St Michael and All Angels Church, Lowfield Heath

The hamlet of Lowfield Heath began to develop on the heath of the same name, north of Crawley, after 1770 when the London to Brighton road was turnpiked. The road ran across the heath on its way to Crawley, and a few farms and houses were built close to it. The heath, which had been common land, was enclosed in 1827 and 1846, encouraging more residential development. Lowfield Heath village, and the heath itself, straddled the county boundary between Surrey and Sussex, Architect William Burges, who had worked on The Great Exhibition in London and St Finbarre's Cathedral in Cork and who later built Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch in Wales, was employed to build a church on the site. Work started in 1867, and the foundation stone was laid on 15 July of that year. The consecration ceremony took place on 1 December 1868. Between the early 1950s, when the Government announced its decision, and the early 1970s, when the White Lion public house and the last few houses were demolished, every original building in the village, except the church, was destroyed. A special service was held at the church in 1989 to commemorate the loss of the village. A plaque was unveiled by the entrance door: ==Architecture==