Bibliography - Burgess Hill, Mid Sussex District, West Sussex
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Otehall, by Rev. Edward Turner, published 1867 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 19, article, pp.61-70) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2104] & The Keep [LIB/500238] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Burgess Hill As a Health Resort: Hints to Those in Search of a Healthy Country Home, by Thomas Frederick Isaacson Blaker, published 1883 (46 pp., Brighton: Beal & Co.) accessible at: British Library & West Sussex Libraries

The name 'Burgess Hill', by Walter C. Renshaw, published 1904 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 47, notes & queries, pp.156-157) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2132] & The Keep [LIB/500265] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Burgess Hill: its History and Guide, c1910, published c.1910 (pamphlet) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9795]

Richard Dill, M.D.Edin., Burgess Hill, published 16 March 1912 in British Medical Journal (1912, vol. 1, no. 2672, article, pp.647-648)

Obituary of doctor.

Historic Houses of Sussex - Great Ote Hall, by Viscountess Wolseley, published 1927 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. I no. 13, article, pp.582-585) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2303][Lib 8326] & The Keep [LIB/500137]

Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath, by Rev. J. P. Bacon-Phillips, published 1930 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. IV no. 7, article, pp.565-566) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2308][Lib 2309] & The Keep [LIB/500173]

Sussex and the U.S.A., 2nd series. 3 - Sussex and William Shirley, Governor of Massachusetts, by David McLean, published 1931 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. V no. 3, article, pp.199-205; no. 4, pp.268-272) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2310] & The Keep [LIB/500174]

The Story of Burgess Hill, by Albert Henry Gregory, published 1933 (215 pp., Haywards Heath: Charles Clarke) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/503796] & British Library & West Sussex Libraries

Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath. An introduction to two charming Sussex towns, published 1936 (19 pp., Gloucester: British Publishing Co.) accessible at: British Library

The bird population of an area in Sussex, by Vera Maynard, published November 1936 in Journal of Animal Ecology (vol. 5, no. 2, article, pp.312-318)

Census of 20 acres at Woodwards, Burgess Hill, in 1934-35.

Burgess Hill. The official guide, published 1951 (40 pp., Ed. J. Burrow & Co.) accessible at: British Library

List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: Burgess Hill UD, published c.1975 (Department of Environment) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7559]

Burgess Hill: Official Guide, published c.1977 (pamphlet, Burgess Hill Town Council) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7830]

Development of Burgess Hill and its Potteries (1828-1978), by Frederic M. Avery, published 1979 (17 pp., published by the author) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502464] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Burgess Hill Brickworks and Potteries, by Frederic M. Avery, published September 1979 in Sussex Genealogist and Family Historian (vol. 1 no. 2, article, pp.40-47) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 17603] & The Keep [LIB/501187] & CD SXGS from S.F.H.G.

Includes a genealogical table showing the connections between the Avery, Gravett and Norman families who were engaged in pottery and brickmaking in the area and in Clayton, Keymer, Ditchling, Chailey from 1812

Conservation Area: Silverdale Road / Birchwood Grove Road, Burgess Hill, published 1982 (pamphlet, Mid Sussex District Council) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8634]

Burgess Hill Past & Present, by Frederic M. Avery, published 1984 (booklet, 60 pp., Avery Publications, ISBN-10: 0950914606 & ISBN-13: 9780950914602) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9134] & West Sussex Libraries

Very Improving Neighbourhood, Burgess Hill 1840-1914, by Brian Short, published December 1984 (Occasional paper no. 23, 85 pp., Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex, ISBN-10: 0904242269 & ISBN-13: 9780904242263) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

The Place Names and early Topography of Burgess Hill, by Heather M. Warne, published 1985 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 123, article, pp.127-144) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9514] & The Keep [LIB/500310] & S.A.S. library

St John's Congregational Chapel, Burgess Hill Memorial Inscriptions, by Rose Powell, published September 1985 in Sussex Genealogist and Family Historian (vol. 7 no. 2, article, pp.59-62) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [MP 6277] & The Keep [LIB/501193] & CD SXGS from S.F.H.G.

