ECONOMIC HISTORY.
Agriculture.
No demesne ploughteams and only one tenants' team,
belonging to 5 villani and 4 bordars, were recorded
in 1086 on Ifield manor. (fn. 53) Assarting from waste land
or woodland is presumably reflected in the parish name, and in farm names like Amberley, Langley,
and Deerswood. (fn. 54) Future assarts were envisaged at
the endowment of the vicarage in 1247. (fn. 55) There is
no certain evidence for the existence of open fields in the parish. (fn. 56) The ninth of sheaves was worth sixteen times those of lambs and fleeces in 1340, but at
that date the inhabitants were said to subsist only by great labour (multis laboribus). Hemp, flax, and fruit
were then grown, cattle, pigs, and geese raised, and bees kept. (fn. 57) Goffs Park (fn. 58) and the 19th-century
Bonnets (fn. 59) farm preserve medieval surnames recorded in the parish; the name Stumbleholm, recorded from 1448, may express contempt for a
decrepit or inconsiderable holding. (fn. 60) Common pasture mentioned near Deerswood in the Middle Ages (fn. 61)
was probably Ifield green; there may then have been
other common pasture too, as later. There was
demesne meadow on Ifield manor in 1086, (fn. 62) and on
Rusper priory's land in 1341; (fn. 63) it lay presumably
along the river Mole and its tributaries.
Between the 16th century and the mid 19th there
were freehold tenements of Ifield (fn. 64) and Prestwood
manors. (fn. 65) The former lay partly around the village (fn. 66)
and partly in the south and south-west, and also
included the George inn in Crawley. (fn. 67) In 1739 c. 25
tenants of the manor held c. 27 tenements. (fn. 68) At least
one tenement granted from the waste in the earlier
19th century was copyhold. (fn. 69) Tenements of Prestwood lay in the north and west, (fn. 70) and extended into
Charlwood and Newdigate in Surrey. (fn. 71) It is not clear
whether the tenants of John Fenner, lord of Bonwicks manor, listed in 1566 (fn. 72) were manorial tenants
or lessees of demesne land. Only one other reference
has been found to land held of Bonwicks. (fn. 73) Land in
the parish was also held of manors outside it, namely
Horley (Surr.) or Wykeland in Charlwood (Surr.), (fn. 74)
Shiremark in Charlwood, (fn. 75) Crawley, (fn. 76) Slaugham, of
which land south of Crawley village was held, (fn. 77)
Knepp in Shipley, (fn. 78) Southwick, of which Goffs farm
was held by service of collecting rents of the manor,
presumably in the Weald, (fn. 79) and Denne in Warnham,
of which Stumbleholm farm, otherwise Sandfield,
and other lands were held. (fn. 80) The Ifield manor
demesne was mentioned in 1532; (fn. 81) about the same
date the rectory was being leased, (fn. 82) as was the
demesne of Prestwood in the 1570s and 1580s. (fn. 83)
Bonwicks manor demesne in 1566 was said to comprise 320 a. in Ifield and Rusper. (fn. 84)
Buckswood farm, on the edge of the high uninclosed land of St. Leonard's Forest, existed by
1649, (fn. 85) and Ifield park on the northern edge of the
parish had been divided into three farms by 1687. (fn. 86)
Wheat and summer corn were grown in the earlier
18th century, (fn. 87) and c. 1800 it was said that 16 or
18 bu. of wheat, 24 bu. of oats, and 16 bu. of peas
were raised to the acre. More oats than wheat were
grown in 1801. (fn. 88) In 1841 the soil was described as
cold and stiff, generally low-lying and wet; nevertheless 2,800 a. were then estimated to be under
cultivation, as against 948 a. of meadow, pasture, and
common land. There were 5 a. of hops in 1847. (fn. 89) A
grazier was mentioned in the parish in 1666. (fn. 90)
Another parishioner in 1670 had c. 100 sheep, and in
1701 the miller at Ifield water mill kept sheep, cattle,
and pigs. (fn. 91) In 1801 there were listed in the parish
375 cattle, including draught oxen, 516 sheep, and
321 pigs. (fn. 92) Pastoral farming was little practised in
1841; few cattle were then bred in the parish, and
very few sheep fattened, the only other livestock,
besides working cattle, being lambs taken in for
winter keep. (fn. 93)
Prestwood common on Prestwood manor was
mentioned in 1636. (fn. 94) From c. 1661 John Fenner and
three others were to have common rights there from
Michaelmas to Martinmas (11 November) only. (fn. 95)
By 1717 only one commoner, Richard Arnold, remained, with the right to pasture at least 12 beasts;
in that year, however, the common was divided between him and the lord of the manor Thomas
Arnold, Thomas having 90 a. on the south side, and
Richard 60 a. on the north. (fn. 96) Ifield green, otherwise
