The night my father met John Haigh, the acid bath murderer. Broadfield House is a Georgian mansion built in the early 1800s. It is situated on what was once the main London to Brighton Road (A23) just south of Crawley. A long drive leads up to the house, crossing Broadfield…
A Business Opportunity Brighton Pavilion was built and Queen Victoria went to visit. She stopped overnight at The George Hotel. The owner rubbed his hands with glee. Frequent visits to Brighton meant regular overnight stays at his hotel. He immediately went and bought all the flowers on the market.…
FOR LAURA From the corner of the road I watched you turn into the station One of many men to go Heroes of our nation. Everywhere the talk was Of the Kaiser’s million extra men I saw you board the train Not knowing when you’d come back again. You were…
“I do not like thee, Doctor Fell , The reason why – I cannot tell ; But this I know , and know full well, I do not like thee, Doctor Fell”. Sometimes members of a family meet and the talk turns to their memories. On one such occasion I…
Fields The old man started with the sentence, “When I was a child, all of this was fields.” It was a line that had been spun many times by many people over the years as they tried to explain how much their locality had changed since their youth. Most of…
Thumbs Up World are a wonderful organisation. They designed our children’s guide books, and also sit on our community panel. They’ve asked us to share the following message: ““My message to you”..creating a community message of hope. Please do share this we can get as many messages as possible ?. We…
Portrait of Kenneth Mitchell, year unknown. CWSCM:2019/4880.157.13 Charles Kenneth Mitchell was born 1st October 1889 to parents Charles James and Sarah Blanch Mitchell. He had one sister; Blanche Mary who was 4 years older. Charles senior worked as the Postmaster for Crawley while the family lived in locally at 24…
Here’s another object from our stores. If you were writing a label for it what would you put on it? Suggestions from our social media followers include: “It probably would say the best cider you can get here in Crawley where our orchards used to be our town.” “Take a…
Crawley Museum shut its doors to the public in March this year due to Covid-19. The staff have been working behind the scenes, creating new website and exhibition content. We particularly like sharing memories of Crawley from local residents and would love to hear from anyone who would like their…
Poetry in Lotion A woman, her face caged, epee in hand. Crimson lipsticked mouth, black liner eyes. Men in suits, in the background, watching her. A highly erotic image in the archive of Crawley Museum. Fencing is a sweaty business, the photo cannot be true. But I love it, and…
