Haywards Heath: History, Trails and Nature

Haywards Heath combines historic architecture and local history with a range of routes and green spaces. There are specific points of reference to help you plan your trip: an approximately one-hour town walk, a longer round trip to Ardingly Reservoir, a cycling route, and buildings and landscapes with their own distinctive features.

Routes and timing

Haywards Heath Town Walk No. 1 is 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometres) long, takes about an hour and starts at Hazelgrove Road Car Park. The starting point and approximate duration help you plan how much time to allow for this route. The time given is a guide for the walk.

A public footpath on Haywards Heath Town Walk No. 1 leads to Ardingly Reservoir. The round trip is approximately six miles (9.6 kilometres) in total. Compared with the stated 2.4-kilometre length of the town walk, this is a considerably longer route. The two figures therefore differ both in distance and in that an approximate duration is given for the town walk.

A 20-kilometre cycling route also starts in Haywards Heath and follows both paved and unpaved paths. Check the route conditions before setting off. This makes it possible to distinguish the cycling route from the footpaths by mode of transport and distance, without treating their details as equivalent.

Buildings and local history

The Church of St Wilfrid is a Grade II*-listed building. G F Bodley built it between 1863 and 1865 in the Decorated style. The construction dates, architect and style provide different points of reference for its architectural classification; its Grade II* designation adds the building’s listed status to this perspective.

Other houses also illustrate a range of architectural forms and periods. Peter’s Cottage is a late-16th-century timber-framed building. Oat Hall House was built around 1840 in the neoclassical style. Sunte House was built in 1700 as a large L-shaped building and was carefully extended in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Dolphin Pub was built in the 16th century.

Wickham Farmhouse is also Grade II* listed. It was first mentioned in 1279; the existing building dates from the late 16th century and was extended in the 17th and 20th centuries. The first mention and the date of construction of the existing building describe different historical stages.

Muster Green brings together landscape features and local history. The area was designated a Conservation Area in 1979 and has traditional flower beds and an avenue of impressive trees. During the English Civil War, it was the site of a minor battle between Royalists and Roundheads. The area’s distinctive features and a specific historical event therefore come together in this place.

The arrival of the London-to-Brighton railway transformed Haywards Heath from a small farming village into a thriving market town. The Haywards Heath War Memorial commemorates 167 local servicemen who died in the First World War. These connections add the town’s development and remembrance of the fallen to its architectural history.

Parks and natural areas

Beech Hurst is a local historic park on the western edge of Haywards Heath and covers just under six hectares. The Scrase Valley Nature Reserve, associated with Haywards Heath and Lindfield, offers another landscape to explore. It covers 15 acres and includes quiet woodland, grassland, marsh and scrub.

Blunts Wood and Paiges Meadow is associated with Haywards Heath and Cuckfield. Its landscape features include woodland, meadows, grassland, hedgerows, a pond and a wetland. The two natural areas have different characteristics: the description of Scrase Valley includes marsh and scrub, while that of Blunts Wood and Paiges Meadow also mentions hedgerows and a pond. Together with Beech Hurst, they offer different points of interest for visitors interested in green spaces.

If you are looking for a hotel in Haywards Heath, you can choose your trip’s focus according to your interests: architecture and local history, a walk with an approximate duration, the longer round trip or the cycling route each offer different themes and distances.

Discover more destinations: Lyminster, Findon, Ford, Pagham, Shoreham-By-Sea, Burgess Hill, Ferring, Stedham.

For the broader travel overview: West Sussex.