Church field, was commonable in 1636, (fn. 97) and Ifield
wood was described as a common in 1687. (fn. 98) Mention was made in 1761 of the east and west commons
of Ifield manor, (fn. 99) perhaps Ifield green and Ifield
wood respectively, since the latter was later described as Westwood common. (fn. 1) Lowfield heath was
also commonable in 1761 by the manor tenants, who
together with the demesne lessees were forbidden at
that date to put more animals in summer there and
on Ifield green than they could keep on their holdings in winter. (fn. 2) About 1840 Ifield wood comprised
76 a., Ifield green 43 a., and the portion of Lowfield
heath within the parish 14 a. (fn. 3) Other commons of
the manor mentioned from the later 18th century
were West, Goose, Soutons, Gossops, and Langley
greens. (fn. 4)
Various encroachments on the commons were
made in the later 18th century and early 19th, some
illegally; (fn. 5) they included arable closes on the southern
edges of Ifield green and Lowfield heath, cottages
and a windmill built on Ifield green, and three island
inclosures within Ifield wood. (fn. 6) Illegal encroachments were ordered to be thrown open in the
1840s. (fn. 7) In 1855 all the commons and roadside waste
of Ifield manor, except for Ifield wood, were inclosed. After sales of land to pay expenses, the lords
received 11 a. on Ifield green, to be used only as
sheep pasture and for recreation, and 34 a. besides;
22 other tenants, including the vicar, received allotments of up to 10 a. The parish officers received 1 a.
on Ifield green and the triangular site later occupied
by St. Peter's church at West Green as allotments
for the labouring poor. (fn. 8) A cottage with 7 a. at the
north-west corner of Ifield wood had the right to
pasture 16 bullocks or 8 horses there in 1864, (fn. 9) and
pasture rights were still exercised in the later 19th
or earlier 20th century. (fn. 10) Ifield wood was registered
as a common in 1967 and 1969, but had ceased to be
grazed by cattle before 1986. Ifield green was
registered as a village green in 1980, when it belonged to Crawley borough council. (fn. 11)
In 1844 there were 27 farms over 40 a. in area, of
which 16 were over 100 a. The largest landowner
was the Rodney estate (1,364 a.), which had six large
farms, all tenanted: Ifield Court farm of 411 a., and
five others of between 140 a. and 240 a. The only
other farm over 300 a. was the Bonwicks manor
home farm. Only one farm over 40 a. was then in
hand. (fn. 12) Landowning in the parish was consolidated
between 1844 and 1867, when the Rodney estate had
c. 1,700 a. and there were said to be only eight or
nine other landowners; by then there were only c.
20 farms over 30 a. in area, including 'three or four'
of between 300 a. and 500 a. (fn. 13) Nineteen holdings out
of 82 listed in 1909 were over 50 a., more land being
rented than in owner occupation. (fn. 14) There were five
farms in the parish over 150 a. in area in 1938. (fn. 15) In
1943 the Ifield manor estate comprised 1,268 a., or
most of the west half of the parish; its seven farms
were all let, the largest being Ifield Court and Park
House farms, of 261 a. and 173 a. respectively. (fn. 16)
Little Prestwood farm in 1864 was said to have
been largely underdrained within the last few years,
but was then offered for sale for sport as well as
agriculture. (fn. 17) In 1867 the parish produced an average
of 6 or 7 sacks of wheat an acre. (fn. 18) In 1875 there was
more arable than pasture, the chief crops being
wheat and oats, and sheep being more numerous
than cattle. By 1909, however, more than half the
parish was permanent pasture, chiefly for cattle. (fn. 19)
Ifield Court farm was a dairy farm by 1904, (fn. 20) as was
Ginhams farm south-east of Ifield village by 1910. (fn. 21)
Ewhurst Place farm had a large dairy herd in 1932, (fn. 22)
and in 1943 all seven farms on the Ifield manor
estate were down to grass, chiefly for dairying. (fn. 23) A
breeder of Jersey and Guernsey cattle and of horses
was mentioned in 1938. (fn. 24) Pastoral farming remained
predominant in the rural part of the parish in
1985.
Market gardening was also carried on from the
later 19th century. There were 9 a. of orchards in
1875, and by 1909 there were 65 a. of orchards and
41 a. of small fruit. (fn. 25) Ifield Nursery, south-east of
Ifield station, existed by 1903, growing cucumbers
and tomatoes, and survived in 1960. Robert Neal of
Bonnets Nursery on the Surrey border was described
in 1905 as nurseryman, seedsman, florist, and landscape gardener; the nursery still existed in 1946.
