Looking
to buy property in the Horsham area? Here is some information about
Horsham ...
Surrounded by stunning countryside
and awash with flowers Horsham is a traditional country town at its best.
It is set in the heart of the Sussex countryside and, together with 23
villages covering 205 square miles, makes up the unique Horsham district.
The district's southern villages lie in the South Downs Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty. There are a number of places of particular interest,
including the enchanting St Leonard's Forest to the east of Horsham,
which is said to be the lair of an ancient dragon. Also worth a visit
are Warnham Nature Reserve, the RSPB's site at Pulborough Brooks and
a rare example of Sussex heathland at Sullington Warren.
Horsham is famed for floral magnificence and holds a virtual monopoly
on the South East In Bloom competition, having won in four of the last
five years. International success came at the Nations in Bloom finals
in 2001, where Horsham took first prize for Landscape Enhancement and
won its population size category.
The award reflects on an historic town, which was first mentioned in
King Eadred's Saxon Charter of 947AD and many of the shops and houses
in the town centre date from medieval times. However the oldest local
settlement is Pulborough, where there is evidence of habitation from
200,000 years ago and it was also a strategic site on the Roman Road
of Stane Street.
Horsham was the birthplace of the poet Percy Shelley, whose family is
buried at the 12th Century Parish Church of St Mary's. The revolving
Rising Universe water sculpture in the town was inspired by Shelley's
famous poem Mont Blanc. The writer and humorist Hilaire Belloc was also
a local, and there is a memorial to him at King's Mill - a restored nineteenth
century windmill he used to own at Shipley.
Horsham is also a modern town with a number of small shops whose high
quality local produce varies from antiques to cheese and there is even
an aleshop. And despite its country setting Horsham has good links to
both the south coast, central London and is a just 15 minutes by train
from Gatwick Airport.
For further information about Horsham, schools
and leisure please visit the links section of the
site. To view the slide show below, you need Flash Player 6.
Photographs in the slide show
supplied by West Sussex County Council Library Service. Please visit
their West
Sussex Past Pictures web site.
