WHERE’S THE QUEEN? When I was young I saw the Queen,Opening a building new and clean.I thought she’d be in royal gown,With jewels and sceptre, wearing crown,Like the queens in all my books;I expected Royal looks.The crowd were cheering; “Hip hooray!Oh, this is a lovely day!”Mum, excited, “There’s she is!”I…
(Written by Graham Crozier, 2020)Photograph of South Side of Crawley High Street, from Crawley Museum’s Collection. Date unknownThe Victorian period witnessed the commercial expansion of Crawley and one of the key figures in that process was Frederick Russell, the proprietor of Russell’s Emporium in the High Street.Frederick Russell was born…
In these strange and unprecedented times, local author Renny Richardson is offering a free of charge electronic version of his first book via Crawley Museum. All the Bright Company of Heaven, first published in 2011, and long out of print tells the story of another dark time in Crawley’s history…
(Written by Graham Crozier, 2019) Painting of the Rent Strike from Crawley Museum’s collection. Painted by J.E. Fuller, 1955, Crawley. 90cm x 78cm. The Rent Strike of October 1955 has all but disappeared from the awareness of people living in Crawley today. However, it can be seen as representing an…
The Old Toll House in Northgate was near the entrance to what is now Ifield Drive, at the junction with the High Street. As well as a photograph of it, we’ve recently been donated a watercolor painting, presumably based on the photo. There is no artist’s name on the painting.…
West Green C of E School 1824-1955 The school was started for the poor of Crawley and Ifield for eighty boys and forty girls by Sarah Robinson but it very soon had more children as time went on. My mother attended this school from 1905 until leaving in 1912 along…
