For much of its route, the Downs Link follows the course of two dismantled railways - the Cranleigh Line and the Steyning Line - both of which closed in the 1960s as a result of the Beeching Axe. Between 1965 and 1970 the track was lifted and much of the track ballast was removed. The coppiced woodland along many of the cuttings and embankment sides remained unmanaged until 2 April 1970 when ownership of much of the track was sold by the British Railways Board to Surrey County Council and Hambleton Rural District Council for £17,500. The local authorities managed the land until 1984, clearing scrub to allow the general public to use it as a recreational facility. In 1984, the local authorities working together with other authorities and the Manpower Services Commission established the Downs Link, a long footpath and bridleway connecting the North and South Downs National Trails. The Link was opened on 9 July 1984 by the Mayor of Waverley, Anne Hoath, at Baynard's station; it subsequently received a commendation in the National Conservation Award Scheme jointly organised by The Times newspaper and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Present day
The Downs Link is not a National Trail within the meaning of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, but a trail of regional importance supported by three local authorities - Surrey County Council, West Sussex County Council and Waverley Borough Council. For many years the route of the Link deviated from the original railway alignment between Slinfold and Christ's Hospital, near Horsham, where a section of the old line had been sold to an adjacent landowner and the Link was re-routed along the main road. This became known as the 'missing link'. In the winter of 2019/2020 the link was rerouted between Slinfold and Christs Hospital to follow the line of the old railway, passing the old Cranleigh/Guildford line platform before descending via a winding path to pass below the London - Portsmouth line emerging to join Station Road to the east of Christ's Hospital Station. In July 2020 the local signposts at Baystone Bridge, at the western end of the new alignment, had not been changed to update the route to include this section but were still directing Downslink users onto the road. Another missing section in the Downs Link was filled in April 2007 with the granting of a new right of way from Baystone Bridge, along the route of the old railway line, to a point near Christ's Hospital station.
