Redhill, Surrey

For other uses, see Redhill (disambiguation).

Redhill
Station Road, Redhill
Redhill  Redhill shown within Surrey
Population	25,751
OS grid reference	TQ275505
District	Reigate and Banstead
Shire county	Surrey
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	REDHILL
Postcode district	RH1
Dialling code	01737
Police	Surrey
Fire	Surrey
Ambulance	South East Coast
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Reigate
List of places: UK • England • Surrey

Redhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead, Surrey, England and is a part of the London commuter belt. Redhill and the adjacent town of Reigate form a single urban area. For statistical purposes the two are classified as a subdivision of the Crawley Urban Area.

History

Redhill is situated immediately to the south of a gap in the North Downs, which is the reason for the London-Brighton railway passing through the area.

The town came into being, when a road was built in 1818.^{[citation needed]} The settlement was originally known as Warwick Town and became known as Redhill when the post office moved from Red Hill Common in 1856.

A major factor in the development of the town was the coming of the railway. Redhill railway station continues to be an important junction. Redhill is also one of the few places in the UK where Fuller's Earth can be extracted^{[citation needed]} Alfred Nobel demonstrated dynamite for the first time at a Redhill quarry in 1867.^{[citation needed]}

A large Victorian psychiatric hospital to the south of Redhill, the Royal Earlswood Hospital, was for 40 years home to two of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's cousins Katherine Bowes-Lyon and Nerissa Bowes-Lyon, both of whom had learning difficulties. The inmate James Henry Pullen (1835–1916) was an autistic savant. He was a brilliant craftsman and artist. His work was accepted by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Some of Pullen's ship models, designs and art work used to be on display at the town's Belfry Shopping Centre but have now been moved to the Langdon Down Museum in Teddington^{[citation needed]}. The hospital site has now been converted to apartments.

Richard Carrington, an amateur astronomer, moved to Redhill in 1852, and built a house and observatory. Dome Way, where Redhill's only tower block stands, is named after it. The site suited an isolated observatory, being on a spur of high ground surrounded by low-lying fields and marsh (now Redhill). Here in 1859 he made astronomical observations that first corroborated the existence of solar flares as well as their electrical influence upon the Earth and its aurorae. In 1863 he published records of sunspot observations that first demonstrated differential rotation in the Sun. In 1865 ill health prompted him to sell his house and move to Churt, Surrey.

St John the Evangelist was the first of Redhill's parish churches and the parish originally stretched from Gatton in the north to Sidlow in the south.

View from Redhill Common towards St John's Church August 2000

Today

Redhill is part of the Reigate and Banstead local government district. Not far from the town is Gatton Park, an estate once owned by the Colmans; the estate had a private chapel (now open to the public) and a Japanese garden.

Over the years the town centre has included many major high street names. It has a street market each Thursday and Saturday and sometimes hosts a French market. The town has a distinctive red-brick complex called the Warwick Quadrant, which houses the Harlequin Theatre and Cinema, public library, Sainsbury's and other shops, and a medium-sized indoor shopping centre (the Belfry Centre).

The former Odeon cinema built in 1938 was converted into a night club called 'Busbys' in 1976. It was renamed 'Millionaire's' in the 1980s, 'The British Embassy' in 1996 and 'Liquid and Envy' in 2003. In July 2011, it was closed down permanently to make way for new housing although the listed Art Deco façade is to be retained.

Redhill played host to its own music festival in 2007 headlined by The Ordinary Boys.

Redhill has in the past hosted an annual air display at its aerodrome, as well as a steam fair opposite; however, neither were staged in 2008. The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run passes through the town each year.

The Redhill Brook runs through the town, mainly culverted, and upstream to the immediate north-east of the town are The Moors nature reserve, and the large new Water Colour housing development. The brook enters a culvert behind the station and briefly reappears in Halford's car park. Though now hidden and neglected, the brook created Redhill's geography. The flat area of Redhill was formerly the marshy flood plain caused by its dammed waters. The railway and A23 pass through or near the gap cut by the brook through the Greensand Ridge at Earlswood, just south of the town.

Transport

Redhill is at the junction of the A23 and A25 roads. The junction of the M25 and M23 motorways is near Redhill, but there is no direct access to either motorway from the town. The nearest junctions are at Reigate Hill (M25), Hooley (M23) and Godstone (M25).

Redhill railway station is at the junction of three lines: the main London to Brighton line, the North Downs Line from Redhill to Reading, and the Redhill to Tonbridge Line.

The London to Brighton service is operated by electric trains of the Southern and First Capital Connect operating companies. The line splits north of Redhill at Coulsdon and the two lines rejoin to the south of Redhill, allowing most fast trains to bypass Redhill. London-bound trains usually go to either London Victoria or London Bridge. Trains through Redhill from London usually terminate at Horsham, Portsmouth Harbour, Three Bridges or Gatwick Airport.

