IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Gander Hill, HAYWARDS HEATH, RH16 1RE

A busy mini roundabout

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

The old name of the crossroads where the Haywards Heath to Ardingly road once crossed the old Lindifeld to Cuckfield road. The former represented by Summerhill lane to the south and Portsmouth Lane to the north still carries out the same function and also provides the boundary between Haywards Heath and Lindfield. The latter road has long since disappeared though the current section survives as residential roads; Sunte Avenue to the east and Gander Hill to the west. Beyond the railway the former highway has been reduced to a bridleway where it hasn't been swallowed up by development.

Black iron cap finial - 4 arms; East Sussex wood by the UC road, in parish of Lindfield (Mid Sussex District), Portsmouth Lane and Sunte Avenue Junction, with Gander Hill and Summerhill Lane, on verge at crossroads. Surveyed Milestone Society National ID: SX_TQ3325.

Private road off Portsmouth Lane that was originally the eastern access drive to Sunte House that was laid out towards the end of the 19th century to replace an older route a little to the south. Developed as a residential road from the 1950s and is private from the junction with Gatesmead.

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.

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.

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