Horsham: General history of the town

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE TOWN

The place name Horsham was recorded in 947 as describing a detached pasture place of Washington manor 11 miles (18 km.) to the south. (fn. 1) The first element of the name, as the traditional pronunciation indicates, (fn. 2) refers to horses; the second may allude to a meadow (hamm) by the river Arun, perhaps near the church, where they were kept or bred, or may describe a homestead or settlement (ham), (fn. 3) though there is no other evidence for pre-Conquest settlement at the site of the town. Horsham was called a borough in 1235, (fn. 4) and its urban status is confirmed by references to merchants trading there later in the 13th century, and by the fact that the already large Norman church required rebuilding on an even larger scale at the same period. (fn. 5) In 1322 Horsham was wealthy enough to supply one armed footman for the war in Scotland, like other towns. (fn. 6) At that date it remained small, having the lowest taxation assessment of any Sussex borough except Bramber in 1334. (fn. 7) The next two centuries, however, were a time of very rapid growth, as in other Wealden towns but to a greater degree: in 1524 Horsham's taxpayers had a higher average wealth than those of any other town in the county, while only Chichester and Petworth in western Sussex were assessed for a greater total sum. (fn. 8)

In the 17th century Horsham and Petworth were of roughly equal importance, (fn. 9) but by the later 18th century Horsham had overtaken its rival, (fn. 10) trade being stimulated partly by its function as a centre of county administration and partly by its good road communications. (fn. 11) About 1730 it was already described by a visitor as the metropolis of the Weald. (fn. 12) The building of a barracks in the 1790s brought further prosperity, (fn. 13) so that an outsider in 1814 could describe the town as the most considerable for trade in Sussex. (fn. 14) By that date, too, the town had become a favoured place of residence for people of private means, as it continued to be later; in 1811 they and the unemployed together accounted for nearly one in three of heads of families living in the town. (fn. 15)

The removal of gaol and assizes in the first half of the 19th century and the closure of the barracks, together with the demise of the borough and the eclipse of road traffic, took away much of Horsham's importance, (fn. 16) and may have contributed to the midcentury apathy which one resident complained of. (fn. 17) By c. 1865, however, the town had become a node of railway communication, (fn. 18) while the creation of the administrative county of West Sussex in 1889 gave it a new importance for a time as joint county town with Chichester. (fn. 19) In 1912 Horsham was said to be highly progressive and the local capital of a great agricultural district. (fn. 20) With the 20th-century revival of road transport and with railway electrification it grew faster than ever before. In the 1920s it was an important local shopping centre, (fn. 21) by 1931 it attracted tourists, (fn. 22) and by 1939, after two decades of suburban expansion, it was becoming chiefly a dormitory for commuters to London. (fn. 23) In 1951 Horsham was said to be one of the leading trade centres of Sussex, (fn. 24) while six years later it was the seat of, for instance, divisional offices of the county council. (fn. 25) Thereafter, however, both its commercial and administrative functions were reduced by the rapid growth of Crawley new town; by 1982 Horsham depended on its neighbour for many services, while its shopping facilities had become more specialized in contrast to Crawley's. (fn. 26) The number of holders of season tickets from Horsham station to London rose from 978 in 1961 to 1,243 in 1972, at which date the town also had many residents, especially in higher income groups, who worked in Crawley or at Gatwick airport. The number of season ticket holders from Horsham to London, however, had declined by 1980 to 1,086. (fn. 27)

Edward I visited Horsham in 1278 and 1299, (fn. 28) and Edward II dated deeds at Chesworth House south-east of the town in 1324. (fn. 29) Henry VII and Henry VIII also apparently visited the town in 1488 and 1519 respectively. (fn. 30) In 1588 the master of the grammar school, James Alleyn, raised a troop of soldiers at his own expense to defend the town against the threatened Spanish invasion. (fn. 31) Horsham was affected by the political and religious upheavals of the mid 17th century. The appointment of a new master to the grammar school in 1629 caused a division between the High Church party and the puritans, (fn. 32) and Archbishop Laud's choice of an incumbent was successfully opposed by the puritans in 1643. (fn. 33) In the same year, at the time of the siege of Arundel, royalist troops appear to have occupied the town, with the connivance of Thomas Middleton of Hills house. (fn. 34) In 1648 the town was the scene of a rising of 500 or 600 royalists, supported by the borough bailiffs and constable, in protest against the policies of the parliamentary county committee: the magazine of arms kept in what was presumably the town hall was seized, but the rising was quelled by parliamentary troops under Sir Michael Livesey, at least three townsmen and one soldier being killed. (fn. 35) Eleven years later c. 5,000 'fifth monarchists' met at Horsham. (fn. 36)

A barracks was built on the east side of Worthing Road south-west of the town in 1796. Of timber on brick foundations it generally held between one and two thousand men, and during its existence it was occupied by soldiers of c. 70 regiments. The presence of the soldiers boosted trade in the town, but there were many clashes between them and the townspeople. The last troops left in 1814 or 1815 and the buildings were demolished in the latter year. (fn. 37) Meanwhile in 1804 an ordnance depot to hold 10,000 'stands' of arms had been built on the common north-east of the town. Its grounds were enlarged at the inclosure of 1812-13, but the arms and stores were removed in 1819 and most of the buildings were pulled down c. 1827. In 1947 the entrance gate and pillars and two lodges survived on Depot Road, (fn. 38) but they were later demolished.

During the 19th century and the early 20th there was a strong radical and republican tradition in the town, prominent representatives of which were John Browne the draper (fl. 1824-71), the brewer Henry Michell, and William Albery the saddler and historian of the town (1864-1950). (fn. 39) In the 1810s petitions were sent to parliament in favour of 'reform' and against the slave trade. (fn. 40) Later the townspeople generally supported the labourers' revolt of 1830-1, distributing handbills as far north as Dorking, and earning Horsham the description of 'a hotbed of sedition'. In November 1830 a mob marched on the church and invaded a vestry meeting being held there. Their demands for wages of 2s. 6d. a day with 2s. a week for every child in a family above two, and for the lowering of rents and tithes, were accepted under duress but not fully implemented. During the winter the magistrates found it impossible to enrol householders in the town as special constables because of their sympathy with the labourers. (fn. 41) When troops were called in to preserve order, a public meeting expressed its condemnation of the action. (fn. 42) Later, when the official report on the Horsham riots referred to the 'disaffected and malicious conduct of the lower classes' and to the 'continual dread' felt by the 'more respectable' inhabitants for their property, the townspeople in a public meeting voted to petition the House of Commons that such an account was tendentious and unfounded. (fn. 43) The introduction of the new poor law in 1835 was also coolly received in the town: many electors declined to vote for the new guardians, and seven of the most respected townsmen refused to join the board. In the following year there was a big demonstration on the release from prison of an opponent of the new law. (fn. 44)

There was a military camp at Roffey, opposite All Saints' church, in 1916 and later. (fn. 45)

The town as a county centre

The county court was held at Horsham in 1316, 1319, 1331, and 1334. (fn. 46) Assizes were held there in 1307, 1315, and 1344, (fn. 47) and a gaol delivery session, for Guildford gaol, in 1481. (fn. 48) The place of holding is uncertain, but was later the town hall. (fn. 49) In the late 16th century and in the 17th the Sussex assizes were most often held at East Grinstead; the summer assize was held at Horsham in 1559 and 1560 and at least biennially between 1569 and 1579, but perhaps less often during the earlier 17th century. Between 1660 and 1714 the summer assizes were again usually held at least biennially at Horsham, with occasional spring meetings too. For most of the period 1732-86 the summer assizes were held alternately at Horsham and Lewes. After East Grinstead ceased to be an assize town in 1799 the summer assizes were held at Lewes and the spring ones at Horsham until 1830. (fn. 50)

The midsummer quarter sessions for the whole county were occasionally held at Horsham in the late 16th century and early 17th, but no sessions were held there for half a century after 1646. Between 1696 and 1715 sessions were again held occasionally, for the western division, but from 1722 to 1939 all summer sessions for that division except five were held at Horsham, and between 1890 and 1939 spring sessions as well. From 1761 to 1911 adjourned sessions were often held at Horsham too. (fn. 51) The place of holding, in later times at least, seems always to have been the town hall. (fn. 52)

The county gaol was moved from Lewes to Horsham apparently in the 1530s. (fn. 53) The first gaol building in the town seems to have been a private house on the west side of North Street. Nicholas Lintott was gaoler in 1589, when he contracted with the sheriff to farm the prisoners. (fn. 54) In 1596 prisoners included pirates who were later brought to London for trial. (fn. 55) About 1600 the gaol is said to have been moved to another house on the corner of North Street and the modern Carfax which in 1611 belonged to John Lintott. (fn. 56) In 1640 or 1641 it was again apparently moved to a building further west, on the site of the modern post office; (fn. 57) in 1664 it apparently had 23 hearths. (fn. 58) In the 1720s the gaol was described as of stone, the two-bayed two-storeyed façade being crowned with battlements. (fn. 59) Richard Luckins, gaoler in the 1640s, was himself imprisoned in 1657 for allowing the prisoners too much liberty. (fn. 60) Between the 1650s and the 1670s many Quakers were imprisoned at Horsham, (fn. 61) and in 1735 the gaol was the scene of what was apparently the last use in England of the peine forte et dure. (fn. 62) In 1767 the building could accommodate 19 prisoners. (fn. 63) Conditions in the gaol were severely criticized in 1774 by John Howard; (fn. 64) as a result, in the following year a new gaol, 'the first model prison in England' and the first with single cells, was begun to the designs of the duke of Richmond's surveyor, and in close correspondence with Howard's ideas, on the north side of East Street just outside the town. Partly of local stone, and in classical style, it consisted of a front range containing the governor's house, of five bays and two storeys between end pavilions, and a large prison block behind. (fn. 65) The previous gaol building survived in part in 1868. (fn. 66)

Horsham was also the location of three successive houses of correction for the idle and disorderly, both from the parish and from elsewhere. (fn. 67) The first building existed by 1586. (fn. 68) In 1615 its upkeep was being defrayed by a landscot levied on Horsham parish, (fn. 69) In 1615 its upkeep was being defrayed by a landscot levied on Horsham parish, (fn. 70) from which it was being leased in 1633. (fn. 71) A salaried master was mentioned in 1617. In 1641 the house of correction was ordered to be 'annexed' to the gaol, (fn. 72) and in 1643 and 1645 (fn. 73) the master and the keeper of the gaol were the same man. Shortly afterwards the Horsham house, with two others in western Sussex, was replaced by a single new one at Arundel. (fn. 74) In 1700 quarter sessions ordered that one of the former gaol buildings in Horsham should be adapted as a house of correction for the borough and parish. That building, too, was leased from the parish authorities, (fn. 75) and in 1700 the parish was ordered to pay the master's salary of £3 a year, though in 1722 quarter sessions paid it. In 1731 a new building, for whose maintenance too the parish was later responsible, was fitted up instead; it may have been the building occupied by John Weller which was used as a house of correction in 1770 and which stood on the west side of London Road in 1792. (fn. 76) In 1773 the inmates were confined to a single small room which was always locked. The Horsham premises were replaced in the 1780s by the new house of correction at Petworth. (fn. 77)