A short history of Burgess Hill School for Girls, 1906-1986, by Angela Davies, published 1986 (80 pp., Burgess Hill School for Girls) accessible at: British Library & West Sussex Libraries

London Road School, Burgesse Hill, published March 1987 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 7 no. 4, article, p.146) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 10461] & The Keep [LIB/501259] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

Copy of examination schedule for 1874 listing Student's name, age last birthday, number of attendances during the year and date of admission

Burgess Hill in Old Picture Postcards, by Frederic M. Avery, published 1988

Burgess Hill, by Hugh Matthews, published 1989 (185 pp., Chichester: Phillimore & Co. Ltd., ISBN-10: 0850336783 & ISBN-13: 9780850336788) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 10583] & West Sussex Libraries

Burgess Hill Local History Society Journal, published 1993 (periodical) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16295]

1985 to 1993: Nos 1 to 6

Burgess Hill in Old Picture Postcards, by Frederic M. Avery, published 1994 (new edition, 80 pp., Europese Bibliotheek B.V, ISBN-10: 9028846298 & ISBN-13: 9789028846296) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

The Roman road at Burgess Hill, by Christopher Butler, published 1997 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 135, shorter article, p.301) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 13642] & The Keep [LIB/500290] & S.A.S. library

Field Notes: Romano-British iron working at Burgess Hill, Sussex, compiled by J. S. Hodgkinson, published 1997 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 17, report, pp.2-8, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506564]   Download PDF

Edwin Street and the Victoria Pleasure Gardens, Burgess Hill, by Mark Dudeney and Eileen Hallett, published 1 June 1997 (80 pp., Burgess Hill: Mid-Sussex Books, ISBN-10: 0953062503 & ISBN-13: 9780953062508) accessible at: British Library & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Early Bronze Age and later activity at Maltings Farm, Burgess Hill, by Christopher Butler, published 1998 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 136, shorter article, pp.193-197) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 13921] & The Keep [LIB/500297] & S.A.S. library

Full Life in Ditchling, Hassocks and Burgess Hill, 1919-1997, by John Stenning, published 1 February 1998 (128 pp., Country Books, ISBN-10: 1898941106 & ISBN-13: 9781898941101) accessible at: British Library & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Burgess Hill , by Caroline Adams, Steve Griffiths, Martin Hayes and Timothy McCann, published 1 November 1998 (Local History Mini-Guide to Sources, No. 9, pamphlet, 12 pp., Chichester: West Sussex County Council, ISBN-10: 0862604362 & ISBN-13: 9780862604363) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 13864][Lib 12865] & British Library & West Sussex Libraries

The excavation of a Romano-British site at Burgess Hill, West Sussex, by Jennifer Sawyer, published 1999 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 137, article, pp.49-58) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14439] & The Keep [LIB/500291] & S.A.S. library   View Online

A watching brief and subsequent excavation by the Field Archaeology Unit, University College London, in advance of development of land to the west of Burgess Hill revealed a number of Romano-British features. Evidence of Mesolithic and Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age activity was established through the surface collection of a small assemblage of worked flint. A single blade/burin of Upper Palaeolithic date was also located. Romano-British features, which were predominantly of late 4th-century date included a ditch with a large pottery assemblage and a probable corn-drying oven.

The course of the London to Brighton Roman road south of Burgess Hill, by Glen Shields, published 1999 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 137, article, pp.81-90) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14439] & The Keep [LIB/500291] & S.A.S. library   View Online

A new course for the London to Brighton Roman road in the Hassocks area and through the Clayton Gap is proposed and described. The existence of an unsuspected Roman road passing northward from the Hassocks area towards the ancient iron-working sites at Crawley is suggested, which has implications for a possible Iron Age road in the region, and for the Roman settlement at Ham Farm in Hassocks. The Clayton Gap findings clarify the changes that were made to the London to Brighton stage-coach road there between 1770 and 1818. Some discussion is given of the possible further course of the Roman road from the Clayton Gap to the coast.

