Three Bridges, West Sussex

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Three Bridges
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Three Bridges
Location within West Sussex
OS grid reference TQ285375
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Crawley
Postcode district RH10
Dialling code 01293
Police Sussex
Fire West Sussex
Ambulance South East Coast
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
West Sussex
51°07′02″N0°09′40″W / 51.117101°N 0.161000°W / 51.117101; -0.161000

Three Bridges is one of 14 neighbourhoods within the town of Crawley, in the county of West Sussex in England.

Contents

History

Three Bridges Road, Three Bridges ThreeBridges-mrh12.JPG
Three Bridges Road, Three Bridges

Three Bridges, at first a tiny hamlet, began to grow with the coming of the London and Brighton Railway in 1841. Despite beliefs to the contrary, the village was named, not after rail bridges, but after three much older crossings over streams in the area (River Mole tributaries).

The hamlet became the site of an important railway junction in 1848 with the opening of the branch line to Horsham and thence to Portsmouth. The railway established a motive power depot and marshalling yards to the south of the village. A further branch line to East Grinstead was opened in 1855. [1] The village changed radically with the coming of the New town development in the Crawley area in the late 1940s. [2] Three Bridges was one of the first group of neighbourhoods to be built, by 2020 there were 14 neighbourhoods.

Railway transport

Three Bridges railway station ThreeBridgesRailwayStation-mrh06.JPG
Three Bridges railway station
Rail bridge at Three Bridges station Three bridges station.jpg
Rail bridge at Three Bridges station

Three Bridges railway station is an important junction station where the Arun Valley Line to Portsmouth branches off from the Brighton Main Line that runs between London and Brighton. A third line to East Grinstead closed on 1 January 1967.

A rolling stock depot, Three Bridges depot, was constructed in the early 2010s for the Thameslink rolling stock programme

Three Bridges ROC, the main operating centre for the south east, is also located close to Three Bridges station. [3]

Education

Hazelwick School is a comprehensive school located in Three Bridges. It was opened as a Secondary Modern School in 1953, which became a Comprehensive school in the mid 1960s. It is also (since 1998) designated as a Technology and Humanities College. Hazelwick has over 110 teachers and more than 2100 pupils. Many former school pupils later became famous including Gareth Southgate and Chico Slimani. [4] It also educated two of the controversial Fertilizer Bomb plotters, Omar Khyam and Jawad Akbar who were arrested, charged and imprisoned for life sentences due to Government Home Security surveillance during Operation Crevice.

Primary schools in Three Bridges include Three Bridges Primary School.

Sport

Related Research Articles

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Thameslink is a mainline route on the British railway network, running from Bedford, Luton, St Albans City, Peterborough, Welwyn Garden City, London Blackfriars and Cambridge via central London to Sutton, Orpington, Sevenoaks, Rainham, Horsham, Three Bridges, Brighton and East Grinstead. The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying more than 28,000 passengers in the morning peak. All the services are currently operated by Govia Thameslink Railway. Parts of the network, from Bedford to Three Bridges, run 24 hours a day, except on early Sunday mornings and during maintenance periods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Sussex</span> County of 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 the city of Chichester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crawley</span> Town and borough in West Sussex, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bluebell Railway</span> Heritage railway in England

The Bluebell Railway is an 11 mi (17.7 km) heritage line in West Sussex in England. It is managed by the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society. It uses steam trains which operate between Sheffield Park and East Grinstead, with intermediate stations at Horsted Keynes and Kingscote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Grinstead</span> Town in West Sussex, England

East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, 27 miles (43 km) south of London, 21 miles (34 km) northeast of Brighton, and 38 miles (61 km) northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the northeast of the county, the civil parish has an area of 2,443.45 hectares. The population at the 2011 Census was 26,383.

