Horsham is a market town and civil parish in in the Horsham District of West Sussex and is the administrative and market centre of Horsham District. It is twinned with the towns St Maixent L’Ecole in France, Lage in Germany and Lerici in Italy and has a population of over 50,000.
First mentioned in a Saxon charter of 947AD, Horsham became an important market town during the Middle Ages. Despite its local iron industry and prosperous brewing industry, Horsham still remained primarily a market town serving the many farms in the area up until at least the 17th century. It was the early 20th century, when residential development began to flourish that the manufacture of bricks from the Wealden Clay on which the town sits became Horsham’s most important industry. Warnham and Wealden Brickworks still operate two miles north of Horsham.
Horsham Town Centre has an abundance of historical buildings including the 13th century St. Mary’s Church and the medieval timbered houses of the Causeway. Situated here is the Horsham Museum, a timber-framed Tudor merchant’s house, with a maze of small Tudor and Georgian rooms. There are displays on the history of Horsham as well as its famous native, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Horsham is home to one of England’s most historic schools, Christ’s Hospital, the Bluecoat School, with its uniform dating back to Tudor times, which is housed in an Edwardian complex of buildings designed by English architect Sir Aston Webb. It boasts its own museum which tells of the school’s fascinating past. Visitors are welcomed to take a tour of the school guided by the pupils.
Leisure opportunities are plentiful in Horsham. There are country parks and nature reserves as well as the Downs Link footpath and bridleway which runs from Rudgwick to Bramber, where it joins the South Downs Way. Part of the restored section of the Wey and Arun Canal runs along the northwest boundary of the District, near Billingshurst. Gliding takes place at Parham and there is a choice of golf courses, including Rookwood Golf Course at Horsham which is for use on a ‘pay and play’ basis provided by the District Council, and the famous Mannings Heath Golf Club.
Horsham’s award winning Carfax is the meeting place of five roads and effectively the town centre. Two shopping centres, Piries Place and Swan Walk, are located close by as well as two main shopping streets, East Street and West Street which is now pedestrianised. A new shopping area and public square, the Forum, has recently been completed to the south of West Street, off Blackhorse Way. The modern landscaped piazzas combined with many specialist shops, a modern shopping mall and frequent markets, creates a superb environment for shopping.
In 2006 Channel 4 television recognised the Horsham District to be the second best place in the country to live. The results came from an independent survey of all 434 local authorities that covered many aspects of quality of life, including crime, education, employment, environment and lifestyle.
