Looking back at Crawley’s past ahead of the town’s city status bid

To find out more about how Crawley has changed over the years, I decided to take a trip down to the museum to find out more about how our town has changed over the years.

Upon my arrival, I was greeted by a lovely bunch of volunteers and proceeded to take a look around the gift section. There was an array of Crawley inspired gifts and books, which the proceeds from the sales go straight to the museum.

I was then greeted by the museum’s creator Holly Parsons who took me on a tour of the museum, which showed me the development of the town from a Middle Ages market town, to a Georgian coach stop and finally to the new town we all know today.

And possibly a City in the future...

There were many rooms that contained artifacts from different historical periods in British history. I particularly enjoyed the well-preserved sword from the Bronze Age, which was discovered in Langley Green in 1952.

It was interesting to see who has lived in Crawley over its history which included John Leech, British caricaturist and illustrator of the humorous magazine Punch to more modern Crawley icons including Gareth Southgate and Romesh Ranganathan.

The museum also has an area for local exhibitions, which currently includes displays from Crawley Against Racism and Diverse Crawley.

If you are in the local area and are interested in history, why not take a visit. Opening times are Thursday to Saturday (10.30am-4pm). If you are interested in volunteering or donating to the Museum, visit crawleymuseums.org or pop in.