Handcross

---

title: "Handcross" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["villages-in-west-sussex", "mid-sussex-district"] description: "Village in West Sussex, England" topic_path: "general/villages-in-west-sussex" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handcross" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Village in West Sussex, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]

Field	Value
country	England
static_image	Handcross News - geograph.org.uk - 709840.jpg
static_image_width	240px
coordinates
official_name	Handcross
civil_parish	Slaugham
shire_district	Mid Sussex
shire_county	West Sussex
region	South East England
constituency_westminster	East Grinstead and Uckfield
post_town	HAYWARDS HEATH
postcode_district	RH17
postcode_area	RH
dial_code	01444
os_grid_reference	TQ262297
::

| country = England | static_image = Handcross News - geograph.org.uk - 709840.jpg | static_image_width = 240px | static_image_caption = | coordinates = | official_name = Handcross | population = | civil_parish = Slaugham | shire_district = Mid Sussex | shire_county = West Sussex | region = South East England | constituency_westminster = East Grinstead and Uckfield | post_town = HAYWARDS HEATH | postcode_district = RH17 | postcode_area = RH | dial_code = 01444 | os_grid_reference = TQ262297 Handcross is a village in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the A23 road 4.2 mi south of Crawley. At the 2011 Census the population fell within the civil parish of Slaugham.

Nymans Garden, 30 acre of parklands run by the National Trust, is located adjacent to the High Street, as are 20 acre of woodland and water gardens at High Beeches Garden.

Handcross has one public house, The Red Lion (High Street), which was refurbished in 2010 in contemporary style. It formerly had three, the other two being The Fountain (demolished in 2012 and replaced by housing) and The Royal Oak (closed in 2020). Handcross also has a Social club.

Handcross Primary School, situated at the northern end of the village recently underwent extensive building works to increase capacity. Opposite the primary school is Handcross Park School, an independent prep school.

Handcross Hill

Handcross Hill is a stretch of the A23 road which runs past the village. This part of dual carriageway used to be notorious for accidents due to its being on a steep gradient, being surrounded by trees and containing a number of sharp bends, those being unsuitable for a road of its type.

On 12 July 1906, a bus crashed into a tree following a mechanical failure, killing 10 people and injuring 26 in the worst road crash in Sussex history.

The hill has proved to be dangerous enough to be widened and straightened by the Highways Agency and the cutting of the surrounding trees began overnight in mid-2011. The project was completed in late 2014.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Sharp_Righthand_bend_on_Handcross_Hill_(A23_Southbound)_-geograph.org.uk-_69937.jpg" caption="Sharp righthand bend on the original road design"] ::

References

References

1. High Beeches Garden http://www.highbeeches.com/
2. The Red Lion, Handcross http://www.redlionhandcross.co.uk/
3. Handcross Primary School [http://www.handcrossprimary.org.uk/ http://www.handcrossprimary.uk/] {{Webarchive. link. (23 August 2014)
4. (13 July 1906). "MOTOR OMNIBUS ACCIDENT". [[The Times]].
5. A23 Handcross to Warninglid http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/road-projects/a23-handcross-to-warninglid {{Webarchive. link. (10 August 2013)
6. "A23 Handcross to Warninglid: Five-year post-opening project evaluation". National Highways.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::