out when the owner died, revealed that the George Hotel had 15 bedrooms, two parlours, a kitchen, a bakery, a small brewery, stables, a barn, a back yard and a cellar. Meanwhile, a gallows was erected outside the hotel, partly spanning the High Street; one end was attached to the top floor of the building. Until the 18th century, the narrow, waterlogged road northwards from Crawley towards Reigate and London could only be used by horses, and even then only with difficulty; it was impassable for carriages, carts and other wheeled vehicles. Trade was being affected, demand for travel between Crawley and London was growing (by the late 17th century it was one of several towns in Sussex to be served by scheduled packhorse-drawn goods wagons to and from the capital), and the nearby market towns of Horsham and East Grinstead threatened to overtake Crawley in importance. (Like Crawley, they each had two licensed taverns in 1636, when an inventory of Sussex's 61 licensed premises was drawn up.) In 1696, one of England's first turnpike Acts was passed, which allowed tolls to be collected to pay for repairs and improvement. A tollgate was built at the north end of Crawley, which gave its name to the present neighbourhood of Northgate. 18th–19th century The growth of Brighton as a fashionable seaside resort from the mid-18th century was also invaluable to Crawley's prosperity: it lay directly south of Crawley, and replaced Shoreham as the main focus of north–south traffic. In 1770, the section between Lowfield Heath (north of Crawley) and Brighton was turnpiked, and for the first time the full length of the London–Brighton road was properly constructed and maintained. The journey by horse and carriage now took about eight hours, and Crawley was perfectly placed to become a daytime or overnight stopping point. Within a few years, about 60 coaches were making the journey every day, and The George—as the town's largest and best-equipped hotel—became "the recognised halfway house between London and Brighton". Artist Thomas Rowlandson's aquatint of 1789, An Excursion to Brighthelmstone in 1789 (the title uses Brighton's original name), shows The George Hotel prominently. It is the earliest artistic depiction of Crawley, and shows a riotous horse auction underneath the original gallows. The horses were reputedly seized from smugglers apprehended in the area, which was notorious for that activity at the time. Bareknuckle prizefighting was also a major local