Three Bridges started life as a tiny hamlet and began to grow with the coming of the London and Brighton Railway in 1841. Despite beliefs to the contrary, the village was not named after rail bridges, but three much older crossings over streams in the area (River Mole tributaries).
The hamlet became the site of an important railway junction in 1848 with the opening of the branch line to Horsham and thence to Portsmouth. The railway established a motive power depot and marshalling yards to the south of the village. A further branch line to East Grinstead was opened in 1855. The village changed radically with the coming of the New town development in the Crawley area in the late 1940s. Three Bridges was one of the first group of neighbourhoods to be built. There are currently 13 neighbourhoods.
Nearby Pembroke Park was the site of the old Crawley Leisure Centre which was built in the early 1960s, closing in 2005. It now comprises of a number apartments and houses.