Club History

HEDGECOURT LAKE

The lake was established during the 16th Century, together with Wiremill Lake and Furnace Lake, as part of a planned three-lake system. The three lakes were linked as part of an iron processing industry. Wiremill Lake was originally a hammer pond and was known as Woodcock Hammer, and was used to make wrought iron products. Hedgecourt was established as a holding pond for Woodcock Hammer, and had an original area of around 45 acres plus some surrounding marshland. Hedgecourt had its own corn mill but the rights to operate the sluices at Hedgecourt were retained by the owners of Wiremill up until 1912. This meant that the corn miller at Hedgecourt did not have ultimate control of when he could operate his mill. Meanwhile Furnace Pond had a greater depth of water and fall from the overflow outlet than the other two ponds, and this was used to drive a more powerful mill to operate the bellows for an iron ore furnace. This was used to produce pig iron from the locally extracted iron ore, burning timber from the surrounding forests.

The mills associated with the original iron operations closed in the late 18th Century. Wiremill was converted to a wire-producing mill, hence the change of name, and later continued to operate as a corn mill. The original mill cottage at Hedgecourt – now just the southern end of the present building – was built in the 1660s. In the mid-18th Century a windmill was built on land at the south east side of the lake, although this was only in place for a limited period and had disappeared by the end of the 18th Century.

HEDGECOURT LANE

For many years the lane serving the lake and the adjoining properties had a rough unmetalled finish that was prone to deterioration during periods of adverse weather. Maintenance of the road was predominantly carried out by volunteer members of the sailing club. With this task becoming increasingly onerous in recent years, the club investigated the possibility of laying a tarmac surface to the lane. Following discussions with neighbouring properties and consultations with club members, a plan was agreed under which the majority of the project would be funded by the club, with contributions from all the other parties who had rights of access via the lane.

Work on upgrading the surface of the lane was completed in 2015. At the same time, the opportunity was taken to recognise formally the shared responsibility for maintenance of the lane, by setting up an independent fund with annual contributions from each of the properties concerned. A small group of trustees was established for this fund, with representatives from both the sailing club and the other landowners. It was agreed that the fund would be held in the name of the Hedgecourt Lane Management Group.

CRAWLEY MARINERS YACHT CLUB WHERE IT ALL STARTED………….

In November 1963 an article appeared in the local newspaper

“Good news for local boating enthusiasts”

Twenty six such people ‘tied up’ at the Fountain Hotel in Handcross, last week to form a boating club. “It soon became obvious that there is a great need in this town for a club which will cater not so much for the dinghy enthusiast, but for the family man who just wishes to either cruise or potter about in boats” said Mr B W Spicer. “It is also hoped to help those, who having built their first boat, want some guidance on how and where to use it”.

Mr Spicer, a keen dinghy owner and member of a south coast sailing club called the meeting. He was elected secretary of the temporary committee, with Mr H G Winter as chairman and Mr G E Evans as treasurer. Others elected were Messer’s G Everett, R Hancock, T Rogerson and P Hayes.

Anyone interested in joining the club should get in touch with Mr Spicer who lives at Dixie,Church Road, Worth. Failing this you can go to the next meeting on December 17th at the Fountain Hotel. The meeting will cast off at 8pm.

Our club was formed on 23 November 1963 (the day after President Jack Kennedy was assassinated). We were affiliated to both the Royal Yachting Association and the British Canoe Union. Our committee consisted of all the usual post holders plus a Swimming Secretary, a Canoeing Secretary, and the Sailing Sub committee had Boy and Girl Captains as members. In the early days, Juniors were not allowed to be members unless they could swim at least 100 yards. There was a test in the local swimming pool, supervised by the Swimming Secretary!

Dry Meetings have always been a feature of Crawley Mariners and at various times have taken place at Three Bridges Football Club Pavilion, The George Hotel, Gatwick Manor, The Crawley Club and now at The Haven Centre, Crawley Down.

A problem early Mariners had was no where to sail, so they formed a Sailing Waters Sub committee, whose purpose was to find suitable sailing venues, including the possibility of the new reservoirs at Weir Wood and Bough Beech. The Water Boards were considering allowing sailing at these lovely new lakes, but others wanted them for fishing only. Competition was fierce and local MPs were involved. (Eventually, sailing was allowed at Weirwood, but only in the winter months, but that’s a whole other story).  Meanwhile Crawley Mariners travelled. We sailed at Shoreham, Felpham, Chichester Harbour, Wareham, Brighton, and Lancing Sailing Clubs and almost any other stretch of coast with suitable launching. Canoe racing on the River Arun also featured in the programme. Camping and sailing over Spring Bank Holidays was also popular. Hedgecourt Lake is first mentioned in club minutes in 1966. In 1967 we were allowed to sail there on weekdays only by the owner, Dr Ashby. Members had to pay an additional fee of 15s (75p) per year, and fly a club burgee for this privilege. 20 members took advantage of this offer. Also in 1967, we made a successful application to sail at Tilgate Lake, and acquired the use of Tilgate Hut that we used for storage and maintenance of boats etc. We continued to use the hut right up until the mid 1980s.

Dr Ashby decided to sell Hedgecourt Lake in 1976, and after some competition from Mr Friend, who by that time owned neighbouring Hedgecourt Farm, our offer was accepted. We became a limited company in 1976, raised a mortgage (after the Treasurer of the day entertained the local Bank Manager to a rather good lunch) and for the princely sum of £32,000, we became the owners of both the lake and some surrounding land in February 1977. In those days sailing took place from the Mill Lane end of the lake, members having to tow their boats to the lake each time they wished to sail. We had the use of a rented field, known as the Bennett Plot, for car parking and a wooden site hut adapted for use as changing rooms. We also had a portaloo! It was not until we managed to get planning permission in 1986, that the move to the west end of the lake became possible and we had moved lock, stock and portaloo by 1 April 1987. For the first time, we had a dinghy park, and members no longer had to tow their boats and rig from scratch every time they wished to sail. Although this has brought many advantages, it has completely changed the nature of the club, with more events at Hedgecourt, and much less travelling to other venues.

Our clubhouse was built in 1995 and with the aid of a Lottery Grant electricity was installed in 1999.

This is just some of the Crawley Mariner’s history, some of which I remember, and some I have discovered by going through our archives, but if anyone reading this knows more, do share it so that it’s not forgotten as we sail on into the future. It is thanks to our members and hard working committees over the years that we now have such a successful club.

Adrian Fisher
Member since 1982,
Commodore 2012 -2015