From the presence of the county gaol and the holding of both assizes and quarter sessions Horsham acquired very much the character of a county town, especially when as often happened the assizes and sessions were held at the same time of year. (fn. 78) The arrival of the assize judges was a notable event: they would be met by the borough officers at the borough boundary, the occasion being marked by the ringing of the church bells. (fn. 79) Similarly executions were always a great spectacle, both when they were held on Horsham common north-east of the town, and when, after c. 1820, they took place in front of the new gaol in East Street. Up to 3,000 people could be attracted by such an occasion, known morbidly as 'Horsham Hang Fair'. (fn. 80) The last burning at the stake at Horsham was held in 1776, and the last hanging in 1844. (fn. 81)

Other business of a kind appropriate to a county centre was transacted at Horsham. In 1586 it was made a place for keeping military stores. (fn. 82) Forty years later it was the scene of a muster of Bramber rape, (fn. 83) and in the 1640s one of several places of meeting of the parliamentary county committee. (fn. 84) In 1673 and in 1814 the town was described as the county town of Sussex; (fn. 85) some corroboration for the title was the fact that in the last quarter of the 18th century the clerk of the peace was a Horsham solicitor, William Ellis. (fn. 86) In 1809, however, the poor condition of the town hall, contrasted with the better accommodation provided by the recent rebuilding of the Lewes county hall, led to a proposal to cease holding quarter sessions at Horsham; three years later it was proposed to move the spring assizes for the same reason. The plans were averted by the rebuilding of Horsham town hall at the expense of the duke of Norfolk; an alternative suggestion to build a new town hall on another site was not taken up. (fn. 87) The spring assizes continued to be held at Horsham until 1830, when they were moved to Lewes for good; (fn. 88) about two years later it was again abortively proposed by the inhabitants of the town that the justices of the western division of Sussex should build a new county hall at Horsham as their eastern counterparts had done at Lewes. (fn. 89) The gaol meanwhile had been enlarged in 1819-20, (fn. 90) so that in 1831 it had 56 wards, 7 day rooms, and 4 yards for exercise. (fn. 91) After 1830, however, it served only for the confinement of debtors and of those committed for trial at the sessions, and as the place for the execution of felons brought from Lewes gaol. (fn. 92) It was closed in 1845 and demolished soon afterwards, the materials being used among other purposes to build the railway between Horsham and Three Bridges. (fn. 93)

In 1882 the surveyor of roads for the western division of the county lived at Horsham. (fn. 94) After the establishment of West Sussex as an administrative county in 1889 the town became for a time the joint county town with Chichester. County council meetings were held in the town hall from 1890, (fn. 95) and there was an office of the county clerk in East Street in 1914 and 1922. (fn. 96) The offices of the county surveyor were in Horsham until at least 1922, (fn. 97) and those of the education department until c. 1910, (fn. 98) while the chief constable of the county also had his office there until at least 1914. (fn. 99) The county coroner was a Horsham solicitor until at least 1922, and again by 1981. (fn. 100) In 1914 the county council considered siting its headquarters permanently in Horsham, but in 1916 bought premises in Chichester instead. (fn. 101) Meanwhile, since 1890 the holding of quarter sessions had been shared between Horsham and Chichester; in 1940, however, on the opening of the new Chichester court house, they were transferred altogether to Chichester. (fn. 102)

In 1965 and earlier Horsham was the seat of the annual show of the Sussex County Agricultural Society, held in Horsham park or Denne park. (fn. 103)

Growth of the town and outlying settlements

The town of Horsham grew up at the lowest point where the river Arun can easily be crossed between rising ground on either side before its valley begins to open out westwards. The earliest crossing is likely to have been that near the church, at the foot of the modern Causeway; (fn. 104) as elsewhere in the Weald, the church may have been built before any accompanying nucleated settlement existed. There is evidence of occupation by c. 1200 on the site of Causeway House (the modern Horsham museum) in Causeway north-east of the church. (fn. 105) At that point Causeway divides to form what was originally a large triangular market place, since much built over. Near its southern end crosses another early route, followed by the modern East and West streets. The regular shape of the market place in its original form suggests deliberate planning, an idea corroborated by the fact that most of the borough's burgage tenements were either around it or nearby: (fn. 106) Horsham seems likely to have been a 'new town' founded by the Braose family. That may be commemorated in the name Normandy, recorded from 1586, (fn. 107) which describes the road linking the church and Causeway to Denne Road, parallel to Causeway on the east; Denne Road and its northern continuation Park Street both had burgages on the east side, and seem possibly also to have been laid out as part of the 'new town'. The two groups of burgages were separated by a gap in East Street, which may explain Denne Road and Park Street's alternative name Friday Lane recorded c. 1548 and later. (fn. 108) It is notable that no burgages are recorded within the area once part of the large market place. (fn. 109) The erection of permanent buildings there, replacing temporary shops and stalls, had however begun by the late Middle Ages, (fn. 110) and in the 17th and 18th centuries properties there were leased out by the corporation. (fn. 111)

Many medieval buildings besides the church survive in the town centre. (fn. 112) In Causeway there are several houses with medieval portions, (fn. 113) chiefly on the east side of the street, where the rear part of Causeway House is 15th-century and nos. 18 and 19-20 are basically three-bayed hall houses, but also at the south end on the west side, where part of Minstrels (nos. 29-30) (fn. 114) is a hall house with two cross wings, and Flagstones (nos. 24-6) beside the churchyard is largely medieval despite its datestone reading 1615. It is not clear which if any was the chantry priest's house mentioned as being in Causeway in 1638; (fn. 115) the building called Chantry House or The Chantry since 1868 (fn. 116) or earlier is apparently a converted medieval barn. No. 26 North Street, opposite the modern Sun Alliance offices, is a 15thcentury house with hall and two cross wings. A house on the north side of East Street, no. 23, (fn. 117) is the cross wing of a medieval building, while no. 26 Carfax, on the east side, is a late medieval Wealden house. No. 36 Carfax (fn. 118) is the cross wing of a 15th-century building, refaced externally, and a building opposite in Colletts Alley, of four bays with a crown-post roof, is also late medieval; by their presence on island sites they indicate that the 'colonization' of the market place was under way by that time.

Other buildings which also represented late medieval 'colonization' of the market place have been demolished: a building west of no. 36 Carfax, which was possibly a hall house with later cross wings, (fn. 119) and buildings on both sides of Middle Street, of which no. 11, on the north side, was a three-storeyed, double-jettied building with a rear hall. (fn. 120) Other demolished buildings apparently of medieval date include the so-called brotherhood priests' house in Normandy, (fn. 121) the burgage house called Bornes at the north-west corner of Carfax, (fn. 122) a three-bayed house on the south side of West Street, and another hall and cross-wing house, no. 3 East Street. (fn. 123) Perry Place, which stood north-east of no. 26 North Street and had a similar plan to that, was taken down after c. 1904, and its materials used to build a house near Mannings Heath in Nuthurst. (fn. 124)

The density of development in medieval Horsham, as in other towns of its size, was generally not high: most houses were apparently aligned along the streets rather than end on to them, (fn. 125) and much land within the town area apparently remained unbuilt on until the 19th century. (fn. 126) An exception was the part of the market place colonized in the late Middle Ages, the cramped character of which was still apparent in 1982 in Middle Street and its adjacent alleys. Medieval alleyways survived elsewhere in the town in 1982 between burgage plots; examples were Morth's Gardens, Piries Place, and Talbot Lane or Pump Alley. (fn. 127) The only evidence for the 'zoning' of particular trades in the town centre in the Middle Ages is the former name of Middle Street, Butchers' Row, which though not recorded until 1727 (fn. 128) may very likely have originated earlier.

One area outside the borough limits was also partly built up in the Middle Ages: Bishopric, the wide western extension of West Street, where a market was held from 1449 if not earlier. (fn. 129) Its name, alluding to the fact that it lay within the archbishop of Canterbury's manor of Marlpost, is recorded from 1514; (fn. 130) later alternative names were Lower West Street and Oxford Road. (fn. 131) The junction of Bishopric and West Street with the future Worthing and Springfield roads was called Lynd cross in 1412 and later, (fn. 132) and Wallers cross or the Bishopric cross in 1543. (fn. 133) The tanner apparently recorded in Marlpost tithing c. 1285 presumably lived in Bishopric, (fn. 134) and the area, being on the edge of the town, later became a tanning centre. By 1426 there were three tanners and a shoemaker in Marlpost tithing, and the name Tan Bridge nearby recorded from the same date also evidently alludes to the industry. (fn. 135) The Green Dragon inn in Bishopric is a medieval house with two-bayed hall and two cross wings and with a crownpost roof; its high quality may suggest that it had some public function, possibly in connexion with manorial administration, as later. (fn. 136) Also medieval are two houses on the west side of the modern Worthing Road between Lynd cross and Tan Bridge.

Of the town's other street names East Street is recorded from 1457 (fn. 137) and West Street evidently from 1449. (fn. 138) South Street, recorded from 1524, (fn. 139) then described additionally the modern Causeway; (fn. 140) the latter name is recorded apparently in 1555 (fn. 141) and certainly in the early 17th century, (fn. 142) when it was alternatively the Church causey. (fn. 143) North Street, also recorded from 1524, (fn. 144) had previously been known as Comewell or Coombewell Street. (fn. 145) Park Street and Denne Road were both called the back lane between the 17th and 19th centuries, (fn. 146) but for local government purposes at least were often considered part of East Street; (fn. 147) the two roads' other alternative name Friday Lane has been mentioned. Both streets had received their modern names by 1876, (fn. 148) though Denne Road was also called Chesworth Lane in 1839. (fn. 149) The junction of the two streets with East Street was later called Wicken's cross, (fn. 150) and possibly alternatively Stanestreet cross (fn. 151) or the Denne cross. (fn. 152) It is not clear what area was originally called Carfax; at Oxford and Exeter the name describes the crossroads of two streets, (fn. 153) but no such crossing is apparent at Horsham. Originally the whole of the open central area of the town was presumably called the market place, (fn. 154) a name which by c. 1844 was restricted to the south-eastern area around the town hall and as far north as the modern bandstand. (fn. 155) The name Skarfolkes, as a division of the town for taxation purposes, was used in 1524, (fn. 156) and c. 1548 mention was made of 'the street called Scarfax'. (fn. 157) In the later 18th and earlier 19th centuries the name described the west and north sides of the original market area, together sometimes with the southern part of the modern London Road; meanwhile the east side was often considered a continuation of North Street. (fn. 158) Of the area that then still remained open the north-western part was known as Bull Place. (fn. 159) and the north-eastern part, from its most notable adjacent building, as Gaol Green. (fn. 160) By the later 19th century the name Carfax had come to describe the whole of the northern part of the original market place, (fn. 161) as it still did in 1982.

In the 16th and 17th centuries many new buildings were built in the centre of the town, some quite grand in scale. South Street and Causeway were the wealthiest area throughout the period, as tax lists show: in 1524 three owners of property there were assessed at over £50, and another three at £20 or over, the largest assessment being of Avery Bartwyke, M.P. for the town in 1529 and a former controller of customs at the port of Chichester. (fn. 162) Several 16thand 17th-century buildings survive in the two streets and in the adjacent Market Square, notably the tall front range of Causeway House, with a double overhang and two gables on the third storey, and no. 10 Market Square, the former Talbot inn, with contemporary wall paintings. (fn. 163) In Market Square and the northern part of Causeway buildings were more closely built than further south, forming a continuous street frontage.

