Description

By Jean Shelley

Memories of a village demolished as Gatwick Airport grew have resurfaced as campaigners fight plans for a 2nd Gatwick runway. Lowfield Heath disappeared in the 1970s after the Gatwick Aerodrome expanded into an international airport from the 1950s onwards. Today the only buildings that remain of the village are its windmill and Grade II* listed church. The windmill was moved, but the church still stands – surrounded by industrial estates. In the church is a plaque commemorating a reunion in 1989 of “those who formed the village community at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and whose homes and village were subsequently displaced by Gatwick international airport”. The sad fate of Lowfield Heath is a “salutary reminder” of what can happen to a village next to an airport determined to expand. It was once a nice little community with a cricket club, a school, and a WI. After the present Gatwick runway was built in 1958, people remained in Lowfield Heath because of a lack of compensation, but life became intolerable by the 1970s because of the noise of airport jets. But then, in 1973, the area became an industrial development zone, so residents could sell their homes at “a large price” for warehousing and hangars. So they moved away.

Reproduction copy

Paperback. 44 pages. 54 photographs, drawings, and maps