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Southgate is one of the 14 residential neighbourhoods in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Crawley was planned and laid out as a New Town after the Second World War, based on the principle of self-contained neighbourhoods surrounding a town centre of civic and commercial buildings. Southgate was one of the four in the "inner ring" closest to the town centre, and was intended to be the largest of the nine designed in the original master plan. It was built in two stages between the 1950s and the 1970s, but retains some older buildings from before the New Town era and has "significant areas of pre-New Town character".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London, Brighton and South Coast Railway</span> British pre-grouping railway company

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The Oxted line is a railway in southern England and part of the Southern franchise. The railway splits into two branches towards the south and has direct trains throughout to London termini.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Three Bridges railway station</span> Railway station in West Sussex, England

Three Bridges railway station is located in and named after the village of Three Bridges, which is now a district of the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. It is at the point where the Arun Valley Line diverges from the Brighton Main Line and Thameslink, 29 miles 21 chains (47.1 km) down the line from London Bridge via Redhill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Grinstead railway station</span> Railway station in West Sussex, England

East Grinstead railway station is one of the two southern termini of the Oxted line in the south of England and serves East Grinstead in West Sussex. It is 30 miles 4 chains from London Bridge, although trains mostly run to and from London Victoria. The station is managed by Southern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haywards Heath railway station</span> Railway station in West Sussex, England

Haywards Heath railway station is on the Brighton Main Line in England, serving the town of Haywards Heath, West Sussex. It is 37 miles 59 chains down the line from London Bridge via Redhill and is situated between Balcombe and Wivelsfield. It is managed by Southern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hove railway station</span> Railway station in East Sussex, England

Hove railway station serves Hove, in Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is 50 miles 56 chains (81.6 km) measured from London Victoria. The station and the majority of trains serving it are operated by Southern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazelwick School</span> Secondary academy in Crawley, West Sussex, England

Hazelwick School is a co-educational comprehensive school with academy status for pupils aged 11 to 18, located in Crawley, West Sussex, England. Its alumni include former footballer and England manager Gareth Southgate and comedian Romesh Ranganathan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crawley railway station</span> Railway station in West Sussex, England

Crawley railway station is a railway station serving the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. It is 30 miles 49 chains (49.3 km) down the line from London Bridge, measured via Redhill. It is operated by Southern. The station is the last stop on the Arun Valley Line before it joins the Brighton Main Line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tunbridge Wells West railway station</span> Station in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England

Tunbridge Wells West is a railway station located in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. It is one of two railway stations in Tunbridge Wells constructed by rival companies. The other, Tunbridge Wells Central was opened in 1845 by the South Eastern Railway (SER). Tunbridge Wells West was closed to mainline passenger services in 1985. A new station on part of the site has been opened as a heritage railway line opened in 1996. It stands next to the original engine shed which has been restored to use. The line is called the Spa Valley Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crawley Down</span> Village in West Sussex, England

Crawley Down is a village in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. There is one church, one school, and a number of social groups. It lies 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Crawley and 7 miles (11 km) east of Gatwick Airport. Crawley Down lies in the northeast corner of West Sussex, just one mile from the border with Surrey.

The Three Bridges–Tunbridge Wells line is a mostly disused railway line running from Three Bridges in West Sussex to Tunbridge Wells Central in Kent via East Grinstead in West Sussex, a distance of 20 miles 74 chains (33.7 km). Opened in 1855, the main section of the line was a casualty of the Beeching Axe – the last train ran on 1 January 1967. The remaining section to Tunbridge Wells closed on 6 July 1985, although the section between Groombridge and Tunbridge Wells West was reopened in 1997 under the auspices of the Spa Valley Railway.

The Steyning Line was a railway branch line that connected the West Sussex market town of Horsham with the port of Shoreham-by-Sea, with connections to Brighton. It was built by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, and opened in 1861. It was 20 miles in length. It followed the course of the River Adur for much of its extent and was alternatively known as the Adur Valley Line.

References

  1. "Disused Stations: Three Bridges Station". disused-stations.org.uk. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  2. "History of Crawley | Crawley GOV". crawley.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  3. "Rail operating centre officially opened in Three Bridges". Network Rail Media Centre. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  4. Donnelly, Luke (21 November 2022). "Gareth Southgate's Sussex school life where he played football with music star". sussexlive. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  5. "Crawley Hockey Club home page". www.crawleyhockey.org.uk.