High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Crawley ( pronunciation (help·info)) is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is 28 miles (45 km) south of Charing Cross, 18 miles (29 km) north of Brighton and Hove, and 32 miles (51 km) northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of 17.36 square miles (44.96 km2) and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.