Burgess Hill in Old Picture Postcards: volume 2, by Frederic M. Avery, published 2001 (Europese Bibliotheek B.V, ISBN-10: 9028835628 & ISBN-13: 9789028835627) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

Former Pug Mill, London Road, Burgess Hill, by Ron Martin, published 2002 in Sussex Industrial History (issue no. 32, article, pp.39-40, ISSN: 0263-5151) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506530]   Download PDF

The site of the pug mill is in the car park area at the rear of Stockwell Court in London Road, Burgess Hill, at TQ 3070 1509 and it was used prior to its demolition as a store.

Men of Burgess Hill 1939 to 1946, Remembering the Ninety Who Gave their Lives for Peace and Freedom During the Second World War, by Guy Voice, published 2003 (published by the author) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries   Download PDF

Bygone Days in Burgess Hill, by Mark Dudeney and Eileen Hallett, published 15 September 2003 (60 pp., Burgess Hill: Mid-Sussex Books, ISBN-10: 095306252X & ISBN-13: 9780953062522) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

Emily Temple: A Burgess Hill Benefactress , by Pat Farrell and Shirley Penny, published 2005 (Occasional papers, no. 1, 31 pp., Burgess Hill Local History Society, ISBN-10: 0954928105 & ISBN-13: 9780954928100) accessible at: British Library & Burgess Hill Local History Society & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

The Burgess Hill Local History Society have published a small booklet about Emily Temple who was an early benefactress of our town although is little known. Born in the early years of the nineteenth century she became a successful woman in what was then a man's world. Madame Temple, as she like d to be called, came to live in Burgess Hill building St. John's House for herself. Later she built five villas in Upper St John's Road, five pairs of semi-detached villas in Lower Church Road and the St John's Institute (now Park Centre). Madame Temple also gave generously to the poor.

Burgess Hill, Historic Character Assessment Report, compiled by Roland B. Harris, published November 2005 (Sussex Extensive Urban Survey (EUS), 30 pp. + appendices, E.S.C.C., W.S.C.C. & Brighton and Hove City, funded by English Heritage) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries   Download PDF

Burgess Hill, by Hugh Matthews, published 1 December 2006 (128 pp., Chichester: Phillimore & Co. Ltd., ISBN-10: 1860774377 & ISBN-13: 9781860774379) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

Burgess Hill is generally regarded as a 'new' town, since most of the present fabric of the place dates from the mid-19th century or later. Yet there was a thriving settlement in Tudor times and the author has succeeded both in reconstructing Elizabethan Burgess Hill and in producing a remarkably detailed picture of its subsequent growth.
In a narative full of human interest, he reveals how ordinary people lived, how they held and worked their land and how they coped with the problem of making ends meet as the community developed through the 17th and 18th centuries. The enclosure of the commons in the early 19th century, followed by the coming of the railway in 1841, led to major changes in the second half of that century and the birth of the town of today. It swallowed up scores of acres of virgin land, never before cultivated or built upon, instead of gradual expansion outwards from an old-established centre.
Mr Matthews had made a significant contribution to the published history of Sussex. He has also provided Burgess Hill with the history that it always thought it lacked. Residents of the modern town cannot fail to be fascinated by the insight he gives into the making of the town and its unusual pattern for development, or by the richness of the detail of the lifes of generations of their predecessors.
Mark Dudeney has written a final chapter in this book, bringing the story of Burgess Hill into the new millennium.

Norman and Burt: Local Builders of Renown, by Frederic M. Avery, published 1 November 2007 (Occasional papers, no. 2, 42 pp., Burgess Hill Local History Society, ISBN-10: 0954928113 & ISBN-13: 9780954928117) accessible at: Burgess Hill Local History Society & West Sussex Libraries

Unedited : the life and times of J.C. Bee-Mason. M.B.E., by John Bray, published 2009 (limited edition, c. 250 pp., published by the author) accessible at: British Library

Prehistoric burnt flint mounds and later activity at Hammonds Mill Farm, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, by Chris Butler, published 2009 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 147, article, pp.7-18) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 17254] & The Keep [LIB/500365] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Rescue excavations carried out by the Mid Sussex Field Archaeological Team at Hammonds Mill Farm, Burgess Hill, located two prehistoric burnt flint mounds together with Roman and medieval features during the construction of a new lake adjacent to the Heron Stream.