The areas called North Street and Carfax in 1524, which did not correspond exactly to the modern areas so called, each then had two property owners assessed at £20 or over, but East and West streets had only one each. (fn. 164) No. 14 Carfax, on the north side, is basically 16th-century internally, and there is at least one 17th-century building on the east side of Carfax. (fn. 165) A house probably of 17th-century date with a continuous jetty survives on the north side of Middle Street, (fn. 166) another on the north side of West Street at its eastern end having been destroyed after 1887. (fn. 167) The large house with hall and two cross wings at the junction of East Street and Denne Road is probably early 16th-century; further east one house, no. 58 East Street, has a 16th-century core, while two others in the same area apparently of the 16th or 17th century have been destroyed: the building called Ashley's burgage opposite the house with hall and two cross wings mentioned, (fn. 168) and another opposite no. 58. (fn. 169)

Bishopric meanwhile had apparently become another wealthy area by the earlier 16th century, when most of the seven people in Marlpost tithing assessed in 1524 at £20 or over seem likely to have lived there. (fn. 170) In the mid 17th century Bishopric apparently remained wealthy, (fn. 171) a fact which seems to be expressed in the large contemporary houses built on its north side, (fn. 172) one of which, the King's Arms, survived in 1982. Also probably 17th-century was a large house, now demolished, in the modern Springfield Road north-east of Bishopric. (fn. 173)

In the 18th century several houses in Causeway were refronted in brick in classical style and some new brick houses were built; among larger examples were the house later called The Manor House, described below, (fn. 174) and the adjacent Hawthorne House, demolished in 1886. (fn. 175) Causeway House at the same time was thoroughly refurbished, the present staircase being built and lunette windows added in the gables. By 1770 an avenue of trees had been planted along the street, which in the 1790s was the fashionable afternoon promenade of the town. (fn. 176) Trees remained during the 19th and 20th centuries. (fn. 177) During the same period Causeway became a largely residential backwater, (fn. 178) though tradesmen's houses were still to be found among the grander ones in the 19th century, (fn. 179) and hence in 1982 it retained more pre-19th-century buildings than any other street in the town. (fn. 180)

The second wealthiest area of the town in the 18th century was North Street, (fn. 181) to which prestige was given by the rebuilding of Horsham Park house in the early part of the century. (fn. 182) One resident in the street was described as a gentleman in 1708. (fn. 183) North Street remained a high-class residential area in the earlier 19th century. (fn. 184) In the other main streets of the town 18th-century rebuilding impinged much less. In West Street a visitor in the 1720s saw one 'goodly' house, the residence of a surgeon, while another 'neat' house was being built opposite. (fn. 185) In addition, at the east end of the street c. 1801 was the house of the attorney T. C. Medwin, but a visitor at that date found nothing else in the street worth mention; (fn. 186) more characteristic buildings of the period were the group of cottages on the south side which survived in 1982 as shops. In Carfax meanwhile at least one house, no. 14, was refronted during the 18th century.

The 18th century was also a period of 'ribbon development' along the roads out of the town, especially after they became turnpikes. (fn. 187) There were houses between Bishopric and the river Arun on both sides of Worthing Road by 1795, when there was also some building in its northern continuation, the modern Springfield Road. (fn. 188) The name Chapel Lane was given to both roads c. 1844. (fn. 189) Some apparently 18th-century houses survived in Worthing Road in 1982, together with the Unitarian (formerly Baptist) chapel of c. 1720 and the Quaker meeting house of 1785-6 or later. A pair of apparently 18th-century houses also still stood in 1982 on the north-east side of London Road, faced with brick and weatherboarding. (fn. 190)

In the earlier 19th century the town centre remained surprisingly rural, with many trees in the streets, and with gardens, orchards, and other open land among the buildings. (fn. 191) West Street, though it was said in 1831 to have only four buildings over one storey in height, (fn. 192) was the chief trading street; it was to retain that function until the 1970s. (fn. 193) In the 1830s the largest numbers of professional men lived in Carfax and Market Square, though the adjacent Middle Street then housed such insalubrious trades as those of fellmonger and tallow chandler. (fn. 194) At the same time Bishopric had declined very much from its 17th-century status to become the roughest quarter of the town; known as the 'Rookery', it was inhabited chiefly by small tradesmen and labourers. (fn. 195) At the east side of the town there were some industrial premises, (fn. 196) but new houses were built there too, for instance a terrace in Denne Road dated 1836.

Meanwhile the area north and west of Carfax was beginning to be built up as a select residential area. (fn. 197) Richmond Terrace on the north side of Carfax itself was built c. 1840, its first floor, with Doric porches, being raised above street level. (fn. 198) Albion Terrace north-west of Carfax, comprising semidetached houses, was built by 1836 and was inhabited by middle-class families in 1845. (fn. 199) A house at the junction of Carfax and London Road, demolished in the 1970s, had Ionic pilasters. (fn. 200) Other villas were built at the same time in London Road; (fn. 201) by 1982 some had been demolished, but a terrace called in part Brunswick Place and in part Sussex Place (fn. 202) survived, fronted with fluted Corinthian pilasters, and stepping down from south to north to follow the fall in ground level. Albion Road, linking Carfax with Springfield Road, was laid out c. 1857. (fn. 203) With the expansion of the adjacent gasworks, the area west and north-west of Carfax later declined in status and much of it was demolished during the 1970s. (fn. 204)

In the later 19th and earlier 20th centuries the town centre underwent much rebuilding. Until c. 1850 most building in the main streets remained timber-framed, often with weatherboarding, and of low proportions. (fn. 205) By 1866, however, much rebuilding or refronting was in progress, (fn. 206) and some quite grand commercial buildings were put up. Examples in classical style and since demolished included a group of three on the west side of Carfax, (fn. 207) another on the corner of Market Square and Middle Street, (fn. 208) and the Corn Exchange and another building at opposite ends of West Street. (fn. 209) Surviving late 19thcentury commercial buildings are the red brick Gothic Lloyds bank on the corner of West and South streets, the four-storeyed Gothic building which faces down Causeway, the elaborately gabled Flemish-style nos. 5-7 West Street, the Italianate nos. 31-2 Carfax of 1893, and the 'Queen Anne' style Westminster bank in Carfax of 1897. (fn. 210)

Immediately north of Carfax some residential streets were built in the later 19th or earlier 20th century. (fn. 211) Carfax itself by the mid 19th century is said to have become a wilderness in summer and a partial swamp in winter. (fn. 212) Since the demise of the borough in 1835 its ownership had been dispited, and there were fears that the duke of Norfolk, as successor to the lords of the borough, intended to inclose it, presumably for building. (fn. 213) A plan of after 1867 to embellish the area came to nothing, (fn. 214) and in 1877 the duke gave up his interest there to the newly formed local board of health. (fn. 215) A bandstand was built by subscription in 1891, and trees were planted in 1893. (fn. 216) A fountain was erected to make the Diamond Jubilee of 1897; after removal in 1947 it was re-erected in a different part of the town in 1977. (fn. 217) Other parts of the town besides Carfax were notable for their leafiness in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, for instance Bishopric, North Parade, North Street, and the eastern part of East Street. (fn. 218) A writer in 1880 considered that the trees, together with the width of the streets, and the numerous open spaces, gave Horsham a continental aspect. (fn. 219) Carfax in particular, before the great increase in road traffic, was especially remarked on as an 'oasis in the business quarter of the town'. (fn. 220) In 1982 North Street and Springfield Road each still resembled a boulevard, with grass verges and trees. (fn. 221)

In the same period, the 19th century and the earlier 20th, the town expanded greatly on its north and east sides over what until 1812-13 was the open land of the common; a marked feature of the area are the straight roads laid out at the inclosure of that date, for instance North Parade, and Wimblehurst, King's, and Depot roads. The west side of the town beyond Bishopric remained unbuilt on until the mid 20th century; an attempt to develop land to the south in the early 19th century was abortive, (fn. 222) and the town remained open to the country on that side in 1982, with almost no buildings south of the church.

The first two areas to be built up during the period were along the London and Brighton roads. By c. 1830 there was almost continuous building along the latter beyond the present New Street, as well as scattered development further to the south-east including the beginnings of 'New Town' on the south side of the road. The name East Parade was given to part of the road by 1831. (fn. 223) Among examples of early 19th-century architecture surviving in 1982 were a group of cottages just beyond New Street with slightly bowed fronts, and two larger stuccoed buildings further east, one with Ionic pilasters. More buildings were put up by c. 1844 (fn. 224) and others, including some dated ones, by 1876. (fn. 225) In St. Leonard's Road, which branched off Brighton Road c. ¾ mile (1 km.) east of the town centre, there were already some buildings before 1831, (fn. 226) but most of the surviving 19th-century buildings there were built after c. 1844, the area being described in 1871 as a much improving neighbourhood. (fn. 227) Flanking the London road north of the town were the parks belonging to Springfield and Horsham Park houses, laid out in the 18th century. The area immediately to the north was built up between 1813 and 1831; by the latter date, when it had acquired the name North Parade, it was described as a row of very good houses, (fn. 228) its social cachet being derived partly from its separation from the town and partly from its relative elevation which made it a healthy place to live. There was further development there before c. 1844, (fn. 229) and in 1865 the area was called one of the pleasantest parts of the town. (fn. 230) Several early 19thcentury houses survived there in 1981: detached in North Parade and terraced in Trafalgar Road to the west.

After c. 1830 streets were laid out north of the Brighton road. There were already some houses in New Street, which changed its name about that time from Pest House Lane. (fn. 231) After the demolition of the gaol in 1845 its site, west of New Street, was developed as a select residential enclave called Park Square, renamed Park Terrace East and Park Terrace West when the railway was built through it c. 1859. (fn. 232) Residential development continued in the area despite the proximity not only of the railway, but also of brickfields, a brewery, the tannery in Brighton Road, and later the waterworks. By the 1870s further houses had been built in New Street, and new roads with semidetached houses laid out parallel to it on the east. (fn. 233)

Meanwhile the opening of the Horsham-Petworth railway in 1859, and the expansion of brickworking nearby had blighted the prospects of North Street, which because of its elevation had been described in 1837 as a most pleasant and healthy part of the town. (fn. 234) Instead the area east of the station was developed with lower middle-class houses, chiefly semidetached, and served by corner shops. Much land was sold there for building in the 1870s, (fn. 235) one terrace in Station Road existed by 1876, and Station Road and Barrington Road were built up by 1896. (fn. 236) The west side of Clarence Road south-east of New Street, laid out c. 1884, (fn. 237) was partly built up by 1896, together with land to the north that had previously been allotments. By 1909 the gap between Brighton and Depot roads was closed, Clarence Road having been extended northwards. (fn. 238) Much of that area had been developed by the builder W. F. Pannett, whose offices in 1912 were in Oakhill Road. (fn. 239) The streets between the town centre and the railway both north and south of East Street were also built up between 1875 and 1896. (fn. 240)

Land west of the London road at North Parade was also developed in the later 19th and earlier 20th centuries. Like the area south-east of the station it consisted chiefly of lower middle-class (fn. 241) semidetached houses with corner shops, and until the mid 20th century it was known as 'the back of the common' or simply 'the common', in allusion to the piece of common land that remained for many years after inclosure in Trafalgar Road. (fn. 242) Land was offered for building in North Parade and Trafalgar Road in the 1870s, (fn. 243) and Rushams Road, named from an old field name, (fn. 244) was continued south-west before 1880. (fn. 245) By 1896 Spencer's and adjacent roads had been built up, and by 1909 the streets to the north, on land offered for sale in 1895, together with a terrace in Warnham Road beyond North Parade. (fn. 246)

