East Grinstead: Mid Sussex Town on the Greenwich Meridian With a Medieval High Street
East Grinstead is a town in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, about 28 miles south of central London and roughly equidistant between London and Brighton. The population is around 28,000. The town's High Street is one of the longest continuous runs of 14th-century timber-framed buildings in England. Sackville College, an almshouse founded in 1609, stands at the eastern end of the High Street and was where the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas" was written by John Mason Neale in 1853. During the Second World War, the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead became famous as the base of Sir Archibald McIndoe, the pioneering plastic surgeon who treated badly burned RAF aircrew. His patients, known as the Guinea Pig Club, were encouraged to socialise in the town, earning East Grinstead the nickname "the town that didn't stare."
East Grinstead station is the terminus of the southern section of the Oxted Line, with Southern Railway services to London Victoria and London Bridge taking about an hour. The Bluebell Railway, a heritage steam line, runs south from East Grinstead to Sheffield Park. The A22 connects north to the M25 at junction 6 and south to Eastbourne. Crawley and Gatwick Airport are about ten miles to the west. Ashdown Forest, the inspiration for A.A. Milne's Hundred Acre Wood, is a few miles to the south. For those considering adult companionship in the Mid Sussex area, East Grinstead's rail link to London and proximity to Gatwick and the M25 make it well connected.
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East Grinstead is a town in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, about 28 miles south of central London and roughly equidistant between London and Brighton. The population is around 28,000. The town's High Street is one of the longest continuous runs of 14th-century timber-framed buildings in England. Sackville College, an almshouse founded in 1609, stands at the eastern end of the High Street and was where the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas" was written by John Mason Neale in 1853. During the Second World War, the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead became famous as the base of Sir Archibald McIndoe, the pioneering plastic surgeon who treated badly burned RAF aircrew. His patients, known as the Guinea Pig Club, were encouraged to socialise in the town, earning East Grinstead the nickname "the town that didn't stare."
East Grinstead station is the terminus of the southern section of the Oxted Line, with Southern Railway services to London Victoria and London Bridge taking about an hour. The Bluebell Railway, a heritage steam line, runs south from East Grinstead to Sheffield Park. The A22 connects north to the M25 at junction 6 and south to Eastbourne. Crawley and Gatwick Airport are about ten miles to the west. Ashdown Forest, the inspiration for A.A. Milne's Hundred Acre Wood, is a few miles to the south. For those considering adult companionship in the Mid Sussex area, East Grinstead's rail link to London and proximity to Gatwick and the M25 make it well connected.
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