Norman & Burt of Burgess Hill - Local Builders of Renown, by Frederic M. Avery, published 2010 in Sussex Industrial History (issue no. 40, article, pp.2-6, ISSN: 0263-5151) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506537]   Download PDF

In 1862 Simeon Norman started a building business in Burgess Hill from premises in London Road just south of the "Brewer's Arms" public house. He was the youngest of eleven children and his father was William Norman of Chailey whose first wife was Mary Avery (1780-1815), of Fowles Farm, St. John's Common in Clayton parish. They had three children before Mary died at the young age of 35. William's second marriage was to Barbara Leaney (1796-1867) and they had one daughter and seven sons, the youngest being Simeon, founder of the business, who was born on 3 December 1833.
Simeon's grandparents, Richard and Elizabeth Norman, built the family fortunes at the Chailey brick, tile and pottery works which they inherited in 1792, but started in the trade earlier in Burgess Hill about 1735. Simeon's father, William, continued the works which passed to his older sons Richard and Nathan. Simeon learnt his trade there as a carpenter journeyman. In 1856 Simeon married Catherine Burt, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Burt of Ditchling. The factor that influenced Simeon to establish his business may have been the building of the parish church of St. John the Evangelist, Burgess Hill which by 1861 was under construction by builder John Ellis of Chichester. The following year he established his local building business to fill a perceived "gap in the market". In 1864, Simeon invited his young brother-in-law, Henry Burt (1850 1922), then aged fourteen, to join the firm and later he became a partner in the business.

A History of the Keymer Tile Works, by Frederic M. Avery, published 1 July 2011 (Occasional papers, no. 3, 31 pp., Burgess Hill Local History Society, ISBN-10: 0954928121 & ISBN-13: 9780954928124) accessible at: Burgess Hill Local History Society

Keymer Tile Works has been one of the foremost works in Sussex since the nineteenth century producing good quality bricks and tiles which were used on many buildings throughout south-east England. This book traces the origins of the works and of its many owners in a great deal of detail. The works was originally set up by Sampson Copestake, an entrepreneur who bought large parts of what is now Burgess Hill and the works was well established by 1875, with Henry Johnson, by then a partner, as Johnson & Co. The works was located to the south of Cant's Lane and adjacent to the Eastbourne to Lewes railway line, firing bricks using the clamp system. After a disastrous fire in 1884, the works was substantially rebuilt and was then trading as the Keymer Brick Company, with all bricks being kiln fired and including one large Hoffman kiln. After WWI the works expanded and two more Hoffman kilns, eleven circular beehive kilns and some tunnel kilns were added.
One criticism of the book is that there is not a very coherent description of the structures on the site - the architectural drawing of No 1. Brickworks is the only one included whereas there were several; other drawings were available. Two unfortunate mistakes are that mathematical tiles pre-dated the Brick Tax by several decades and the correct name of the Brighton Children's Hospital was The Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children. It is also unfortunate that some of the illustrations have not reproduced well.
As a history of the firm and its personalities this is an excellent publication and well worth having for anyone interested in brickmaking and Burgess Hill.

Land at Manor Road, Burgess Hill (NGR: TQ32701985) - evaluation report, by Sean Wallis, published July 2011 (Reading: Thames Valley Archaeological Services)   View Online

Middle/Later Bronze Age Occupation at Manor Road, Burgess Hill (NGR: TQ32801970) - excavation report, by Sean Wallis, published December 2011 (Reading: Thames Valley Archaeological Services)   View Online

Land to the north of Maltings Park, Burgess Hill (NGR: TQ29801895) - evaluation reports, by Sean Wallis and Andy Taylor, published October 2012 (Reading: Thames Valley Archaeological Services)   View Online

Middle/Later Bronze Age Occupation at Manor Road, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, by Sean Wallis, published 14 April 2016 (T.V.A.S. occasional paper no. 9, 28 pp., Reading: Thames Valley Archaeological Services, ISBN-10: 1911228021 & ISBN-13: 9781911228028)