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Summerhill Close, HAYWARDS HEATH, RH16 1QY

A private cul de sac off Gander Hill built between the wars.

The point where College Road becomes Gander Hill. The road was once part of the old medieval Cuckfield to Lindfield highway that skirted the northern end of the old Haywards Heath common. It left Broad Street, Cuckfield at Hatchgate Lane and followed the route of the bridleway through Paige's Wood then part of Blunt's Wood Crescent and Blunt's Wood Road. Part of the section which crossed the current grounds of Haywards Heath College was removed as public access in the 1950s with a bridleway reappearing heading east from Turners Mill Road between a housing estate and a business park before rejoining Balcombe Road prior to it crossing under the railway. Here the route becomes a highway again along College road then Gander Hill up to Smallsgreen Cross where it would have once crossed Lindfield's West Common and entered that town via Denman's Lane or Hickman's Lane. Much of Gander Hill was developed between the wars.

A Victorian villa on Summerhill Lane located to the south of Image On the eastern side of the lane and thus in Lindfield, those on the west are in Haywards Heath. The highway was originally known as Scrase Bridge Lane and runs north to Ardingly.

My prep school has a new name now but it looked just the same as it did 50 yrs ago.

Originally a Victorian house called Summer Hill that was acquired in 1939 by the owners of Belvedere School located in Bolnore Road Haywards Heath that had been founded in 1888. In 1973 it merged with Tavistock Hall, then based in Heathfield East Sussex, but originally founded in the Devon town. Both were originally boys preparatory boarding schools but became co-educational in the early 1980s. The school governors voted for closure in 2011 due to dwindling numbers, however, the parents mobilised to save it and succeeded after which interest and numbers have grown again. The white building to the right is the former lodge whilst the road to the south of the school is small residential estate built on former grounds.

Viewed from the rear access on Summerhill Lane. The house fronts onto the B2028 and was built in the 1970s.

A cul de sac off Gander Hill that was built in the late 1950s along the alignment of the former drive to Sunte House.

A busy mini roundabout

The B2028 heads south towards the junction with Summerhill Lane and Image beyond which is Haywards Heath. The road name is the sole reminder of the former common it once crossed, bounded by Summerhill Lane to the west, Hickmans Lane to the east and Sunte Avenue to the north. Marked on a 1813 OS map it had been enclosed by the time of Lindfield's 1845 tithe map. Ribbon development along the road was largely carried out between the wars.