is home to the Archway Theatre under the arches of the Victoria Road railway bridge. It consists of a bar, auditorium, studio theatre and rehearsal rooms. The main auditorium seats 95 and the studio seats 40. The company presents 10 full productions each year as well as a number of studio events and youth productions.[22]
Transport
Horley is served by Metrobus and Southdown bus routes connecting with Redhill, Three Bridges, Crawley, East Grinstead, Caterham and Gatwick Airport, as well as the outlying villages of Charlwood and Smallfield.[23]
Local radio stations are BBC Radio Surrey on 104.0 FM, Heart South on 102.7 FM, and SUSY Radio, a community based station which broadcast on 103.4 FM. [26]
The town is served by the local newspaper, Redhill, Reigate And Horley Life. [27]
All the local schools are part of the Horley Learning Partnership,[29] a local educational confederation which enables schools to develop a range of shared services. It also runs the Horley SureStart centre.
Crawley is a town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is 28 miles (45 km) south of London, 18 miles (29 km) north of Brighton and Hove, and 32 miles (51 km) north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of 17.36 square miles (44.96 km2) and had a population of 118,493 at the time of the 2021 Census.
Reigate and Banstead is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Reigate and the borough also includes the towns of Banstead, Horley and Redhill. Parts of the borough are within the Surrey Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Northern parts of the borough, including Banstead, lie inside the M25 motorway which encircles London.
Reigate is a town in Surrey, England, around 19 miles (30 km) south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as Cherchefelle and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earliest archaeological evidence for human activity is from the Paleolithic and Neolithic, and during the Roman period, tile-making took place to the north east of the modern centre.
Redhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead within the county of Surrey, England. The town, which adjoins the town of Reigate to the west, is due south of Croydon in Greater London, and is part of the London commuter belt. The town is also the post town, entertainment and commercial area of three adjoining communities : Merstham, Earlswood and Whitebushes, as well as of two small rural villages to the east in the Tandridge District, Bletchingley and Nutfield.
Mole Valley is a local government district in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Dorking, and the district's other town is Leatherhead. The largest villages are Ashtead, Fetcham and Great Bookham, in the northern third of the district.
Fastway is a bus rapid transit network in Surrey and West Sussex, United Kingdom, linking Crawley with Gatwick Airport and Horley, the first to be constructed outside a major city. It uses specially adapted buses that can either be steered by the driver or operate as "self steering" guided buses along a specially constructed track. Fastway is operated by Metrobus, using Scania OmniCity, Wright StreetLite, Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse 2 and Wright GB Kite Hydroliner buses.
Charlwood is a village and civil parish in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England. It is immediately north-west of London Gatwick Airport in West Sussex, close west of Horley and north of Crawley. The historic county boundary between Surrey and Sussex ran to the south of Gatwick Airport. Boundaries were reformed in 1974 so that the county boundary between Surrey and West Sussex, delineated by the Sussex Border Path, now runs along the northern perimeter of the airport, and the southern extent of Charlwood.
Reigate is a constituency in Surrey represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Rebecca Paul, of the Conservative Party.
Earlswood is a suburb of Redhill in Surrey, England, which lies on the A23 between Redhill and Horley. Earlswood Common is a local nature reserve that separates the suburb from the southern outskirts of Reigate and has two lakes and picnic areas. Earlswood station is on the Brighton Main Line. To the east of the line are Royal Earlswood Park, the East Surrey Hospital and Whitebushes.
The Charlwood and Horley Act 1974 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that amended the Local Government Act 1972 to move the village of Charlwood and the town of Horley from West Sussex to Surrey.
The RH postcode area, also known as the Redhill postcode area, is a group of twenty postcode districts in South East England, within seventeen post towns. These cover east Surrey and northeastern West Sussex plus small parts of northwestern East Sussex.
Salfords and Sidlow is a civil parish in the Reigate and Banstead borough of Surrey, England. It has a population of 3,069. The parish includes the villages of Salfords and Sidlow.
Reigate was a hundred in the historic county of Surrey, England. It was geographically consonant with the southern two thirds of the current Borough of Reigate and Banstead together with two parishes in Tandridge and fractions of former parishes in the London Borough of Croydon and Borough of Crawley, West Sussex. Accordingly, it included the medieval-established town of Reigate with its motte castle and land which became the towns of Redhill and Horley.
St Michael and All Angels Church is a church in Lowfield Heath, a depopulated former village in the Borough of Crawley, West Sussex, England. Built by the Gothic Revival architect William Burges in 1867 to serve the village, it declined in importance as Lowfield Heath was gradually appropriated for the expansion of London Gatwick Airport and of its related development. The last Anglican service was held there in 2004, but the church reopened in 2008 as a Seventh-day Adventist place of worship. The building has Grade II* listed status, which identifies it as a "particularly important building of more than special interest" and of national importance. It is also the only building remaining in the former village from the era before the airport existed: every other structure was demolished, and the church now stands among warehouses, depots and light industrial units.
Lowfield Heath is a former village within the boundaries of the Borough of Crawley, West Sussex, England. Situated on the main London to Brighton road approximately 27 miles (43 km) south of London and 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Crawley, it was gradually rendered uninhabitable by the expansion of London Gatwick Airport immediately to the north.
Crawley Borough Council is the local authority for Crawley in West Sussex, England. It consists of 36 councillors and is currently controlled by the Labour Party, led by Michael Jones. The administrative headquarters are at Crawley Town Hall.
Fernhill is a hamlet close to Gatwick Airport in West Sussex, England. Its fields and farmhouses formerly straddled the county boundary between Surrey and West Sussex, but since 1990 the whole area has been part of the county of West Sussex and the borough of Crawley. Fernhill is bounded on three sides by motorways and the airport. A fatal aeroplane crash occurred here in 1969.
Forge Wood is the 14th residential neighbourhood in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex. The 1,900 houses and other facilities will be built on open land in the northeast of the borough, adjoining the ancient village of Tinsley Green and to the north of the Pound Hill neighbourhood.
↑ Barbarian, Lydie; Sutherland, Steve; Smith, Robert (1988). The Cure: Ten Imaginary Years. London: Zomba Books. p.121. ISBN0-946391-87-4. OCLC59918838.
Places listed are articles notable as settlements, arranged by post town The two principal towns are emboldened The M23 motorway follows approximately a boundary and is chiefly included for its regional importance.
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