A Wander To The Watermill
It wasn’t a planned outing, Helen had gone to her mum’s and was meeting friends for dinner later. I’d done a bit of decorating, and it looked OK outside weather wise, so I put some trainers on and tightened the belt to walking mode and headed out, camera in hand.
I decided I was going to make my way to Ifield Watermill for the open day, but I wasn’t going to go the direct route. Instead I cut through the park at the back of the house out onto Malthouse Road, and past the locally listed buildings there.
It would seem the council town planners have run out of imagination, and definitely aren’t channelling the spirit of John Goepel in the naming of the road for the new houses behind Southgate Road. Yes, they were built in what had been gardens of house on Southgate Road, but calling them Southgate Road Gardens shows a real lack of imagination.
I carried on, crossing Brighton Road near the locally listed Park Lodge,
up Perryfield Road and through to West Street in the West Street / Brighton Road conservation area.
Before crossing over the railway,
and going up Albany Road, catching the blue plaque as I did so.
I wandered happily through West Green and through the underpass at Crawley Avenue onto The Mardens. The Elim Church Crawley on the corner of Ifield Drive and The Mardens was one of the few I hadn’t taken pictures of in the last year or so. It had used to be the Trinity United Reformed Church, but they left to join with the Pound Hill congregation, and the Elim congregation moved to this church from their former church in Langley Green, which now houses the Noor Ahmadiyya Mosque.
Then my next destination was to see what I could see of Ewhurst Place, one of the former moated houses of Crawley, and a Grade II* listed building. One you only get glimpses of from Ifield Drive. It is well protected all around by the houses on Ifield Drive, Ardingly Close and Climping Road; the latter’s garages offer the best views. There is no view at all of the Grade II listed bridge over the moat in the grounds.
I traipsed around the winding streets between Ifield Drive and Warren Drive taking pictures of all the street signs; ones named after Sussex villages, a theme that carries on all the way up to Ifield train station. One of which was Midhurst Close, the last of those roads with a name that is also the site of a castle in Sussex. There were a number of stragglers to go with the main set in Pound Hill.
Opposite here is Deerswood Court, locally listed flats set in the old grounds of Deerswood Farm, a pre-Tudor mansion demolished in the 1950’s.
And next to it is Ifield Community Centre, used as a place of worship by The Salvation Army and the Powerhouse Revival Centre.
Crossing over Warren Drive I come to Ifield Parade, one I’ve passed a few times, but somehow it doesn’t seem as big as I remember and wonder whether I just have Tilgate Parade embedded in my mind.
I stop to get a soft drink. It’s actually a lot hotter than it had looked when I left the house and I’m quite warm and feeling a bit lobster like. I check my phone to find Helen’s dinner had been cancelled, and so arrange to meet her at the Watermill.
What is now closer to being a trudge than a walk continues. I pass the Pelham Buckle
before cutting through to the Rusper Road to make my way along to the Watermill. In doing so I pass (and photograph) several Grade II listed buildings. The first of which is Turks Croft.
Then there is Brook Cottage.
This section of Rusper Road has a lot of nice houses and the road isn’t too busy at this time, but there is the danger that proposed housing in the vicinity could change that. (Plus, I’ve never had to walk along here during rush hour when it’s the only road in and out of Ifield West.)
I get to the car park for the Watermill ahead of Helen, and so I take the opportunity to get a couple of photos of the Grade II listed Ifield Watermill, and the privately-owned Grade II listed Ifield Mill House.
We had a good visit to the Watermill, which I’ve written about separately, and then I was glad to get a lift home as it was far too warm to walk all the way back again.