First Capital Connect operates the 'Thameslink' service, which goes through London, calling at London Blackfriars, City Thameslink, Farringdon and St Pancras International, then continues north to Luton Airport Parkway and Bedford. There is a very limited service at Redhill.

The line to the west is electrified as far as Reigate, with a few trains from London terminating there. Through trains to Dorking, Guildford and Reading are run by First Great Western and are diesel. Most diesel trains from the North Downs Line continue to Gatwick Airport.

Numerous bus services are operated to the town, by Arriva, Metrobus and Southdown PSV. In May 2008, route 100 to Crawley became part of the Fastway bus rapid transport system, following redevelopment of Redhill bus station.

Air access is available at London Gatwick Airport, which lies about seven miles to the south on the A23, as well as the small Redhill Aerodrome (EGKR) 1.5 nautical miles south-east of Redhill town centre. Heathrow airport is just over an hour's drive to the north-west and both Luton and London City airports are accessible by train.

Economy

The first iteration of British Island Airways had its head office in the Congreve House in Redhill.

Famous people

• Skye Edwards, former singer of the group Morcheeba. Lives in South Nutfield near Redhill
• Kevin Kenner, American-born concert pianist, is now living in Redhill. Notable for winning both the Top Prize in the International Chopin Competition and the Bronze Medal in the International Tchaikovsky Competition.
• George Smith, England footballer & league manager coached Redhill FC from 1951-52.
• Ronnie Biggs, was living at Alpine Road, Redhill, when he was arrested for his part in the Great Train Robbery (1963).
• Bernard Bresslaw, actor, best known for his part in the Carry On Films, used to live in Redhill.
• Liz May Brice, actress, best-known for her role on ITV1's Bad Girls was born here in 1975
• Richard Christopher Carrington the famous amateur astronomer lived in Redhill from 1852 - 1865. It was at his observatory in Redhill that he made his famous solar flare observations.
• Aleister Crowley, occultist. He and his family lived at The Grange, Redhill between 1881 & 1884.
• Edwina Currie, the former Conservative MP and junior health minister lived in Redhill until 2007.
• Dame Judi Dench, the famous actress, and her daughter Finty Williams both live near Redhill in Outwood, Surrey.
• Michael Greco, past EastEnders actor who played Beppe DiMarco, went to school at St Bede's in Carlton Rd, Redhill
• Tim Dry, best known for appearing in ‘Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi’ and for being half of the duo Tik and Tok Tik and Tok, that popularized robotic mime in the UK in the 1980s, was born in Redhill in 1952.
• Carole Hersee, notable for appearing as an eight year old child in the central image of the iconic television Test Card F was born in Redhill in 1958
• David Hewlett, actor, star of Sky One's Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate SG-1 was born here in 1968
• Bevis Hillier, biographer of Sir John Betjeman, was born here in 1940
• Peter Howitt, actor and director, used to live near Donyngs Sports Centre
• Ian McKay (formerly Laidlaw), art critic and writer, lived here between 1976–1980
• Katie Melua, singer and songwriter lived here briefly in 1998
• Robert Milsom, Aberdeen F.C. midfielder was born here.
• Nick Hornby, author, was born in Redhill on 17 April 1957
• Derek Paravicini, the celebrated blind savant prodigy currently residing at the RNIB College in Redhill
• Henry Thomas Pringuer, organist and composer, was organist at St. Matthew's Redhill c.1870-1880
• Sophie Raworth, journalist and newsreader, born here 1968
• Alec Harley Reeves, electronics engineer, inventor of Pulse code modulation, was born here in 1902
• Anna Smith, tennis player, born in Redhill 1988
• George Best, footballer, lived just out of Redhill (gatton Bottom) until death.^{[citation needed]}

Emergency services

Redhill is served by these emergency services:

• Surrey Police, based at Reigate Police Station.
• Surrey Fire & Rescue Service, at Reigate Fire Station
• South East Coast Ambulance Service was formed from the merger of Surrey, Sussex, and Kent Ambulance services on 1 July 2006.
• East Surrey Hospital, a major hospital with A & E department, about 1.5 miles south of the town centre.

Sport and recreation

The town is home to Redhill Football Club and Donyngs sports centre, which includes an indoor swimming pool.

Education

• St. Bede's School, a secondary school specialising in Music and IT.
• East Surrey College is based in Redhill.
• The Warwick School which is a technology school is in Noke Drive.

External links

• *[http://www.reigate-banstead.gov.uk/public/learning/history/redhill.asp Brief History of Redhill]*Live bus locations in Redhill
• Redhill Community Hub - local information network
• Redhill Football Club
• The History of Redhill and Reigate
• Redhill and Reigate information
• Redhill Councillors - News, views and contact details