Ifield Parish Map
Ifield Windmill and Steam Mill

By 1837 James Bristow had built a windmill on some waste ground on Ifield Green at the end of what we now know as Mill Lane and this operated until approximately 1899. The base survived for another half century and was demolished in the mid 1950s.

Ifield Steam Mill is a three storey (plus attic) brick building which is weatherboarded on the upper floors which stands almost in the centre of Ifield Green, just to the north of Ifield Cricket Club's pavilion, and has the distinction of being the only surviving early Victorian Industrial building in Crawley. It was built sometime between 1841 & 1855 by James Bristow who had been assigned the land by the lord of Ifield Manor. Bristow was also the owner/occupier (and presumably miller) of the earlier windmill which was also sited on Ifield Green, a few yards to the east of the Steam Mill.

The mill was a flour mill and was operated by a steam engine and boiler. Of course, a steam engine required a ready supply of water and this was sourced from a 30 metre well, which was dug directly underneath the engine, and three outlying wells through which surplus hot water circulated for cooling before returning to the principal well ready for use again. It is said that the housewives of the village used to catch some of the hot water as it left the mill to start it's cooling circuit to do their laundry. It seems likely that the three outer wells were near the pond that was roughly where the current gated entrance to the site is. It is said that the pond was also used to hold cooling water. Was this where the weekly wash was performed?

A local builder, Stephen Warren (b. 1842), helped to install the steam engine in 1856 when he was just 14. According to an interview given to the Crawley Observer, Warrens great-grandson, Don Warren, was told by his parents that Stephen built the Royal Oak, a stones throw to the north east of the mill, and that the ironstone used to construct the front wall of the pub was quarried from pits on Ifield Green. It is likely that these 'pits' were the wells used by the steam mill.

Science Museum records tell us that the mill was working until 1914. In the 1950's, the Crawley Development Corporation purchased the land and the mill in order to preserve it and in 1956 passed it to the then Crawley Urban District Council. The boiler chimney at the north end of the mill and the pond survived until the early 1960's when the chimney was declared unsafe and demolished, with the rubble being used to fill in the pond which was deemed to be a danger to children!

In 1959, T.S. Courageous, a unit of the Nautical Training Corps adopted the mill as their base and there they stayed until the 1980's when the rising costs of maintenance proved to be too high and they moved out. Plans to turn the mill into a craft centre also went awry after the now Crawley Borough Council terminated the lease due to the tenant failing to fulfill repair and maintenance requirements. The building is now privately owned and is being converted into a private abode.

As a footnote, the original steam engine used by the boiler is now in the custody of the Verkehr & Technik Museum in Berlin, having been passed to it on a long term loan by the Science Museum. In a note to the Crawley Museum from the Science Museum, the engine is described as 'the only engine of this type and age that we have in the collection'.

This picture, taken in 1953, is of a match between Crawley Town and Eastbourne United and is a rare image of both the steam mill and the (remains of the) windmill. Crawley Town were playing home matches on Ifield Green at the time due to Town Mead, also within the Ancient Parish, undergoing development work. The ownership of this photo is unknown, but the copyright is acknowledged.

An 'Ancient Ifield' Exhibition was held at Crawley Museum between 5 June and 5 July 2025. The posters that were on display at this exhibition can be downloaded from here. The video that was shown, including a version with an alternative soundtrack, along with the trailer used to promote it can be viewed here.

Text & photographs © Ian Mulcahy (apart from the 1953 image). Contact photos@iansapps.co.uk or visit my 'Use of my photographs' page for licensing queries.