Historic Events

Public events and parades

The young town lost no time in organizing its own public events. The various religious groups, clubs and societies all contributed to the old parades and gatherings to celebrate the end of wars, the coronations of monarchs and other notable occasions. Queen Victoria’s Jubilee celebrations in 1897 are featured below as well as other Summer Fetes and Parades.

Sheep were driven through the streets of Burgess Hill to and from the sheep fairs, which drew people and sheep into the town from far and wide. The fairs were transferred in the early 19th century from Fairplace Hill to the new Fairfield Recreation Ground where they carried on until the early 20th century. Burgess Hill then invented its own annual fairs, the ‘Goose Fair’ in the town centre and the World’s End ‘Duck Fair‘. The latter was spawned as their own event by those who lived at the north end of town. We hope to include articles about these activities at a later date.

Other Historic Events

Some events came out of the blue, such as the Wivelsfield Station train crash , which happened at 6.14pm during thick fog in December 1899 or the Great Hurricane of 1987 , people recall the terrifying night of 16th October and its aftermath. Finally, we have had several Royal visits over the years to mark the opening of new buildings and other installations.

To read about all these go to –  A handfull of Historic Events