Balcombe railway station

Balcombe is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It lies 31 miles (50 km) south of London, 16 miles (26 km) north of Brighton, and 32 miles (51 km) east north east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby towns include Crawley to the north west and Haywards Heath to the south south east.

The Balcombe drilling protest occurred when test drilling and possible fracking for petroleum were proposed in 2012 near Balcombe, a village in West Sussex England. Local residents protested and anti-fracking environmentalists in the UK made it a focus of attention. The drill pad is located in a wooded area known as Lower Stumble Wood.

Balcombe tunnel is a railway tunnel on the Brighton Main Line through the Sussex Weald between Three Bridges and Balcombe. It is 1,034 metres (1,131 yards) long. The track is electrified with a 750 V DC third-rail.

Brantridge Park, Balcombe, West Sussex, England is a 19th-century country house, formerly one of the lesser royal residences. It is a Grade II listed building.

Worth Forest is an electoral division of West Sussex in the United Kingdom, and returns one member to sit on West Sussex County Council.

The Wings Museum is an aviation museum located in Sussex, United Kingdom. It is housed in a 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) hangar-like former farm building in Brantridge Lane, between Handcross and Balcombe. The museum displays mainly World War II-related flying memorabilia and equipment which have been donated, or which have been recovered and restored by volunteers.

The Ouse Valley Viaduct (or the Balcombe Viaduct) carries the London-Brighton Railway Line over the River Ouse in Sussex. It is located to the north of Haywards Heath and the south of Balcombe. Known for its ornate design, the structure has been described as "probably the most elegant viaduct in Britain."Construction of the Ouse Valley Viaduct commenced by the London & Brighton Railway company in 1839. It was designed by the principal engineer for the line, John Urpeth Rastrick, in association with the architect of the London to Brighton railway, David Mocatta. The viaduct is 96 feet (29 m) high and is carried on 37 semi-circular arches, each of 30 feet (9.1 m), surmounted by balustrades, spanning a total length of 1,480 feet (450 m). Each pier contains a jack arch with a semi-circular soffit, which had the benefit of reducing the number of bricks required. The roughly 11 million bricks required for its construction were mostly shipped up the River Ouse (via Newhaven and Lewes) from the Netherlands. On 12 July 1841, the viaduct was officially opened to train services, although the structure was not fully completed until the following year. Despite the structure's fine design, materials, and architectural features, the viaduct has had an expensive and problematic history. The first major restoration work occurred during the 1890s, during which sections of the original brickwork were entirely replaced in the belief that this would increase the structure's strength. However, the viaduct suffered considerable decay during the majority of the twentieth century. By May 1983, the viaduct had been recognised as a Grade II* listed structure. Between March 1996 and September 1999, the viaduct was subject to an extensive restoration by national rail infrastructure owner Railtrack; this work was part-funded by the Railway Heritage Trust, English Heritage and West Sussex County Council.

Worth Forest is a 43.8-hectare (108-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Crawley in West Sussex. It is in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.This ancient wood is in a ghyll formed by a stream which has eroded soft sandstone. The poorly drained valley bottom has carpets of Sphagnum while the upper slopes are dry and have a diverse community of mosses, liverworts and lichens.The site is private land but it is crossed by public footpaths.

Balcombe Place is a Grade II* Listed Building, built in 1856 in West Sussex, with a south view across the Ouse Valley. It now forms part of The Balcombe Estate.The architect was Henry Clutton. It was built for John Alexander Hankey, whose family had been living at Naylands, a house about 1 mile away. The Gentleman's Magazine in 1864 refers to a meeting where “members adjourned to Balcombe Place, a residence recently erected by John Alexander Hankey, Esq., who hospitably entertained them”.The main living area was connected to the servant's areas, a rear courtyard and stables. A photograph in 1897 shows a tall, large glass and wood conservatory on the east side. By the 1960s, that structure had fallen in disrepair and had either been demolished on purpose, or had simply fallen down. Images in 2013 suggested it was overgrown, but still protected by walls on each side, and probably still growing plants from earlier plantings. Descriptions refer to the Denmans 'lawn tennis' courts, but their location is unclear. No courts are shown in the 1910 OS map, a (hard) court existed in the 1960s and appears in the 1974 OS map. At 2013, the OS (and Google Earth) show the hard court to have gone.Early maps show wooded areas around the main building, but with a generally unobstructed view to the south. By the 1960s, some trees to the east and south had been removed. This may have occurred during the war years, or when the land was used as a school, but may have been arranged beforehand by Lady Denman, who recorded 'bonfires' as a hobby and was once described as 'indiscriminately lopping' trees.

Mid Sussex is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 2019 by Mims Davies, a Conservative. She is currently a minister in the Department for Work and Pensions.

The Ouse Valley Railway was to have been part of the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway (LBSCR). It was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1864 and construction of the 20 miles (32 km) long line was begun, but not completed. It never opened to traffic.

Ardingly Reservoir is west of Ardingly in West Sussex. The southern end is a 74.5-hectare (184-acre) Local Nature Reserve owned and managed by South East Water.The reservoir feeds the River Ouse located in West Sussex, England 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Haywards Heath. The villages of Ardingly and Balcombe are immediately to the east and north of the reservoir respectively. It was created in 1978 by damming Shell Brook, a tributary of the River Ouse which flows into the Ouse about 500m south of the reservoir. It is filled with water pumped from the River Ouse when river flows are high. The water is stored in the reservoir before being treated and distributed to consumers. The Ardingly Activity Centre provides watersports for the public including wind surfing, kayaking, powerboating, paddle boarding and dinghy sailing. The reservoir is also used by Ardingly Rowing Club.The west bank of the reservoir is private property of the Balcombe Estate but the north, south and east shores offer public rights of way and bridleways. Ornithologists are catered for with two bird hides situated on the east bank.