North Parade meanwhile had lost its isolation when Hurst Road was constructed to link it to the station in the 1860s. (fn. 247) In the following decade land at the west end of the new road was sold for building (fn. 248) and several medium-sized detached houses had been built there by 1876. By 1896 Wimblehurst Road and roads south of it had been partly built up as a select suburb with a mixture of semidetached and detached houses among many trees, and building continued there until the First World War. At the other end of Hurst Road, and between it and the railway, semidetached and terraced houses had been built by 1896. By the same date the open land between the residential development at either end had begun to be colonized by institutions, with the building there of the cottage hospital, the new Collyer's school, and the art school. (fn. 249)

North-east of the town (fn. 250) during the 19th century and earlier 20th there was much building along Crawley Road, in the settlement which in 1874 was called Star Row after the inn that existed there earlier, (fn. 251) but which was afterwards renamed Roffey. The settlement was originally separate from Horsham. Some houses were built at its eastern end, near the site of the future Roffey church, between 1813 and c. 1844; (fn. 252) a few survived in 1982. There were also houses further west c. 1844, near the inn and the recently built Horsham union workhouse, (fn. 253) and more were built by 1874. The proximity of the workhouse gave the area a lower-class character from the first; in 1879 it was described as growing and populous but very poor. (fn. 254) The eastern end where the church was built, however, contained some larger houses in 1874. By 1896 there were semidetached houses or terraces along much of Crawley Road, while to the north new buildings along Rusper Road and Littlehaven Lane linked Star Row to the hamlet of Littlehaven, whose earlier development is treated below. Some new building in that area too consisted of larger houses in their own grounds. The growth of Star Row and its environs brought shops, (fn. 255) a Methodist chapel, and an institute as well as the church; the church was called Roffey church, (fn. 256) and by 1896 the name Roffey had been transferred to the area from the rural hamlet 1 mile (1.6 km.) to the north-east. Building development was especially fast during the two decades 1891-1911, when the population of the new Roffey ecclesiastical parish increased by nearly 30 per cent. In 1891 the ecclesiastical parish had 233 inhabited houses. (fn. 257) Some houses had been built between the new suburb and Horsham by 1876. During the next 30 years more were added, so that by 1905 King's Road was lined with large villas. (fn. 258) Development continued both there and at Roffey and Littlehaven up to the First World War, railway communication for the area being provided by the opening of Littlehaven station in 1907. (fn. 259)

During the 1920s and 1930s there was some rebuilding in the town centre, notably on the south side of Bishopric, where shopping parades and blocks of flats were erected; a shopping parade was also apparently then opened in Springfield Road. Some of the central streets had one-way traffic systems by 1928. (fn. 260) From the 1920s North Street began to acquire more of an institutional character: Horsham Park house was used as urban district council offices after 1928, a new fire station was built next door in 1929, (fn. 261) and offices for the rural district council were put up opposite by 1938. (fn. 262) In 1938 there were also two cinemas, in 1957 the public library and the telephone exchange, and in 1963 a hall, a depot, and a garage besides. (fn. 263) The largest office block in the town, later to be the property of the Sun Alliance Insurance Group, was built there c. 1964. (fn. 264)

The greatest changes in the town centre, however, happened after 1970. (fn. 265) A dual carriageway inner ring road was built on the north side to connect Bishopric with North Street; although it removed through traffic from the centre, it partly destroyed the medieval plan of streets radiating from Carfax and broke the visual and functional continuity of West Street with Bishopric and of London Road. Concurrently a new pedestrian shopping centre was built in the angle between West Street and Carfax as a joint undertaking between the urban district council and the Norwhich Union Insurance Group; of red brick and low proportions it contained both large multiple stores and smaller shops. (fn. 266) West Street became a pedestrian street, as Middle Street had become before, (fn. 267) but in 1982 the new shopping centre had taken over its function as the centre of retail trade in the town. (fn. 268) The eastern part of Bishopric, rebuilt about the time of the construction of the inner ring road, also had some large shops in 1982. Meanwhile Hurst Road north of the town had taken over from North Street as the chief institutional centre; besides the existing hospital, Collyer's school, and art school, new buildings were built there in the 1960s and 1970s to house the police, ambulance, and fire stations, as well as offices for the Southern Water Authority, and the new law courts opened in 1974. (fn. 269)

After 1918 Horsham also expanded greatly outwards. (fn. 270) Most development that took place in the 1920s and 1930s, as earlier, was on the north and east. East of the town centre there was much building between Brighton and Depot roads, where a large area of land had been sold for building in 1911, (fn. 271) and where the hamlet of Oakhill, once an island in the uninclosed common, (fn. 272) began by 1923 (fn. 273) to be surrounded by new houses, including many of the 582 built by the urban district council during the period. (fn. 274) At Roffey and Littlehaven there was much building in the 1920s and 1930s on existing through roads, while new streets were built north of Crawley Road, including many more council houses. (fn. 275) Further west Parsonage Road, which straddled the Horsham-Crawley railway line, was partly built up by 1938. Both in Rusper Road and in Forest Road, the eastern extension of Crawley Road, the built-up area had passed by the same date beyond the urban district boundary as enlarged in 1927, which west of Rusper Road followed the railway line. Some new houses in Comptons Lane south of Crawley Road were also built before the Second World War. Most of the development in and around Roffey took place in the 1920s, when the population of the ecclesiastical parish increased by c. 50 per cent; in the 1930s the rate of increase was considerably less. (fn. 276)

North-west of the town there was further building in the 1920s and 1930s around and beyond North Parade. Hurst Avenue north of Hurst Road was laid out by 1932, and a few houses were also built along North Heath Lane and Pondtail Road outside the town boundary. The area known as 'the back of the common' around Trafalgar Road was extended southwards to Guildford Road, along and to the west of Rushams Road, in the 1930s, when the area north of Bishopric was also rapidly built up. (fn. 277)

South of the main east-west axis through the town there continued to be much less residential development. Along the Worthing road south of the river Arun houses were built as far as the railway which was also the urban district boundary; land in that area was sold for building in 1925 (fn. 278) and was developed soon afterwards, chiefly with detached houses. Along Guildford Road and south of it, meanwhile, the Hills estate was being rapidly developed in 1925, (fn. 279) also chiefly with detached houses. South-east of the town some new houses were built in Chesworth Lane (fn. 280) and elsewhere during the same period.

Development after 1945 was again mostly north and east of the town. The Coote's farm estate north of Guildford Road was laid out by the mid 1950s with privately owned houses, an existing pond (fn. 281) being preserved on a green in the centre, while further north 141 council dwellings were built on the Spencer's farm estate by the same date. (fn. 282) At Littlehaven and Roffey there was also much building in the 1950s, (fn. 283) and building continued on a large scale there c. 1980. On the east side of the town c. 180 council houses were built between Brighton and Highlands roads by 1955, (fn. 284) and the Highlands farm estate was developed in the 1970s with large houses suitable for business executives. (fn. 285) Also in the 1970s the builtup area of the town was extended much further north, with large-scale building in and around North Heath Lane; some dwellings there were built by the Greater London Council, but were taken over by the Horsham district council in or before 1981. (fn. 286) By 1982 the name North Heath had been revived to describe the area. (fn. 287)

South-west of the town the Needles estate was laid out from c. 1955, with a mixture of privately owned and council-built houses and bungalows. (fn. 288) Land around Hills Farm nearby was sold for development in 1972, (fn. 289) and houses were being built there in 1980. (fn. 290) South of Brighton Road, on the other hand, there was only a little development immediately east of the railway. Meanwhile the inner, 19th-century, suburbs were beginning to be redeveloped, as large old houses were replaced with smaller closes or flats, for instance at the west end of Depot Road, at the northern end of New Street, where the former electricity works was replaced c. 1971 by councilowned dwellings, (fn. 291) in North Parade, (fn. 292) and in Denne Road. In addition, most of the park of Springfield house north-west of the town centre was developed for building in the 1960s. (fn. 293)

One aspect of the expansion of the town after the Second World War was the 'zoning' of nonresidential uses. Besides the large area north of Hurst Road occupied by Collyer's school, three areas in the western, south-western, and eastern outskirts of the town were given over to new schools and playing fields. Similarly, light industry was largely confined by 1971 to two industrial estates on either side of King's Road north-east of the station, together with an extension west of the Horsham-Crawley railway line. (fn. 294) Some smaller industrial enclaves remained in other parts of the town in the 1970s, however, for instance in Worthing Road, in Denne Road, and south of the railway station.

Most medieval outlying settlements in Horsham parish originated as detached parts of manors in the south of the county, many of their names alluding to the clearance of forest land. (fn. 295) The two largest such areas seem to have been those later described as the tithings of Coombes in the Wold and Washington in the Wold, (fn. 296) which were evidently the Wealden portions of Coombes and Washington manors near Worthing. Washington in the Wold presumably originally included those lands which in the 10th century (fn. 297) were pasture places of Washington, including Horsham itself, Crockhurst near the Horsham-Shipley boundary, (fn. 298) and Hornbrook south-east of the town. (fn. 299) Denne, lying south of the town between the other three places, evidently had the same origin, since the name indicates a detached swine pasture. Washington in the Wold later included land in Southwater. (fn. 300) Coombes in the Wold tithing comprised land both south and north of the town at Nutham and Hawksbourne, (fn. 301) and presumably included land in the south-east of the parish called Coombes in the earlier 19th century. (fn. 302) Other detached parts of manors in the south of the county were Marlpost, belonging to Tarring manor near Worthing, whose name indicates pasture of poor quality, (fn. 303) and Shortsfield, belonging to Steyning manor, which lay partly in Horsham and partly in adjacent parishes. (fn. 304)

Much medieval settlement was scattered rather than nucleated. The surviving rural manor houses of medieval date are described below. (fn. 305) Other medieval buildings on isolated sites which survived in 1982 included Chennells Brook Farm, originally a 'quasiaisled' building of the 13th century; (fn. 306) Old Park Farm on the Rusper border, which incorporates part of a late medieval two-bayed hall and cross wing; North Chapel near the railway station, so called by 1604, (fn. 307) which comprises a medieval hall at its northeast end with large later additions, and which by 1868 had been converted into four cottages; (fn. 308) Needles, south-west of the town, a high-quality Wealden house of the 15th century with a moulded dais beam; (fn. 309) and several houses in the south-west quarter of the parish between Horsham town and Southwater: Parthings, Sawyersland, Sayers, Stakers, and Jackrells Farms. (fn. 310) The houses along the road between Horsham and Marlpost in the south-west evidently represent medieval 'ribbon development', as also do the hamlets of Southwater and Roffey. (fn. 311) There is evidence besides for several medieval moated sites, for instance at Moated House Farm in the road to Rusper, north of Chennells Brook Farm, and east of Hawksbourne Farm. (fn. 312)

After 1500 rural settlement continued to be chiefly scattered rather than nucleated. Surviving buildings of the period include Parsons Farm south of the town, of the 16th century, and many 17th-century buildings including, for instance, College, Lawson's, Greathouse, and Lanaways Farms, all near Southwater; Bull's Farm in the south-east; and Northlands and Moated House Farms north of the town. Of the 18th century, apparently, are Park Farm north-west of the town, and Sedgewick Farm in the south-east.

