Later History – 1863 onwards
Upstaged by the Non-conformists who by 1829 had opened the new community’s first church, the Church of England had taken the lead on schooling opening their first school before 1850. Their parish church of St. John the Evangelist eventually followed in 1863. Simeon Norman’s building firm, later ‘Norman and Burt’ was established a year or two later and gained national renown for the quality of their interior woodwork as well as their exterior work. From the 1870s the brickworks continued to expand. But in the meantime, concerns had arisen about the state of the streets, public health and many other facets of urban life, leading in time, to the creation of our own Urban District Council (in the 1890s (abolished in 1974).
The images below show:
William Oram, builder (hat and white beard) and his men on completion of the Constitutional Building, our first seat of Local Government. It became the new Urban District Council Offices. London Road School in 1910, and the Maypole at London Road School.
William Oram, outside the Constitutional Club
London Road School, shown in 1910
The Maypole at London Road School
Despite the growing social cohesion of the new town, by 1880 the urban areas were patchy and the new ‘community’ was still very spread out with plenty of grassy fields scattered through the whole. For an overview of where the developed areas were by 1880 go to: Burgess Hill’s first Building Boom
By the end of the century the Non- conformists of different persuasions had built themselves a range of churches, some of architectural merit. A second C. of E. parish, St. Andrew’s, was opened in 1904, to cater for the eastern expansion of the town around the Keymer Brick and Tike works in Nye Road. And the people of Burgess Hill meanwhile got together in a range of sports and other activities, creating along the way a rich tapestry of social life; and seeding our superb photographic archive of the life of early Burgess Hill.
On the way to Church, Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations 1897
Burgess Hill v Spurs 1904
Charabanc outing
Worlds Fair, Worlds End 1924
Burgess Hill Carnival float 1908
This ongoing history of the town of Burgess Hill is a vast subject and we have not attempted to cover it fully. Instead we have drawn together some articles about specific topics within the town’s history. These are listed below. Just follow the links below to any that you would like to read. We hope to put up further articles in due course and we hope it will be possible for anyone who has researched an aspect of Burgess Hill’s history to submit it to a member of our committee. We may be able to advise you as to publication options or, subject to our terms and conditions, add it to the list of articles below, under your name as author.
Links to the topics we have prepared so far are listed below.
Burgess Hill’s First Building Boom
The 19th century Brickmakers and their families
The ongoing story of the railway
To learn what is worth preserving of our past history, and what we are trying and hoping to help to preserve in Burgess Hill, and of the progress the Town Council and our Association is slowly making, go to the Heritage page.
There were many individuals who contributed a great deal to our town’s development and culture. So far we have only covered a few of them: a brickmaker, a builder, a benefactor, an explorer and a firm of designers.
You can find out who they are and read more about them by following the links on the on the Notable People page.
And finally, if you would like to pursue your own history research on Burgess Hill go to, find out more, to learn more about how to find out for yourself.