Worth Way - History

History

The Worth Way follows for much of its route part of the course of a dismantled railway - the Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells Central Line - which opened in 1855 and closed in 1967 as a result of the programme of closures put forward by East Grinstead resident and British Transport Commission Chairman, Richard Beeching. By 1977 West Sussex County Council had purchased almost four miles of the line, mostly in the parish of Worth. On 10 July 1979 much of the route was officially reopened as footpath and bridleway.

The reopening came, however, too late for two sections of the route which had already been lost to development by 1979. Firstly, the site of the former Grange Road railway station in Crawley Down was obliterated by a small parade of shops with flats above, and the trackbed leading eastwards has been built on; the route of the Worth Way is therefore diverted for approximately 1500m near at a point near the B2028 Turners Hill Road to Cobb Close, taking the Way through a housing estate. Secondly, at Compasses Corner (formerly Compasses Crossing level crossing) on Wallage Lane the trackbed as far as the M23 has been reused as a landfill site, the original railway alignment being marked by a line of trees. Here the Worth Way continues along Wallage Lane for 150m before turning off to join a bridleway which passes through a farm to reach a bridge over the M23 which leads into the urban sprawl of Worth, now a suburb of Crawley, following local roads to rejoin the railway alignment near Church Road.

A final minor diversion occurs near Rowfant railway station (still standing) where the former goods yard is in industrial use and the route briefly diverts to the road.