Broadfield

Explore the history and community of Broadfield.

Images

Around 1500 images of Broadfield and Crawley can be found on our West Sussex Past Pictures website.

Go to 'Advanced Search: Catalogue' and search for 'Broadfield' in 'Any Text'.

Roger Bastable Collection

Teacher, local history researcher and author Roger Bastable spent most of his life in Crawley and became one of the leading experts on Crawley's past. He wrote four books about the town (see library catalogue). Roger bequeathed his local history collection to Crawley Library, and the collection has more than 9,000 photographs and pictures mainly of Crawley New Town photographs from the 1940's to 1970s, plus articles, books, ephemera, maps, newspapers, pamphlets and his unpublished PhD thesis.

Around 1000 photographs from the Roger Bastable collection can be found on West Sussex Past Pictures. Images from the Roger Bastable exhibition held at Crawley library are also available on Flickr, inlcuding online Galleries of images from Broadfield.

Newspapers

The current edition of the Crawley and Horley Observer is available to view at Broadfield and Crawley libraries. Paper copies are kept for one month at Broadfield and one year at Crawley.

The Crawley Observer is available on microfilm at Crawley Library from 1946-2016. Back issues from 2017 onwards available to view on the public computers in all West Sussex Libraries, as searchable digital copies.

Search the library catalogue for more details.

The Crawley & District Observer was originally published as the Sussex and Surrey Courier from 1882-1946. The Sussex and Surrey Courier 1914-1925 and 1939-1945 is available to view on the public computers in all West Sussex Libraries as searchable digital copies. The years 1925 and 1939-1946 are available on microfilm at Crawley Library. The years 1884-1943 are available on microfilm at West Sussex Record Office

The Argus and West Sussex Gazette are available to library members from home via Press Reader.

The Times Digital Archive includes some coverage of events in Broadfield and West Sussex from 1785-2019. Available to all library members from home. The British Newspaper Archive has digitised copies of the Crawley News 1991-1999 and the Crawley and District Observer 1939-1953.

For any enquiries about newspapers, please use our Ask a Librarian form.

Maps

A current map of Broadfield can be found on the Ordnance Survey website.

Historic maps of Crawley and Broadfield are also available on the National Library of Scotland Maps Database.

Directories

Some Kellys Sussex Directories can be found on Ancestry - available free in all West Sussex Libraries. Some directories are available as digitised copies on the public computers in all libraries - see our Digitised Directories Helpsheet. You can search the library catalogue to see which directories are available on microfiche. For any queries, please use our Ask a Librarian form.

House History

If you are researching the history of your house, the National Archives House Research Guide is a good place to start.

West Sussex Record Office also have many sources to help with your investigations.

Online Resources

Brief History of Broadfield House

Illustrated history of the house in Broadfield Park.

Victoria County History: Crawley

Founded in 1899 and originally dedicated to Queen Victoria, the Victoria County History (VCH) is an encyclopaedic record of England's places and people from earliest times to the present day.

Crawley Historic Character Assessment Report

Survey which explores the history of Crawley, including its historic buildings.

Archaeological Survey of Tilgate Park

History and archaeology of Tilgate Park, includes maps.