One area of much scattered post-medieval settlement was the common which extended in an arc round the north and east sides of the town, and where houses were built, evidently often on encroachments, both around the edges and as islands within it. (fn. 313) Several small 17th-century houses, described in 1831 as a confused cluster of cottages, (fn. 314) survived in 1982 west of the junction of North Street with the modern Hurst Road, opposite the larger North Chapel mentioned above. Most are timber-framed, some with weatherboarding, but one has painted brick, and another is of local sandstone. Hampers Farm, in Station Road east of the railway, was also 17thcentury or possibly earlier, but was very greatly altered in the 1970s. There are other 16th- or 17thcentury houses on the south side of Brighton Road, in St. Leonard's Road and Comptons Lane, and in North Parade. By c. 1800 there were also some buildings near the site of the future Roffey church in Crawley Road.

There was nucleated settlement too, however. Hamlets may have existed in the 13th century at Nutham and Stammerham, where later there were single farms. (fn. 315) Three other possibly medieval hamlets existed for longer: Roffey, Southwater, and Broadbridge Heath.

Roffey, which developed along the HorshamCrawley road beyond the north-east corner of Horsham common and c. 1 mile (1.6 km.) north-east of the modern suburb called Roffey, existed as a hamlet perhaps by 1315, when the name was used to describe the location of a piece of land, (fn. 316) and presumably by 1342 when it described a road destination. (fn. 317) Reference made in 1579 to Roffey Street (fn. 318) confirms the existence of a hamlet, for which that name was still used in 1874. (fn. 319) In 1795 (fn. 320) there were c. 6 or 8 houses along or near the main road, including the 18thcentury and earlier Roffey Place (fn. 321) and three buildings of the 17th century or earlier which also survived in 1982: Clovers Farm, a building east of it, and Newhouse Farm further west. Other buildings lay beyond the line of the Horsham-Crawley railway, including the medieval Brook House (fn. 322) and the probably 17th-century King's Farm, both of which also survived in 1982. By then its bisection by the railway, and the continuous presence of traffic on the Horsham-Crawley road had removed any cohesion Roffey had had as a settlement.

The name Southwater, apparently mentioned from 1346, (fn. 323) originally seems to have described not a single settlement but the whole area of the parish south of the river Arun, in contradistinction to North Heath, recorded from 1472 to describe the other nonurban part of the parish. (fn. 324) At least two medieval buildings survived in the modern hamlet in 1982: Nye's Cottage in Southwater Street at the north end, with 17th-century additions and alterations, (fn. 325) and Pond Farm to the south-west, on the Worthing road, apparently comprising two successive medieval halls. (fn. 326) Other 16th- or 17th-century buildings include Blakes Farmhouse in Southwater Street, Andrews Farm at the south end of the hamlet, and the Cock inn in Worthing Road. In 1795 the largest concentration of buildings was at Southwater Street. (fn. 327) 'Ribbon development' along the Worthing road increased after it became a turnpike c. 1764. (fn. 328) By c. 1800 there was a wheelwright in the hamlet, and other tradesmen followed as population increased thereafter during the 19th and 20th centuries. (fn. 329) A church was built for the hamlet and its environs in 1850. (fn. 330)

The opening of the railway station at Southwater in 1861 was not followed immediately by much building, despite land being offered for sale as building land in that year and later. (fn. 331) One or two large houses in their own grounds were built, for instance The Chase south-west of the church, (fn. 332) but the incumbent of Southwater in 1884 remarked on the lack of gentlemen's families in his parish. More were listed at Southwater in 1909, (fn. 333) but the early 20thcentury development of the hamlet was chiefly due to the growth of the brickworks from the 1890s onwards. (fn. 334) By 1896 there were three houses in Station Road, where building land had been offered for sale in 1882. (fn. 335) More were built there by 1909, when there were also houses in Andrews Lane south of the railway, and when further south two new streets had been laid out and a few houses built east of the road to Shipley; there had been a few houses along the latter road a century earlier. (fn. 336) Building continued in the last mentioned area in the 1920s, many council houses being erected for brickworkers. At the same time there was building in and north of Southwater Street, where bungalows and other detached houses were put up west of Worthing Road. (fn. 337) After c. 1950, and especially after c. 1970, very many new houses were built, much of the area between Southwater Street on the north and the parish boundary on the south being filled up. Most of the houses were for private ownership, but c. 200 council houses were built south-west of the former station and the Cock inn in the early 1970s. (fn. 338) In 1982 there were said to be c. 1,600 houses at Southwater, and another 200 were planned on a hitherto open area east of Worthing Road and north of the railway line. (fn. 339) The rapid post-war expansion of the hamlet was not matched by the growth of shops or community facilities until the 1970s, (fn. 340) and until the opening of the bypass in 1982 Southwater suffered much from heavy through traffic.

The modern hamlet of Broadbridge Heath derives from a group of houses built around the uninclosed common before c. 1800, (fn. 341) several of which, on the south side, survived in 1982. Corsletts Farm is basically a late 14th-century hall house in which the panelled dais end of the hall and the crown-post roof survive. The former kitchen wing of Broadbridge Place, in 1983 a separate cottage, is early 18thcentury, but the house itself seems to have been rebuilt c. 1825. There are two other timber-framed houses in Wickhurst Lane. About 1844 there were c. 12 houses and an inn in the hamlet. (fn. 342) Between the inclosure of the heath in 1858 (fn. 343) and c. 1900 building land was often offered for sale. (fn. 344) Little building had been done before 1896, but during the next 13 years the Horsham-Billingshurst road through the hamlet was rapidly built up chiefly with rows of semidetached houses in red and brown brick with some tile-hanging; one attraction was the land's relative elevation. (fn. 345) By 1932 further buildings had been put up, for instance along the Guildford road. (fn. 346) After the Second World War many new streets were laid out on the south side, comprising first a large estate of council houses on the south-east, and later an equally large estate of privately owned houses on the southwest. (fn. 347) A further large housing development was being carried out in 1982. (fn. 348)

Post-medieval settlement on Horsham common was dense enough in places to deserve the name of hamlet. The hamlet of Littlehaven apparently existed by 1769 (fn. 349) and certainly by 1795 when there were c. 8 houses there, (fn. 350) some of which survived in 1982. By 1831 there was an inn, (fn. 351) and later in the 19th century tradesmen lived there; (fn. 352) by the early 20th century the hamlet had begun to be absorbed by the expansion of Horsham. (fn. 353) South of the modern Depot Road was the hamlet of Grub Street, later Oakhill, which had c. 12 houses in 1831, (fn. 354) including at least one of the 17th century. Beyond the southeast corner of the former common by the same date was the hamlet of Doomsday Green, with three or four houses. (fn. 355) Other small hamlets of the 18th and 19th centuries were Benson's Green, a northern limb of Roffey, which existed by 1795 as Gibbs Green, (fn. 356) and Tower Hill, south-west of the town, which by 1844 comprised c. 10 houses loosely scattered along the northern end of the road to Marlpost. (fn. 357)

There was much building in Horsham parish in the 19th and 20th centuries outside the town and the hamlets. Especially after the opening of the railway in 1848, (fn. 358) the surroundings of the town became a popular place for moneyed people to live in or retire to. Villas were said to be in great demand in 1861, and continued to be so 30 years later. (fn. 359) Among larger examples were Wimblehurst, built before 1865, (fn. 360) Harwood House in Depot Road, (fn. 361) Roffey Lodge north-east of the town, built before 1874, (fn. 362) and Tanbridge House to the south-west, built in 1887. (fn. 363) Architectural styles used varied from the 'pure Italian' of Wimblehurst, (fn. 364) through the 'Norman Shavian' of Graylands, residence of the diamond pioneer H. B. Wallis (d. 1908), (fn. 365) to the Jacobean of Tanbridge House, in which the railway contractor Thomas Oliver incorporated two 16th-century fireplaces from its predecessor which had stood nearby. (fn. 366) Other houses of similar type were Comptons Brow east of the town, belonging to J. G. Millais, the naturalist and travel writer, and the adjacent Comptons Lea, the property of the sugar planter J. P. Hornung, later of West Grinstead Park. (fn. 367) The medieval house called Needles, south-west of the town, was fully restored for modern residential use in the 1920s. (fn. 368) The revival of road transport in the early 20th century caused an increase in the building of rural villas and bungalows before 1939, for instance west of Coltstaple Farm, at Tower Hill south-west of the town, and in Magpie Lane in the south-east of the parish. (fn. 369) After 1945 such piecemeal rural development was restricted by planning policy, which also preserved open countryside between the built-up areas of Horsham, of Crawley to the northeast, (fn. 370) and of Southwater to the south.

Population

Forty-two persons were assessed for tax in Horsham borough in 1296, 35 in 1327, and 26 in 1332; in 1524 there were 107. (fn. 371) Medieval figures for the rural part of the parish are scanty and incomplete: 18 people were taxed at Roffey in 1296, and 40 in the 'vill' of Horsham as distinguished from the borough in 1327. (fn. 372) The 54 inhabitants of Shortsfield tithing recorded in 1378, however, certainly did not all live in Horsham parish, and the same is probably true of the 17 and 32 respectively listed in the tithings of Washington in the Wold and Coombes in the Wold at the same date. (fn. 373) Figures given under the three last-named tithings in 1524 or 1525 were 25, 14, and 30 respectively. (fn. 374) At the same date 36 taxpayers were listed in Marlpost tithing, of whom many evidently lived in Bishopric, the western suburb of the town which belonged to it. (fn. 375) In 1548 there were said to be c. 900 communicants in the parish. (fn. 376) A century later 214 adult males subscribed the protestation of 1642 in the urban part of the parish, but the 294 who subscribed under the rural part may have included some living in Lower Beeding, for which there is no separate return. (fn. 377) In 1643 there were said to be 1,500 parishioners in all. (fn. 378) There were c. 165 hearth-tax payers in the borough in 1664, besides perhaps another 30 in Bishopric. (fn. 379) The total population for the parish of 3,000 given in 1676 seems too high, as well as suspiciously round. (fn. 380) In 1724 there were reckoned to be c. 730 families. (fn. 381) Possibly at the two last-mentioned dates as well the figures included Lower Beeding, which seems less likely to have been returned with Upper Beeding. (fn. 382)

There was apparently a large increase in Horsham's population in the 1810s, perhaps on account of the inclosure of 1812-13. The figures given for 1801-21, however, seem likely to include inhabitants of St. Leonard's Forest in Lower Beeding, as those for 1831-41 certainly do. From 1851 Horsham parish is recorded by itself, the population rising from 5,947 that year to 11,063 by 1891. In 1871 there were 529 inhabitants of the part of Southwater ecclesiastical parish which lay in Horsham ancient parish. The population of the urban area, which was 1,539 in 1801 and 1,714 in 1811, meanwhile rose to 5,720 in 1871 and 8,087 in 1891. In 1901 the population of the urban district as then enlarged was 10,781, and it continued to increase rapidly afterwards. In 1931 the urban district as further enlarged in 1927 had 13,580 inhabitants, the increase during the previous decade within that total area being 12 per cent. Between 1931 and 1951 the population of the urban district increased by 23 per cent to 16,682, and afterwards by 2½ per cent a year to 26,446 in 1971. Horsham Rural parish, which had had 2,314 inhabitants in 1901, increased its population by more than half between 1931 and 1951, and by two and a half times during the next 20 years to reach 10,800 by 1971. In 1981 the population of Horsham town, including Roffey and Broadbridge Heath, was 38,565; that of the rest of the rural parish, of which the boundaries had been further altered in 1971-2, was 4,855. (fn. 383)

