Horsham
Our Beautiful Town
I've heard us called "Horshamites" - those of us who live in Horsham and love it.
Horsham was an old market town and the Carfax is still at its centre, with a farmers market and others being held on a regular basis. The Carfax - which means meeting place of 4 roads - is also home to some beautiful buildings, the war memorial and the lovely bandstand. With it's cobbled roads and gas lights, there's something unique about the events held in Horsham centre, from the switching on of the Christmas lights and the traditional fair to the annual Italian weekend complete with super cars. St Mary's Church stands at the end of The Causeway, a much photographed historic part of the town that houses the local museum and some gorgeous homes. It's surprisingly quiet since it's only just off the Carfax, but there's no way through by car so traffic is kept to a minimum. Between the Carfax and The Causeway stands the Old Town Hall. It's a small building that was used for a while for antique fairs and craft shows after the town hall moved. It has now been converted into a restaurant. Upstairs used to be the registry office, which is now housed at Park House in North Street with the council offices. The earliest recorded mention of Horsham was in 947 AD and it's still debated whether the name originates from the term "Horses Home" or from the name of a local Saxon warrior called Horsa. The suffix "ham" is well known to mean town or farmstead in old English, widely used around the country including Birmingham and Nottingham.
Situated on the outskirts of the Weald, Horsham in West Sussex is situated on the upper part of the River Arun, only 30 miles or so from London, making it ideal commuter territory. The soil is heavy clay and there are still brickworks around the area turning out specialist and hand-made building materials. Although great for building, our sticky clay is not so good for travelling through and it's reputed that the Romans encountered our difficult ground and decided to keep going! The A29, which runs close to Horsham, through Billingshurst, from North to South, is the old Roman road still known as Stane Street. You can always tell a Roman thoroughfare because most of our roads are windy, whereas those were built to move troops from A to B and were therefore straight and unwavering. Return to the home page
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