There were other nurseries at Langley Green and
elsewhere in the parish on the outskirts of Crawley
town; the biggest nursery in the area, however, that
of J. Cheal and Sons, lay just over the Surrey
border. (fn. 26) The Crawley Beauty apple was first grown
at Martyr's Farm north of Crawley town in Ifield
parish. (fn. 27) There were four poultry farmers in the
parish in 1913. (fn. 28)
Mills.
A mill perhaps on Ewhurst Place farm was
recorded in 1273, (fn. 29) and mill tithes were mentioned
in 1247 (fn. 30) and 1341. (fn. 31)
Ifield water mill, succeeding the ironworks in the
south part of the parish, (fn. 32) was apparently built in
1683 by Thomas Middleton. (fn. 33) Members of the
Quaker family of Garton were millers in the later
17th and earlier 18th centuries; William Garton (d.
c. 1701) farmed both in Ifield and at Bewbush in
Lower Beeding, and had a house with at least 12
rooms. (fn. 34) The present weatherboarded mill building
is late 18th- or early 19th-century; there is no
evidence for the traditional date of 1817, (fn. 35) and it is
more likely to have been the new mill that could
supply 16 sacks of flour a day in 1801. (fn. 36) A steam
engine is said to have been installed by 1835; (fn. 37)
steam as well as water power was used in the early
20th century, and in 1922 the occupiers were also
corn, oilcake, and offal merchants, and dealers in hay
and straw. The mill seems to have ceased working in
the late 1920s. (fn. 38) It was bought in 1974 by Crawley
borough council and afterwards restored, (fn. 39) machinery from a mill near Burgess Hill being inserted. (fn. 40)
In 1983 it was leased to the Crawley museum
society. (fn. 41)
Two other millers in the parish besides the occupant of the water mill were recorded in 1818 and
1821. (fn. 42) The field name Windmill field recorded c.
1840 north-west of Langley green (fn. 43) may indicate the
site of the mill worked by one of them. A portion of
Ifield green was granted before 1837 to James
Bristow, miller and farmer, who by then had built a
windmill on it. (fn. 44) A steam engine had been added by
1855. (fn. 45) The Wood family, at one time of Ifield Court
farm, operated the mill in the late 19th and early
20th centuries. (fn. 46) The upper part of the windmill was
dismantled in 1898, (fn. 47) and in 1928 the steam engine
was acquired by the Science Museum; (fn. 48) in 1985 it
was on permanent loan in Berlin. (fn. 49) The mill building was converted before 1965 for a youth club. (fn. 50)
Markets and fairs.
The market at Crawley recorded from 1202, when it was on Wednesdays, and
the fair recorded from 1279 (fn. 51) were evidently held in
the wide High Street, like the two later fairs which
flourished between the late 18th and early 20th centuries. (fn. 52) About 1900 cattle were sold at the south end
of the town near the station, and horses north of the
George hotel; there was also a pleasure fair, held at
the north end of the town and in the adjacent Town
mead. (fn. 53) As a result of the great increase in road
traffic in the early 20th century the fair was removed
to adjacent fields apparently in Ifield Road in the
1920s, (fn. 54) and was discontinued soon afterwards. By
1929 there was an auction market on alternate Fridays which occupied 650 sq. yd., mostly uncovered,
apparently on the west side of High Street; dairy
produce, fruit, vegetables, and poultry were sold. (fn. 55)
Ironworking.
The site of a medieval bloomery
north-east of Stumbleholm Farm is indicated by
field names and by cinder of a primitive type found
there. (fn. 56) Two ironworkers were living in Crawley
vill, possibly in Ifield parish, in 1379. (fn. 57) Ironstone
was dug in the south and west, for instance at Hyde
Hill, in large quantities. (fn. 58) There were both a forge
and a furnace at Ifield in the later 16th or early 17th
century, but their history is problematical since the
furnace at Bewbush in Lower Beeding 2/3 mile upstream was also called Ifield furnace. (fn. 59) The furnace
leased by Thomas Ilman c. 1567, however, was certainly in Ifield; in 1568 he mortgaged it to Roger
Gratwicke the elder (d. 1570), whose son and namesake claimed it in 1572–3. (fn. 60) The hammerpond bay
is c. 150 yd. long. The ironworks later belonged to
Sir Thomas Shirley and were leased to members of
the Middleton family. (fn. 61) They are said to have been
destroyed by Sir William Waller in 1643 and not
restored. (fn. 62)
Other trade and industry.