John Wood, speaker of the House of Commons in 1482, may have been a native of Horsham. (fn. 384) There seems to be no evidence that the poet earl of Surrey was born at Chesworth House, south-east of the town, (fn. 385) though the future Queen Catherine Howard may have lived there as a child. (fn. 386) Bernard Lintott (1675-1736), the publisher of Pope, was born at Southwater, where he later became a landowner; (fn. 387) his family had been established in the parish since at least 1524, (fn. 388) and still survived locally in 1982. (fn. 389) A representative of another old Horsham family, (fn. 390) John Pilfold (?1776-1834), was a captain at Trafalgar. Thomas Medwin (1788-1869), the friend and biographer of Shelley, was also born in the town and later lived there. (fn. 391) The shoemaker Henry Burstow (born 1826), whose Reminiscences were published in 1911, was a folk-singer, part of whose repertoire was transcribed by Vaughan Williams. (fn. 392)

Communications

The north-south road past the church on the line of Causeway and the east-west road followed by East and West streets are both apparently old. (fn. 393) The latter road, which is continued eastwards as St. Leonard's Road, leading by way of the hammerponds in St. Leonard's Forest to Slaugham, may have existed in prehistoric times. (fn. 394) The southern extension of Causeway, possibly crossing the river originally by a ford, ascended Denne Hill presumably by the southern section of the pronounced hollow-way which survived in 1985. It is not clear when the river crossing near the church was superseded by that further upstream, but thereafter it was Denne Road not Causeway which became the chief approach to the town from the south, using the hollow-way mentioned. (fn. 395) The modern Crawley Road together with its eastern continuation to Colgate in Lower Beeding may also be Roman or earlier. (fn. 396) The many wide roads or tracks in the parish which trend from south-west to north-east were evidently drove roads for transhumance between manors in the south of the county and their Wealden outliers; (fn. 397) some evidently existed in Saxon times, since part of the network of transhumance is recorded by then. (fn. 398)

By the Middle Ages Horsham town was a centre of radial routes; the only major road that lay through the parish, however, was that from London to Steyning and Shoreham, the London-Arundel road passing a few miles to the west. (fn. 399) The condition of local roads was clearly better then than in later times, since in 1441 Bishop Praty was able to visit the town and its surroundings in January. (fn. 400) By the earlier 18th century, however, with the increased use of wheeled vehicles, the roads on the clay soil by which the town was surrounded on three sides had greatly deteriorated, so as to be often impassable in winter; (fn. 401) in the September of 1735 the road between Horsham and Hills Place c. ½ mile (0.8 km.) to the west is said not to have been negotiable by a coach and pair. (fn. 402) The decline of the town's corn market in 1756 was attributed partly to the badness of the neighbouring roads. (fn. 403) Moreover, the reason why it was usually the summer assizes that were held in Horsham in the 17th and 18th centuries, was the difficulty of the judges' reaching the town at other times of the year. (fn. 404) The creation of local turnpike trusts after 1755, however, proceeded so fast that by 1794 there were said to be excellent roads in every direction except to Guildford, (fn. 405) a gap which was filled after 1809. The non-turnpike roads, on the other hand, were often still very bad during the 19th century. (fn. 406)

In the Middle Ages there were two chief routes from Horsham to London. The more important was that via Rusper and Newdigate (Surr.), (fn. 407) which was still apparently the main road in 1724. (fn. 408) The other went via Roffey, Ifield, Charlwood (Surr.) or Crawley, and Reigate. (fn. 409) Three other routes are recorded in the 17th and 18th centuries: one via Park Farm and Friday Street in Rusper, (fn. 410) one via Warnham and Kingsfold, (fn. 411) and one via Broadbridge Heath, Rowhook, and Stane Street. (fn. 412) The route via Warnham and Dorking supplanted the others when the road was turnpiked under an Act of 1755; (fn. 413) it was disturnpiked in 1880. (fn. 414)

The chief route south from the town in the Middle Ages was that over Denne Bridge and through Denne park, as indicated by the hollow-way mentioned above; (fn. 415) the Denne Hill section was still known as the old coach road in 1905. (fn. 416) Denne Bridge, formerly Cobbett's, Corbett's, or Copper's Bridge, (fn. 417) had acquired its modern name by 1876. (fn. 418) The road presumably originally led west of Denne Park house, and continued by way of Southwater Street (fn. 419) or Easteds Farm. It had apparently ceased to be important by 1724. (fn. 420) Another route to the south followed the modern Brighton Road and went by way of Nuthurst; it led to Steyning apparently in 1463 and certainly later, (fn. 421) and was also evidently the road to Lindfield. (fn. 422)

The northern part of the modern Worthing road evidently existed in the Middle Ages, since Tan Bridge is mentioned in 1426, (fn. 423) and was apparently then of stone. It was widened in 1924. (fn. 424) Between the top of Picts Hill south-west of Horsham and Southwater Street there is no evidence for medieval settlement, (fn. 425) and the medieval route seems to have continued towards Marlpost by way of Two Mile Ash Road a little further west; the road is flanked by medieval 'ribbon development', and its name, referring to a tree whose site was remembered in 1875-6, (fn. 426) indicates an important route. Part of the route at Tower Hill had a pavement of Horsham stone flags in 1934. (fn. 427) Two Mile Ash Road was described c. 1650 as leading to Steyning, (fn. 428) and in 1724 it was considered the chief road from Horsham to Arundel, by way of Coolham in Shipley. (fn. 429) It is not clear when the road from the top of Picts Hill south-west of Horsham to Southwater Street was made, but it existed by 1724. (fn. 430) The road from Horsham to Steyning and Upper Beeding by way of Southwater and West Grinstead was turnpiked in 1764 or 1765 as a continuation of the London-Horsham road turnpiked earlier, a new section, called in 1981 Mill Straight, being apparently constructed to link sections of two older routes. At the same time all northsouth roads through Denne Park were closed for horse or wagon traffic. (fn. 431) In the later 18th century the turnpike road was an alternative route from London to Brighton, and until the opening of the direct Worthing turnpike road south from West Grinstead in 1804 it was the main route to Worthing and Littlehampton. (fn. 432) The gradient of Picts Hill south-west of the town was lowered by means of a cutting in 1809. (fn. 433) Under an Act of 1824 a branch road from Southwater to Shipley and Marehill in Pulborough was made a turnpike; (fn. 434) it was disturnpiked in 1867, and the Horsham-Steyning road in 1885. (fn. 435) Meanwhile the road from Horsham via Mannings Heath in Nuthurst to Crabtree in Lower Beeding had been turnpiked in 1792 as another route to Brighton; (fn. 436) it was disturnpiked in 1877. (fn. 437)

The road from Horsham to Guildford, forming a continuation of Bishopric by way of Farthing Bridge and Broadbridge Heath, was mentioned in 1362. (fn. 438) The section between Bishopric and Farthing Bridge was described as a causeway in 1586; (fn. 439) Farthing Bridge was so called by 1534. (fn. 440) From a cross on Broadbridge Heath a branch road led southwestwards to Billingshurst and Petworth. (fn. 441) The Horsham-Guildford road was turnpiked under an Act of 1809, as a result of efforts by the officers of both boroughs, (fn. 442) and was disturnpiked in 1873. (fn. 443) The road from Broadbridge Heath to Billingshurst was turnpiked and made more direct under an Act of 1811, to give easier access to Arundel and Petworth, (fn. 444) and was disturnpiked in 1876. (fn. 445)

North-east of the town the road from Horsham via Colgate to Pease Pottage in Slaugham presumably continued in use in the Middle Ages, (fn. 446) and was the East Grinstead road in 1724. (fn. 447) It was turnpiked in 1771, (fn. 448) providing better access to Crawley. Under an Act of 1823 the Horsham-Crawley road by way of Roffey was made a turnpike; (fn. 449) it was disturnpiked in 1873. (fn. 450)

Other old roads in the parish included Kerves Lane in the south-east, which existed by 1404, and Comptons Lane, which apparently existed in 1419. (fn. 451)

With the revival of road transport in the 20th century Horsham's excellent position as a road centre was appreciated again. (fn. 452) A western bypass was built between 1962 and 1965 to take through traffic on the London-Worthing road. (fn. 453) Harwood Road, south of Crawley Road, was built as a relief road for Roffey after 1963. (fn. 454) An eastern bypass for Southwater was opened in 1982 and a southern bypass for Broadbridge Heath in 1983. (fn. 455)

A carrier was plying between Horsham and London in 1614, (fn. 456) and in 1681 there was a weekly wagon. (fn. 457) By 1740 there is said to have been a twiceweekly service, which had increased by 1765 to four times weekly. (fn. 458) Meanwhile there was a carrying service between Horsham and Steyning in the earlier 18th century. (fn. 459) A carrier of Horsham who died c. 1774 apparently had a customer in Ashington. (fn. 460) About 1800 three carriers are known in the town: one plied to Worthing, another was also a timber merchant, while a third included Croydon, Camberwell, and other places in Surrey among his destinations. (fn. 461) In the 1830s there was a carrying service to London at least four times weekly and a service to Brighton. (fn. 462) There was still a carrier to London in 1866, but not apparently thereafter. Other places continued to be served by carrier from Horsham at least until the 1930s. (fn. 463)

There was a coach service from Horsham to London in 1730 and later; (fn. 464) in the 1770s the London- Brighton coach passed through the town. (fn. 465) At the high point of the coaching era in the 1830s there were three coaches daily to London via Dorking and Epsom, as well as six weekly via Kingston; an average of 108 passengers a week travelled from London to Horsham by coach in 1835-6. There were also at the same period daily coaches to Brighton and Worthing, and coaches three times a week to Windsor or Oxford via Guildford, besides a service to Bognor. (fn. 466) By 1845 a 'railroad coach' ran daily between Horsham and Three Bridges; despite the opening of the Three Bridges to Horsham railway line in 1848 coaches were still running to London, Brighton, and Worthing in 1855, but had ceased by 1862. In 1855 there was also a daily horse omnibus to Pulborough. (fn. 467) Motor buses began service c. 1923, and by 1938 there were six local companies. (fn. 468) In 1982 the town was well served by bus services to Crawley, Brighton, and Worthing, besides many of the surrounding villages.

After the improvement of the Arun navigation c. 1780 Horsham was accessible for water-borne goods by means of the wharf at Newbridge in Wisborough Green. (fn. 469) Under an Act of 1807 similar improvements were made on the Adur as far north as Bines Bridge in West Grinstead, and the Adur navigation was brought to Bay Bridge on the Worthing road only 6 miles (9.6 km.) south of Horsham after 1825. (fn. 470) Schemes of the later 18th and earlier 19th centuries to bring water transport nearer to Horsham, either by extending the Arun navigation to Farthing Bridge or Broadbridge Heath, or by constructing a canal from London to the south by way of the town, came to nothing. (fn. 471) Until the railway was built Newbridge and Bay Bridge wharves continued to be used for the import of Horsham's coal, grain, building materials, and other heavy goods. (fn. 472)

A branch railway to Horsham from the London- Brighton line at Three Bridges was opened in 1848, (fn. 473) plans of 1834 and later to build the London-Brighton railway by way of the town having been abortive. (fn. 474) The railway was extended to Pulborough and Petworth in 1859, (fn. 475) and continued from Pulborough to join the Brighton-Portsmouth line in 1863. (fn. 476) The branch line from Stammerham to Shoreham was opened in 1861, that to Guildford in 1865, and the line to Dorking, giving an alternative route to London, in 1867. (fn. 477) In 1868 Horsham was fairly said to be as well provided with rail transport as any town in England, and it continued to be so until the mid 20th century. (fn. 478) The lines to Three Bridges, Dorking, and Chichester were electrified in 1938, increasing the frequency of services to London; other local non-electrified lines also received an increased service. (fn. 479) The branch line to Guildford was closed in 1965 and that to Shoreham in 1966, (fn. 480) but surviving lines still had very frequent services in 1982.

