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Redhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead

, Surrey

, England and is part of the London commuter belt. Redhill and the adjacent town of Reigate

form a single urban area.

History

The town came into being when a road was built in 1818 The settlement was originally known as Warwick Town and became known as Redhill when the post office moved from Red Hill Common in 1856.

A major factor in the development of the town was the coming of the railway. Redhill railway station

continues to be an important junction. Redhill is also one of the few places in the UK where Fuller's Earth can be extracted Alfred Nobel demonstrated dynamite for the first time at a Redhill quarry in 1867

A Victorian psychiatric hospital to the south of Redhill, the Royal Earlswood Hospital, was for 40 years home to two of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's cousins Katherine Bowes-Lyon and Nerissa Bowes-Lyon, both of whom had learning difficulties. The inmate James Henry Pullen (1835-1916) was an autistic savant. He was a brilliant craftsman and artist. His work was accepted by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Some of Pullen's ship models, designs and art work can be seen on permanent display at the Belfry Shopping Centre, High Street, Redhill. The hospital site has now been converted to luxury apartments.

Richard Carrington, the famous amateur astronomer, moved to Redhill in 1852, using his family fortune to build his own house and observatory. It was here that in 1859 he made astronomical observations that first corroborated the existence of solar flares as well as their electrical influence upon the Earth and its aurorae. In 1863 he published records of sunspot observations that first demonstrated differential rotation in the Sun. In 1865 ill health prompted him to sell his house and move to Churt, Surrey

View from Redhill Common towards St John's Church August 2000

St John the Evangelist

was the first of Redhill's parish churches and the parish originally stretched from Gatton in the north to Sidlow in the south.

Today

Redhill is part of the Reigate and Banstead

local government district.

On the edge of Redhill is Gatton Park, an estate once owned by the Colmans; the estate had a private chapel (now open to the public) and Japanese garden. The veteran London to Brighton car rally runs through the town each year.

Over the years the town centre has included many major high street names. It has a market each Thursday and Saturday and sometimes hosts a French market.

The town has a distinctive red-brick theatre-cinema-library complex, called the Warwick Quadrant (housing the Harlequin Theatre and Cinema, library, Sainsbury's and other shops), and an old shopping arcade; for many years this was simply called "The Arcade"; today its name has changed to "Redhill Indoor Market" although many locals still refer to it by its previous name.

A local night club is currently called 'Liquid and Envy' but is also known to locals by its previous names 'The Embassy' or 'Millionaires' (or simply 'Mares') or 'Busbys', all former names before recent renovation in 2003.

Redhill played host to its own music festival in 2007 headlined by The Ordinary Boys, 'Redfest' will return in July 2009 headlined by The Maccabees

Redhill has hosted an annual air display at its aerodrome up to 2006 as well as a steam fair opposite, however neither were staged in 2008.

Transport

Redhill lies at the junction of the A23

and A25 roads. The junction of the M25

and M23 motorways is near Redhill, but there is no direct access to either motorway from Redhill. The nearest junctions are Reigate Hill (M25), Hooley (M23) and Godstone (M25).

Redhill railway station

is at the junction of three lines, the main London to Brighton line, the North Downs Line running from Reading

to Redhill, and the Redhill to Tonbridge Line.

The London to Brighton line is electrified and is operated by trains belonging to the Southern and First Capital Connect operating companies as well as (very occasional) CrossCountry diesel services from Manchester and Birmingham to Gatwick Airport and Brighton. The line splits north of Redhill at Coulsdon and rejoins to the south of Redhill allowing most fast services to bypass Redhill. London-bound trains usually go to either London Victoria

or London Bridge

. Coming out of London, trains for Redhill usually go on Horsham

, Portsmouth Harbour

, Three Bridges

or Gatwick Airport.

First Capital Connect operates the 'Thameslink' service which goes through London, calling at London Blackfriars

, City Thameslink

, Farringdon

and St Pancras International

, then continues north to Luton Airport Parkway

and Bedford

. There is a very limited service at Redhill.

The line to the west is electrified as far as Reigate

, with some services from London terminating there. Through trains to Dorking, Guildford and Reading are run by First Great Western and are diesel. Trains to stations to Tonbridge to the east, are run by South Eastern. Most diesel services from the North Downs Line go on to Gatwick Airport.

Numerous bus services are operated to the town, by Arriva, Metrobus and Southdown PSV. In May 2008, route 100 to Crawley became part of the Fastway bus rapid transport system, following redevelopment of the town bus station.

Air access is available at Redhill Aerodrome