Southgate, West Sussex
| Southgate | |
|---|---|
 The 1950s shopping parade at Wakehurst Drive, Southgate East |
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 Southgate
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| Southgate shown within West Sussex | |
| Population | 8,106 |
| OS grid reference | TQ265365 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CRAWLEY |
| Postcode district | RH10, RH11 |
| Dialling code | 01293 |
| Police | Sussex |
| Fire | West Sussex |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
Southgate is one of the 13 residential neighbourhoods in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Crawley was planned and laid out as a New Town after the Second World War, based on the principle of self-contained neighbourhoods surrounding a town centre of civic and commercial buildings. Southgate was one of the four in the "inner ring" closest to the town centre, and was intended to be the largest of the nine designed in the original master plan. It was built in two stages between the 1950s and the 1970s, but retains some older buildings from before the New Town era and has "significant areas of pre-New Town character".
The area was settled by pre-Roman people, and industrial and other artefacts from that era were found during construction of the neighbourhood. In the 19th century, after Crawley was connected to the national railway network, housing developed south of the line around the Brighton Road, which divides the modern neighbourhood in two. New Town-era expansion produced a large residential area with a high proportion of terraced houses and a range of schools, places of worship and community facilities; but some historic buildings and areas of open space remain, including an award-winning park. The population at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001 was 8,016.
In the century before the Romans arrived in Britain, the area now covered by West Sussex was ruled by the Atrebates, a Belgic tribe led by Commius. They were found to have been present in the area now covered by Southgate when building work took place in 1969. The Southgate West development was underway on land covered by Hogs Hill Farm, which occupied a ridge of land between the Horsham and Brighton Roads. Land clearance revealed two ditches filled with debris such as bones and pieces of pottery. The next year, a large house on Horsham Road was demolished to make way for a new road of houses; the builders discovered similar pits, and the remains were identified as pre-Roman using carbon dating techniques. The remains of crucibles, slag and other ironworking materials were also discovered; these were confirmed as being from the same era, the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. It was later confirmed that the Hogs Hill Farm remains dated from the Roman era, meaning that the ironmaking and pottery-producing activities of the Atrebates were continued by their conquerors. By the time the excavations and investigation finished, evidence of three iron bloomeries, a small flint mine, roof tiles (possibly from a building on the site) and many pieces of pottery had been found and catalogued.
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Wikipedia