The first station at Horsham, on the west side of North Street, was of wood; (fn. 481) it was replaced in 1859 by another, of brick in Gothic style, on the present site, a bridge carrying North Street over the tracks. (fn. 482) The existing building was built in 'modernistic' style at the time of electrification in 1938. The dates of opening of other stations in the parish were: Faygate, 1848; Southwater, 1861 (closed 1966); Warnham, 1867; Christ's Hospital, 1902; Littlehaven, originally Rusper Road Crossing halt, 1907; and Roffey Road halt, 1907 (closed 1937). (fn. 483) The lavish polychrome brick station at Christ's Hospital, of 1899-1902, (fn. 484) was demolished c. 1974.

Inns

An inn at Horsham called the Red Lion existed in 1598. (fn. 485) Twenty victuallers were presented for short measure at the borough court in 1622, (fn. 486) and there were several alehouses in the 1640s. (fn. 487) By the end of the 17th century there are likely to have been many inns in the urban area alone, since there were three on adjacent sites in Market Square in 1689, (fn. 488) and since in 1686 there were said to be 83 beds and stabling for 365 horses in the inns and alehouses of the town. (fn. 489) In 1754 there were at least seven inns in the town. (fn. 490)

The two chief inns of the town from the 17th century onwards were the Anchor and the King's Head. The Anchor, in Market Square east of the town hall, is recorded from 1611. (fn. 491) The borough court was held there in 1723, (fn. 492) and the bailiffs' and constables' feasts in the later 18th century. (fn. 493) In 1772 the grand jury dined there during assize week. (fn. 494) Public meetings were also held, (fn. 495) and in the 1770s there were dances and assemblies. (fn. 496) Post chaises and saddle horses were kept for hire in 1768 and later. (fn. 497) In 1748 and later, especially during the 19th century, the inn served as a political headquarters during elections, sometimes in the Norfolk interest. (fn. 498) It was rebuilt in 1899 in a debased classical style, (fn. 499) but ceased to be a hotel c. 1920; (fn. 500) the modern Anchor inn in East Street, built c. 1898, is the former 'tap'. (fn. 501)

The King's Head on the corner of Carfax and East Street, which remained a hotel in 1982, existed by 1678 (fn. 502) and possibly by 1669. (fn. 503) The constables' feast was held there in 1762, (fn. 504) and meetings of turnpike trustees in 1764 and later. (fn. 505) From 1748 it too served as a political headquarters during elections, at first in the Irwin interest. (fn. 506) It was greatly improved in the later 18th century, when it served as a coaching stop and post office, and when post chaises and saddle horses could be hired there. (fn. 507) In the 1830s it was the chief coaching inn of the town, (fn. 508) and in 1865 it described itself as both a family and a commercial hotel, the landlord also dealing in wine and spirits. (fn. 509) The building incorporates a 17th-century timberframed range in the centre, aligned from north to south, but was largely reconstructed in the later 19th century and again in the 20th. Some mural paintings apparently of the 17th or 18th century survived in 1912. (fn. 510) A red brick extension was built in East Street c. 1840, containing a first-floor assembly room lit by three large round-headed windows which became one of the town's chief venues for meetings and other public events; (fn. 511) by 1981 it had been converted into bedrooms. (fn. 512)

Other inns too had some public functions. The Swan inn in West Street, recorded between 1739 and the early 1970s, (fn. 513) was used by some coaches in the early 19th century, (fn. 514) and served as an indoor corn market c. 1798 and later. The Black Horse at the corner of West Street and Worthing Road existed by 1793 when it too served as an auxiliary corn market; it continued to do so, as the Black Horse hotel, in the mid 19th century. (fn. 515) About 1866 the building was altered, and a separate corn exchange, in classical style, built next door. (fn. 516) The corn exchange was later absorbed into the hotel, which by the time of its closure in 1964 had become the town's largest. (fn. 517) In the 20th century it had also been a chief venue for social functions. (fn. 518)

Other inns which flourished in the outskirts of the town before 1800 included the Green Dragon and the King's Arms in Bishopric, which both survived as inns in 1982. The former was an inn by 1769, when the Marlpost manor court was held there, (fn. 519) and the latter apparently by 1667. (fn. 520) A victualler recorded on Horsham common in the 1720s (fn. 521) may have been an early landlord of the Dog and Bacon inn in North Parade, which existed by 1772; (fn. 522) the original, weatherboarded, building survived in 1982 next to its successor of the 1930s. The Queen's Head in Queen Street, rebuilt in the 20th century, existed by 1721, (fn. 523) and the Hurst Arms in North Street, formerly the Black Jack or Jug, is recorded from 1772. (fn. 524) The 19th- and 20th-century expansion of the town was accompanied by the building of many new inns and hotels, for instance the Railway inn (later Station hotel) and the Bedford hotel near the railway station, built presumably soon after the arrival of the railway. (fn. 525) In 1814 there were at least 9 licensed houses in the town, (fn. 526) and in the 1830s 4 inns, 9 taverns and public houses, and c. 7 beer retailers. (fn. 527) In 1971 the town had c. 25 public houses. (fn. 528)

At Southwater an alehouse was recorded in 1542. (fn. 529) There were two inns there in Worthing Road in 1982, the Cock, recorded from 1764, (fn. 530) of which the landlord was described as a wine and spirit merchant in 1880, (fn. 531) and the Hen and Chicken, recorded from 1838. (fn. 532) An inn called the Crown was recorded at Roffey Street in 1732 (fn. 533) but not later. The Star in Crawley Road, near the site of the meeting place of Singlecross hundred, existed in 1783 and served for the holding of the hundred court between 1786 and 1802. (fn. 534) The Norfolk Arms further east in Crawley Road existed by 1807, when both the Singlecross hundred and Roffey manor courts were held there. (fn. 535) Both inns survived in 1982. The Shelley Arms at Broadbridge Heath existed by 1818, (fn. 536) and was rebuilt in revived vernacular style c. 1900. Other rural inns recorded before 1900 included the Fountain at Littlehaven in 1831, (fn. 537) the Fox and Hounds southeast of the town in 1838, (fn. 538) and the Bax Castle at Two Mile Ash in 1896. (fn. 539)

Social and cultural activities

Old May Day (12 May) was still kept as a festival at Southwater in 1774, with dancing and a maypole. (fn. 540) Guy Fawkes Day celebrations were held annually in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and in the 1870s a bonfire was still lit in Carfax on 5 November. In the earlier 19th century St. Crispin's Day (25 October) was also celebrated, especially by the shoemakers, who made effigies of unpopular townspeople for burning on 5 November. (fn. 541) A custom peculiar to Horsham was that of lavish nocturnal funerals, the last of which was held in 1829. (fn. 542)

By the later 18th century Horsham had acquired some of the social facilities characteristic of larger towns at that date. The social round of the gentry in the 1770s was described by John Baker, the tenant of Horsham Park house; there were, for instance, dances and assemblies at the Anchor inn, plays, and races on the common. (fn. 543) At least one large rural landowner, Charles Goring of Wiston, seems to have had a town house at Horsham then. (fn. 544) By the same date trees had been planted in Causeway, (fn. 545) which then and later served as a fashionable afternoon promenade. (fn. 546) Henry Thornton, who also managed theatres at Guildford, Reading, and Windsor, held seasons of plays at Horsham in 1789 and 1791, and other outside theatrical companies appeared in the town for short seasons between 1796 and 1812. The place for staging plays in 1772 and 1797 was the town hall, but in 1792 and 1801 a theatre was mentioned, and in 1823 the 'New Theatre' was the scene of a performance of She Stoops to Conquer; (fn. 547) the site of the building is unknown.

During the later 19th century there was no theatre in Horsham, but entertainments and theatrical performances were held at the King's Head assembly room in 1893 and 1912. (fn. 548) Three cinemas were recorded in the early 1910s: the Central picture hall in North Street (later the Winter Garden theatre), opened in 1910, which could accommodate 320 people; (fn. 549) the Carfax electric theatre (later cinema), opened in 1912; (fn. 550) and the Gem. (fn. 551) The Capitol theatre in London Road was built by a cinema company in 1923, to serve also as a theatre. The building was designed in a Vicentine Renaissance style, with a large forecourt on London Road where motor cars could park; (fn. 552) it could seat 700 c. 1950. (fn. 553) In 1935 the Carfax cinema was converted into the Carfax theatre, later known as the Court Royal and finally the Royal. (fn. 554)

In 1936 two 'super cinemas', the Odeon and the Ritz, each seating over 1,000, were opened in North Street, (fn. 555) and the older establishments could not compete. The Winter Garden theatre closed in 1936 and the Royal in 1956, (fn. 556) while in 1954 the Capitol theatre, which could not be converted for widescreen films, was bought by the urban district council. After a period of closure it reopened in 1971 as a theatre and film theatre, (fn. 557) but in 1983 it was closed and afterwards demolished. A new arts centre was opened in 1984 in the former Ritz (later A.B.C.) cinema, the last cinema in the town, which had closed in 1982. (fn. 558) Meanwhile another arts centre at Christ's Hospital had been opened in 1974, including a theatre which could seat 500. (fn. 559)

Much music before the 20th century was provided by bands, for instance one which played alfresco in summer and on special occasions before 1844. (fn. 560) The bandstand in Carfax, built in 1891, (fn. 561) served for performances in summer, (fn. 562) and in 1912 there were two bands, one of which gave performances every summer evening. (fn. 563) There were also indoor band concerts in 1904 and 1923. (fn. 564) A musical society had over 100 performing members in 1912 (fn. 565) and ten years later gave good concerts. (fn. 566) An orchestral society, formed in 1922, flourished c. 1950, (fn. 567) and the Horsham music circle, founded in 1942 to provide concerts, continued to do so monthly in 1980. (fn. 568) In the same year other concerts were given at the Capitol theatre and at the Christ's Hospital arts centre.