The tanner and the
one or more cloth weavers recorded in Crawley vill
in 1380 (fn. 63) may have lived in Ifield parish. A clothworker of Ifield was named in 1609, (fn. 64) and other
weavers later. (fn. 65) Other trades recorded in the parish
in the 17th and 18th centuries were those of cooper, (fn. 66)
mercer, (fn. 67) carpenter, butcher, (fn. 68) smith, (fn. 69) wheelwright, (fn. 70) bricklayer, (fn. 71) and glover. (fn. 72) Many tradesmen
probably lived in Crawley village, but there was a
shop next to Ifield churchyard in 1711, (fn. 73) and a
smithy by Ifield green in 1761. (fn. 74) There was a surgeon in Crawley by 1722; (fn. 75) another surgeon who
practised there in the 1790s lived in the Ifield part of
the village. (fn. 76)
Many tradesmen were recorded in the rural part
of Ifield in the 19th and earlier 20th centuries. In
1833 there were a wheelwright's shop, a shoemaker's,
and a butcher's at the south-west corner of Ifield
green; (fn. 77) there may have been a grocer there in 1855,
and there was a grocer in Ifield Street in 1899. The
lessee of Ifield Court farm was also a land and timber
surveyor and agricultural appraiser in 1874. There
was a builder in 1905. In 1934 other tradesmen in
the rural part of Ifield included a tailor, a shopkeeper, and a chimneysweep, and there was also a
midwife. (fn. 78)
A much greater variety of trades and services,
however, was offered by Crawley village, later town,
during the same period; already by 1793, besides the
surgeon mentioned, there had been an apothecary,
and specialized tradesmen such as a sackmaker and
a horse-collar maker. (fn. 79) By c. 1832 there were a
watch and clock maker, a glover and breeches maker,
and a hairdresser. (fn. 80) The railway brought new kinds
of business to Crawley, those in the part of the town
within Ifield parish including the corn, coal, and
lime merchant's mentioned from 1862, (fn. 81) the two
breweries belonging to members of the Ockenden
family which existed by the 1870s, (fn. 82) and the building
firms of Richard Cook & Sons and James Longley,
later James Longley & Co. Cooks, which existed by
1874, survived in 1951. (fn. 83) Longleys, which moved to
a site beside Crawley station in 1881, became one of
the chief building firms of south-east England,
employing 700 men by 1898, and working on such
projects as Christ's Hospital, Horsham, the King
Edward VII Sanatorium at Midhurst, and, later, the
development of the new town. (fn. 84) The revival of road
transport in the 20th century brought further new
kinds of employment, with the opening of motor
engineers' businesses, garages, and tea shops. (fn. 85) The
business of Ambrose Shaw, recorded from 1890,
assembled cycles and later motor cars, (fn. 86) while
Gadsdon's garage south of the railway level crossing,
founded in 1905, survived in 1986. (fn. 87) The Albany
temperance hotel in High Street was founded to
serve cyclists c. 1895, and in 1921 had large pleasure
grounds and tea gardens. (fn. 88) During the Second World
War large R.E.M.E. workshops for repairing tanks
were built on the west side of London Road north of
the town. (fn. 89) Long-lived craft or retail businesses in
the Ifield part of Crawley town during the period
included those of Millers the saddlers, which
flourished from the 1830s or earlier until the 1930s,
Warrens' hardware business founded c. 1880 which
survived as Crawley Timber in 1968, (fn. 90) and Smiths
the drapers, founded by c. 1832 as a business of
grocer and corn and coal dealer, which survived in
1986. (fn. 91) A Crawley and Ifield Co-operative Society
was established in 1888, and had successive shops on
the west side of High Street. (fn. 92) Department stores
and branches of chain stores arrived in Crawley in
the early 20th century. (fn. 93) By 1922 the town was said
to be self-sufficient for all ordinary requirements. (fn. 94)
West Green, the western suburb of Crawley in Ifield
parish in the later 19th century, had a variety of
tradesmen, for instance a cooper and an auctioneer
in 1845, a grocer and glass and china dealer and a
broom maker in 1874, a vet in 1878, and a toy dealer,
a plumber, a coal merchant, and a fishmonger in
1882. (fn. 95) In the earlier 20th century the two chief
businesses there were a laundry in Leopold Road
and the factory of the Crawley Cake and Biscuit Co.
in Ifield Road. (fn. 96)
The rapid growth of Crawley in the later 19th
century caused the opening of several short-lived
brickyards around the town, near Lowfield heath, at
West Green, and in East Park south-east of the railway station. (fn. 97) In the late 19th century and earlier
20th much work was also provided by the large
houses and estates in the rural part of the parish, for
instance as farm bailiffs, gamekeepers, and gardeners. (fn. 98) There was a livery stables at Bonwycks
Place in 1985. (fn. 99)