Burgess Hill - Geography

Geography

Burgess Hill is situated in the Sussex Weald, 10 miles (16 km) north of Brighton, and about 4.5 miles (7.5 km) south of Haywards Heath. Lewes, in East Sussex, is 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Burgess Hill, and the larger town of Horsham is 15 miles (24 km) to the northwest. Crawley, a major settlement is 13 miles (21 km) to the north, and Gatwick Airport is 16 miles (26 km) in the same direction.

The amenities and shopping services in Burgess Hill are also well used by the surrounding villages. The larger villages of Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint are 5 to 10 minutes drive away from the town centre, to the south and southwest respectively. Albourne, Ansty, Bolney, Clayton, Ditchling, Ditchling Common, East Chiltington, Goddards Green, Hickstead, Jacob's Post, Keymer, Plumpton, Plumpton Green, Sayers Common, Streat, Twineham, Westmeston, Wivelsfield (which has given its name to a railway station in Burgess Hill), and Wivelsfield Green are other nearby villages.

One of the tributaries of the River Adur weaves its way through the town, known locally as Hambrook. The town is a nuclear settlement, radiating out from the centre, curbed on the western side by the ring road, and on the east side by the East/West Sussex border (although it should be noted that some development on the eastern side of the town, particularly in the northeast, is in Lewes District).

The northern central side of the town (around Wivelsfield railway station) is known as Worlds End. It acquired this name around the 23 December 1899, a serious accident happened when a red signal was obscured by thick fog. A train from Brighton collided with a boat train from Newhaven Harbour at 40 mph, six passengers were killed and twenty seriously injured. Due to the nature of the accident and the relatively high (in relation to other accidents of the time) number of deaths and injuries the name Worlds End was coined and has stuck since that day.