The function of a meeting place in Horsham was supplied in the mid 18th century and later by the town hall, (fn. 569) and c. 1832 one argument for rebuilding it which was put to quarter sessions was that it would serve for public meetings for the western division of the county as a whole. (fn. 570) During the 19th and early 20th centuries various other places served for meetings in Horsham. The assembly room built at the King's Head c. 1840 could seat over 500 in 1866; at the same date another at the Hurst Arms in North Street could seat over 200. (fn. 571) The King's Head assembly room was described in 1912 as the place for county balls and other county social functions. (fn. 572) A room in the corn exchange of c. 1866 could accommodate 300 people for meetings in 1912. (fn. 573) Meanwhile the Albion Hall in Albion Road had been built in 1880 as a nonconformist Sunday schoolroom. (fn. 574) Of red brick, and capable of seating 300 people, (fn. 575) it was regularly hired out for public meetings, for instance a lecture on Shelley's centenary in 1892 or lectures by Hilaire Belloc and others in 1915. Letting was discontinued in 1928, but resumed after 1945 as the town's need for a public hall was so great. (fn. 576) After the hall's demolition in the 1970s there was no accommodation in the town for large meetings except at the town hall and the Capitol theatre, (fn. 577) though the parish room of 1888 could cater for smaller ones. (fn. 578)

Various societies and institutions of an improving kind were founded during the 19th century. A mechanics' institution with c. 60 members existed between 1829 and 1860, holding lectures at the British schoolroom on, for instance, geology. (fn. 579) A literary and debating society founded in the late 1830s held regular and well attended meetings and lectures on the new discoveries of the age. (fn. 580) The Horsham literary and scientific institution was founded in 1840, and occupied part of Richmond Terrace in Carfax. (fn. 581) In the 1860s and 1870s it had a reading room and held penny readings and lectures on various subjects, for instance one on Dickens given by George Grossmith. (fn. 582) After its demise c. 1879 the Horsham mutual improvement association (later society) was founded to hold debates, concerts, and other entertainments. (fn. 583) Other similar bodies that existed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were the working men's clubs recorded in 1874 and later, a young men's institute in Park Street opened in 1891 and perhaps the same as the Horsham institute in the same street recorded between 1905 and 1913, (fn. 584) and the Free Christian church congregational society which met in the 1890s to discuss social, literary, and scientific subjects. (fn. 585) In 1915 there was a Y.M.C.A. literary and debating society. (fn. 586)

The Horsham Liberal club in Albion Terrace was opened in 1882 with reading, smoking, recreation, and refreshment rooms. (fn. 587) The Horsham club in Carfax, founded two years later, had c. 170 members in 1888 (fn. 588) and still flourished in 1913, when there was also a Carfax club. (fn. 589) The 20th-century growth of the town was accompanied by the multiplication of clubs and societies catering for different interests. In 1981 they included the Horsham Society, an amenity society founded in 1955. (fn. 590)

A circulating library was kept by some maiden ladies in 1804, (fn. 591) and a Horsham library society existed between 1811 and c. 1820. (fn. 592) The mechanics' institution of 1829 had a library of 350 volumes, which still existed in 1860. (fn. 593) Another library society existed between 1842 and 1844, with 85 members at first and a salaried librarian, the books being kept in the chantry chapel attached to the church porch. (fn. 594) A longer-lived venture was the library of the literary and scientific institution, established in 1847, which had 200 volumes in 1851 and over 1,600 by 1860; (fn. 595) it still existed in the 1870s. (fn. 596) Other libraries at the end of the 19th century were sponsored by religious interests. There were parish libraries at different times at the parish church, at St. Mark's church, and at the future Holy Trinity church, (fn. 597) while from 1882 or earlier the Free Christian church had a library of over 3,000 volumes, which was available to members of the public on payment of a subscription, (fn. 598) but which was apparently dispersed after 1940. (fn. 599) In 1912 there was also a library at the Horsham institute. (fn. 600) In 1925 the county council set up a library centre at the town hall, and in 1928 a branch library, open twice a week, was established in Carfax. Between 1934 and 1957 it was at St. Mark's church hall in North Street; after 1936 it was open fulltime. (fn. 601) After 1928 there were also a reading room and reference library at Horsham Park house. (fn. 602) A new library, the first to be purpose-built by the county council, was opened nearby in 1957. (fn. 603)

The idea of a town museum was being floated in 1882, (fn. 604) but the history of the modern museum in Causeway House begins in 1893, when a museum was founded by members of the Free Christian church. It was at first housed at the chapel in Worthing Road, and until the 1920s was exhibited only four times a year. Meanwhile a museum society arranged excursions of historical interest. In 1930, chiefly through the advocacy of William Albery, the museum was transferred to the care of the urban district council at Horsham Park house, where it was open three afternoons a week. In 1941 it moved to Causeway House, taking over the whole building in 1950. The contents, including Albery's collection of historical documents and of bits and harness, remained the museum society's property in 1982, when the museum was managed jointly by the society and the district council. (fn. 605)

There was a printer in Horsham in 1784, who published at least one book. (fn. 606) The Horsham Record, a cheap monthly miscellany of science, art, and literature, was published during 1840; later examples of the same genre included Albery's Horsham Journal and Monthly Review published in 1869. The town's first newspaper was the Horsham, Petworth, Midhurst and Steyning Express, a local edition of the Lewes Sussex Express, published between 1863 and 1902. The Horsham Mercury and Mid Sussex and South Surrey Advertiser, of independent outlook, is known in only one issue of 1864. Between 1869 and 1873 the Guildford Surrey Mail took the extra title Horsham Star, but without apparently adding much Horsham news. The Horsham Advertiser began publication in 1871 and five years later claimed to have eclipsed the Arundel-based West Sussex Gazette in the town. Its change of title in 1888 to West Sussex Times expressed its contemporary claim to be the principal newspaper for the new county; at the same date its position was defined as supporting the Conservative party and the established church. After two further changes of title in 1893 the paper continued, as the West Sussex County Times, in 1982. One short-lived rival, the Sussex Herald, Horsham, Crawley, and Pulborough News, was published in 1875-6 by the Horsham entrepreneur William Worth. Another, the Horsham Times and West Sussex Courier, independent in both politics and religion, flourished from 1882 to 1941, being published first in Crawley and then in Lewes. Other short-lived papers circulating in the town were the independent Crawley and Horsham News, afterwards Horsham and Crawley News (1898-1900), the Liberal Southern Standard (1904), and the independent Horsham and Mid-Sussex Guardian, later West Sussex Guardian (1921-5). Between 1923 and c. 1939 a quarterly journal of the Horsham chamber of trade, at first called Sign Post and later the Horsham Journal, provided a forum for vigorous debate on local issues.

At Broadbridge Heath in the 1830s or 40s was held a club feast considered one of the best in the area and patronized by inhabitants of Horsham town. (fn. 607) A public hall for the hamlet in Billingshurst Road was built c. 1909 at the expense of a local resident, but had gone by 1932; (fn. 608) a successor village hall existed by 1957. There was a county council branch library at the primary school in 1957 and 1971. (fn. 609) A working men's club at Roffey was opened in 1880 under the vicar's management, and comprising a library, a reading room, and a hall that was also used for parish meetings. A new institute was built to replace it, at the expense of James Innes of Roffey Park in Lower Beeding, in 1894. (fn. 610) There were both a hall and a club at Roffey in 1932. (fn. 611) At Southwater there was a working men's club in 1909, and a horticultural society in 1912. (fn. 612) A village hall was built c. 1924, (fn. 613) and survived in 1982 as the venue for indoor sports, theatricals, and meetings of all kinds. At the same date there were nearly 30 local organizations at Southwater. (fn. 614)

In 1683 and 1724 there was a bowling alley on Horsham common. (fn. 615) A bowling green was recorded north of Horsham Park in the 1870s and later. (fn. 616) The Horsham bowling club was established in 1906 with a green off Bishopric, and had over 100 members in 1912; (fn. 617) the green was still used c. 1979. (fn. 618) A third bowling green was recorded c. 1921 at Broadbridge Heath. (fn. 619)

Horsham common also provided a venue for foot races in 1776 and horse races in 1779; in the latter year the Lamb inn on the north side of Carfax advertised an 'ordinary' on one race day. (fn. 620) Foot races were also run on Broadbridge Heath at that period. (fn. 621) Less reputable sports were cockfighting at Southwater, (fn. 622) and bull baiting in Carfax before 1813; (fn. 623) the bull ring, which had been near the north-west corner of that area, was later transferred to the museum, where it remained in 1982. (fn. 624)

There was a Horsham cricket team in 1772, matches taking place at that period on the common, at the 'artillery ground', and on Broadbridge Heath. (fn. 625) In the earlier 19th century there was a cricket field near Denne Park house (fn. 626) and another on the east side of North Parade. (fn. 627) The modern cricket ground south of the river Arun was laid out in 1851, (fn. 628) and enlarged in 1894. (fn. 629) It was bought in the 1920s by Horsham cricket club, (fn. 630) which had been founded by 1866 (fn. 631) and which still existed in 1981. Between 1908 and 1956 a well supported county cricket week was held at the ground, (fn. 632) and county cricket matches were played there in the 1980s. About 1955 cricket was also played in Horsham park. (fn. 633) A Southwater cricket club existed by 1890 (fn. 634) and one at Broadbridge Heath by 1912; (fn. 635) both survived in 1979. (fn. 636) At Roffey a cricket ground was laid out in memory of a member of the Innes family in or after 1909, and in 1938 was conveyed by Col. Innes to the urban district council as the Innes recreation ground. (fn. 637)

Horsham football club was constituted in 1870 and played at first in Springfield park. (fn. 638) In 1892 matches were held in Horsham park, (fn. 639) but after 1909 the club acquired the ground south of Queen Street (fn. 640) which was still theirs in 1982. In the earlier 20th century there was a local football association to which several clubs belonged. (fn. 641) There were pitches in Horsham park c. 1955, (fn. 642) and in 1982 a ground belonging to the Y.M.C.A. adjoined the Horsham club's ground. Football was played at Southwater by 1917, (fn. 643) and a football ground at Roffey is recorded from 1932. (fn. 644) Meanwhile rugby football was played from c. 1955 or earlier, (fn. 645) and in 1979 the Horsham rugby club had a ground near Coolhurst south-east of the town. (fn. 646)

An archery society existed in 1833, (fn. 647) and in the later 19th century an archery club used the site of the future football ground. (fn. 648) The Horsham athletic club was founded in 1871 and held an annual open meeting on August bank holiday in the earlier 20th century. (fn. 649) Another athletic club was founded before 1901 (fn. 650) and survived in 1979. (fn. 651) There were public swimming baths on the west side of Worthing Road between 1874 and 1880, (fn. 652) and between 1912 and 1930 the river near Tan Bridge was used as a public swimming pool. (fn. 653) An open-air swimming pool was opened at Horsham park in 1934, and a covered pool in 1981. (fn. 654) Roller-skating was catered for by a rink opened in Brighton Road c. 1880, (fn. 655) which still existed in 1912 as the Olympia skating rink. (fn. 656)

There were tennis courts in Worthing Road in 1888, and a tennis club by 1912. (fn. 657) Tennis courts were also laid out next to the cricket ground by 1909 (fn. 658) and in Horsham park by 1937, (fn. 659) while from 1975 tennis was also played at the Park recreation centre. (fn. 660) In 1979 there was also a Southwater tennis club.

In 1928 the urban district council bought Horsham Park house and grounds. (fn. 661) Besides the facilities for the sports described above there was a putting green by 1932. (fn. 662) Various other recreation grounds were provided by the council, for instance one west of North Parade by 1932, and others by c. 1955 on the Needles estate and on the council estate north of Brighton Road. (fn. 663) Leechpool wood north-east of the town, of nearly 40 a., was devised to the town by Col. A. R. Hurst (d. 1948), (fn. 664) and in 1981 there was also a recreation ground alongside the cricket ground south of the town. At Broadbridge Heath 3 a. were granted at inclosure in 1858 for the recreation of the parishioners of Horsham, Warnham, and Sullington detached. (fn. 665) By 1919 they were being managed by Horsham Rural parish council. (fn. 666) There was also a recreation ground at Southwater in 1956. (fn. 667) The Park recreation centre on the south side of Horsham park was opened in 1975 to provide facilities for nearly every indoor sport, (fn. 668) and was complemented c. 1979 by the recreation centre at Forest boys' school, which could be used by non-pupils outside school hours. (fn. 669) The former army camp south of Broadbridge Heath was used in 1979 by football, badminton, and table tennis clubs. (fn. 669)