Horsham, Sussex

Historical Description

Horsham, a town and a parish in Sussex. The town stands on a branch of the river Arun, at the W side of St Leonard's Forest, with a station on the L.B. & S.C.R., 38 miles from London, and a post, money order, and telegraph office. Acreage of the civil parish, 11, 087; population, 11, 063; of the ecclesiastical, 9289. The name is derived by some from hurst and ham, signifying the " wood town;" by others from hors ham, signifying the "horse meadow;" by others from the Saxon chief Horsa, whom some accounts assert to have been slain and buried in the neighbourhood. The town was a place of much trade prior to the decay of iShoreham Haven; it went into considerable decadence in the 16th century; it presented, so late as about 1830, an appearance more of village than of town, with most of its houses only one storey high, and many of them wooden; but latterly it has been very much improved by the reconstruction of houses, by the erection of numerous villa residences, and by general cleaning and embellishment. One of its principal streets is adorned with rows of trees; this street and another principal one cross each other at right angles, and several smaller streets go off to the right and the left. Some pleasant scenery lies around, and Denne Hill, closely adjacent, commands extensive views, and overlooks an avenue of 1½ mile in St Leonard's Forest. The chief public buildings are the court-house or town-hall, the market-house, the grammar school, and workhouse. The town-hall was almost entirely rebuilt in 1888. One weekly newspaper is published. The parish church is partly Norman partly Later English, but chiefly Early English, was mainly built in the time of King John by the nuns of Ensper monastery, who held the great tithes; consists of nave, chancel, aisles, and porch, with lofty tower and spire, contains a fine octagonal font, altar-tombs of Thomas Lord Braose and Thomas Hoo, a fine marble tomb and effigies of Elizabeth Delves, and a brass of a priest of 1430. The building was restored in 1865, and again in 1890. There are Congregational, Wesleyan, Baptist, Free Christian, and Methodist chapels. The Roman Catholic church was built in 1865, and restored in 1886. The grammar school was founded in 1540 for sixty boys, is under the trusteeship of the Mercers' Company, who have added twenty scholars, was rebuilt in 1840 and in 1857, and has a large endowed income. In 1894 it was decided to remove Christ's Hospital from London to Horsham. The workhouse has capacity for 250 persons. There are also almshouses for twenty-four persons, and partially endowed, a chapel of ease, a small iron church, mission-rooms, a literary and scientific institute with reading-room, a permanent benefit building society, an agricultural society, several other institutions, and some small charities. There are several good hotels and inns, and two banks; it is also a seat of petty sessions, county courts, and midsummer quarter-sessions. The Albion Hall, erected in 1880, is used for entertainments, and will seat 300 persons. A weekly corn market is held on Wednesday, a weekly poultry market on Monday, a cattle market on Wednesday, and fairs on 5 April, the Monday before Whitsuntide, 18 July, and 17 and 27 Nov. There are an extensive tannery, an iron foundry, two breweries, a large nursery ground, and several corn mills and malting establishments. The town is a borough by prescription, sent two members to Parliament from the time of Edward I. till the act of 1832, was reduced by that act to the sending of one member, and by the Eedis-tribution of Seats Act, 1885, the borough was disfranchised. The town is governed by a local board of fifteen members. Nicholas of Horsham, a physician of the time of Henry VI., and Bamaby Lintot, the famous publisher of the time of Gay and Pope, were natives.

Denne House was an ancient seat of the Braose family. now belongs to the Eversfields, stands on a spot which is supposed to have had a Danish camp, derives thence its name of Denne, originally Dane, is confronted by an eminence called Picts' Hill, supposed to have been a post of the Picts in conflict with the Danes, and is surrounded with a park which commands fine views over the North Weald. Cheesworth also was anciently a seat of the Braoses, was the place where Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, was apprehended in 1571, and is now a farmhouse. Coolhurst is a mansion in the Tudor style, and was rebuilt in 1831 for the Dowager-Marchioness of Northampton. Horsham Park is the seat of the Hurst family. There are a number of very fine modern residences in the neighbourhood. The Duke of Norfolk is lord of the manor. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chichester; value, £380 with residence. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Horsham Parliamentary Division, or North-Western Sussex, was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 52, 978. The division includes the following:- Horsham-Beeding (Lower), Billinghurst, Cowfold, Horsham, Ifield, Itchingfield, Nnthurst, Eudgwick, Ensper, Sherman-bnry, Shipley, Slinfold, Warnham, West Grinsted; Midhurst -Ambersham (North) Tithing, Ambersham (South) TithIng, Bepton, Chithurst, Cocking, Didling, Easebourne, Elated, Fernhurst, Graffham, Harting, Heyshott, Iping, Linch, Linchmere, Lodsworth, Midhurst, Rogate, Selham, Stedham, Terwick, Treyford, Trotton, West Lavington, Woolbeding; Petworth-Barlavington, Bignor, Bnrton, Bury, Coates, Coldwaltham, Dnncton, East Lavington, Egdean, Fittleworth, Greatham, Hardham, Kirdford, Lurgashall, Northchapel, Parham, Petworth, Pulborough, Stopham, Sutton, Tillington, West Chiltington, Wiggonholt, Wisboroagh Green; Cnck-field (part of)-Crawley.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Horsham from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Horsham (St. Mary))

Maps

Online maps of Horsham are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Sussex newspapers online:

• Mid Sussex Times
• Chichester Express and West Sussex Journal
• Sussex Agricultural Express
• Hastings and St Leonards Observer
• Sussex Advertiser
• Brighton Gazette
• Bexhill-on-Sea Observer