Who are we?
As a 4, whose families have been tied to the operating of the Rowfant Business Park and surrounding woodland for several generations, we all have a deep connection with this piece of the Sussex countryside and its industrial and commercial heritage. This project was an exciting way to continue that story and give the land purpose for the future.
Together we have set up SSTL Limited the company which operates Rowfant Trail.
1854 Sir Curtis Locker Miranda Lampson, an entrepreneur with a background of investment in Victorian engineering, bought Rowfant House and the whole Rowfant Estate.
He was instrumental in having the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company construct the railway line from Three Bridges to Crawley. He saw the potential for the extraction of clay for bricks from the Estate and also for the natural Spring to supply water to the immediate Rowfant Estate.
Small brickworks opened circa 1850 with single kiln and the excavation of clay was commenced with bricks used to construct the station buildings, bridges and estate cottages in and around the estate
The Brickyard developed quickly. By 1857 the Cottages are built, A chapel, 4 more Kilns and a 100ft Chimney drawing heat from the kilns to dry the bricks. A sawmill is built supplying pit props to the mining industry and all made possible by the introduction of rail branch line right into the Brickyard enabling national distribution.
The thriving fortunes of the Brick yard seem to wain at the turn of the century and around 1910 the chimney was demolished and most of the kilns removed.
It seems the branch line of the railway was removed in the First war probably to regain the steel used in the tracks. The sawmill continued and brickmaking resumed by the open clamp burning method that still exists at the local Sharpthorne brickworks today.
In 1938 a sawmills was re opened by W Harbour and Sons Ltd and in 1946 they took the lease of the whole brickyard area making clamp burnt stock bricks from Rowfant Clay for use in their house. By this point the buildings and machinery was becoming outdated and with the development of Crawley and Gatwick labour was increasingly hard to find.
Harbours ceased making bricks around 1964 and started to let out redundant areas of the brickyard to local business.
The last train travelled from Three Bridges to East Grinstead on 1967 and the tracks were removed to form ‘The Worth Way’.
Harbours purchased the brick yard area from Padockhurst in 1986 and becoming a Holding Company in 1989 proceeded to develop the area to provide local employment and lead to the industrial development we see today.
The woodland surrounding the business park was purchased by the company including in the late 1990’s and has remained fairly dormant until now.
Brief History of Rowfant Brickworks and Business Park 1850-now
Get involved
Would you like to be involved in the preservation of this woodland?
Come and be hands on in the woodland, our current volunteer days are weekends but we are looking to extend this into the week.
Are you interested in doing a family or work group volunteering day?
Do you or your interest group have extensive knowledge of any aspects of woodland or wildlife?
Help with fundraising to enable us to complete the woodland preservation.
We are also looking for interested parties that might want to work with us in woodland education, do you run a forest school and are interested in finding new areas to explore?
Volunteer with the friends of Rowfant Trail
Become a friend of Rowfant Trail