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Southgate is one of the 13 residential neighbourhoods in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Crawley was planned and laid out as a New Town after the Second World War, based on the principle of self-contained neighbourhoods surrounding a town centre of civic and commercial buildings. Southgate was one of the four in the "inner ring" closest to the town centre, and was intended to be the largest of the nine designed in the original master plan. It was built in two stages between the 1950s and the 1970s, but retains some older buildings from before the New Town era and has "significant areas of pre-New Town character". The area was settled by pre-Roman people, and industrial and other artefacts from that era were found during construction of the neighbourhood. In the 19th century, after Crawley was connected to the national railway network, housing developed south of the line around the Brighton Road, which divides the modern neighbourhood in two. New Town-era expansion produced a large residential area with a high proportion of terraced houses and a range of schools, places of worship and community facilities; but some historic buildings and areas of open space remain, including an award-winning park. The population at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001 was 8,016. ==History== In the century before the Romans arrived in Britain, the area now covered by West Sussex was ruled by the Atrebates, a Belgic tribe led by Commius. They were found to have been present in the area now covered by Southgate when building work took place in 1969. The Southgate West development was underway on land covered by Hogs Hill Farm, which occupied a ridge of land between the Horsham and Brighton Roads. Land clearance revealed two ditches filled with debris such as bones and pieces of pottery. The next year, a large house on Horsham Road was demolished to make way for a new road of houses; the builders discovered similar pits, and the remains were identified as pre-Roman using carbon dating techniques. The remains of crucibles, slag and other ironworking materials were also discovered; these were confirmed as being from the same era, the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. It was later confirmed that the Hogs Hill Farm remains dated from the Roman era, meaning that the ironmaking and pottery-producing activities of the Atrebates were continued by their conquerors.〔 By the time the excavations and investigation finished, evidence of three iron bloomeries, a small flint mine, roof tiles (possibly from a building on the site) and many pieces of pottery had been found and catalogued. These discoveries confirmed for the first time the existence of Iron Age, pre-Roman ironmaking and industrial development in the area of northern Sussex now occupied by Crawley.〔 Despite this, investigation and analysis were initially discouraged. The Commission for the New Towns, responsible for the town's development at that stage, did not want building work to be delayed, and tried to prevent archaeologists, other professionals, enthusiasts and the general public alike visiting the Hogs Hill Farm site and searching for remains.〔 Workers on the site were expressly forbidden from doing so, although the first discovery had in fact been made by one.〔 By the time the second site was developed in 1970, attitudes had changed, and professional groups were involved from the beginning.〔 Crawley began to develop slowly from the 13th century, when it was granted a royal charter for a market.〔 Its ecclesiastical parish, centred on St John the Baptist's Church, was tiny in comparison to neighbouring Worth and Ifield. The parish had an unusual shape: very narrow, long from north to south, and gradually widening to the north until it met the county boundary with Surrey. This directed development northwards along the High Street, part of the ancient London to Brighton road which had provided the impetus for development to begin. The road was partly turnpiked after an Act of Parliament in 1696, and became fully turnpiked in 1770. By this time the distinction between the name "London Road" (the section north of the church) and "Brighton Road" (southwards) had been made;〔 and tollgates were built north and south of the town: these became known as the North Gate and South Gate.〔 Crawley was connected to the railway network in 1848 when a line was built from Three Bridges to Horsham. It crossed the High Street at a level crossing at the south end of the built-up area.〔 The provision of fast, regular trains to London and other destinations stimulated residential and commercial development, especially around the station.〔 South of the line, around the Brighton Road, there was plenty of land for building; in the second half of the 19th century, two building firms—the most important in Crawley's pre-New Town history—exploited it by building two areas of housing which still exist today, forming the northernmost part of the Southgate neighbourhood. Richard Cook set up a building firm next to the railway line soon after its completion; in the early 1870s he built some streets of mainly terraced houses west of Brighton Road. Confusingly in the context of Crawley's later history, this area was called "New Town", a name which persisted for many years; it had no connection with the later establishment of the New Town of Crawley under the New Towns Act 1946, the name being merely a coincidence. Based around Springfield Road and West Street, at the junction of which was Cook's yard, the "New Town" area had 43 houses in 1875.〔 In the early 1880s, James Longley established his building company nearby, which by 1909 had built an estate of houses east of the Brighton Road. The roads East Park and Malthouse Road had a mixture of terraced cottages, semi-detached houses, detached houses and large villas, all built from red brick.〔 Large houses were also built down both sides of the Brighton Road. Goffs Park Road, between the Brighton and Horsham Roads, began to be built up in 1895, and saw more residential development in the interwar period.〔 Apart from these residential buildings, farms and their associated land, there was little else in the area now known as Southgate until Crawley Development Corporation started building the neighbourhood in the 1950s. Some shops, a corn merchant's premises and a brewery were built near the level crossing in the late 19th century. Crawley's first permanent cinema, the Imperial, was established nearby in 1911, replacing a temporary structure; it burnt down in 1928 but was rebuilt, only to be superseded by a larger building in the town centre in the 1930s. It has been a car dealership since the 1940s. Further down the Brighton Road, near the Hogs Hill Farm where Iron Age remains were later found, the Half Moon Inn and Hotel was built in the late 19th century, and rebuilt in 1890. To the west, Goffs Park was established as a parkland and recreational area by the early 20th century.〔 It covers more than , and its recreational features now include play areas for children, playing fields, sports pitches, lakes, a golf course and a miniature railway. During World War II, the Crawley area was hit by about 50 high explosive bombs and 2,000 incendiary bombs. The attack which caused the greatest loss of life happened on 10 July 1944, when Southgate's Victorian streets were hit by two V-1 flying bombs. One landed in Malthouse Road and did not detonate, but another destroyed 15 houses, killed seven people and injured 44 more when it exploded at the junction of Oak Road and West Street. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Southgate, West Sussex」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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