C: A to Z History of Horsham’s Roads and Streets

30 January 2023

Street names can give us a window into a time gone by. They commemorate the people who have lived there, their livelihoods and accomplishments, as well as giving an insight into what was happening at the time.

Throughout 2023, we will be exploring the origins of some of Horsham’s road names. Throughout the journey, we hope to shed light on some of the personalities that have graced Horsham through the years, as well as sharing some of the stories of yesteryear. We have researched the stories in local libraries and archives to find the sources of these stories. If you have any anecdotes or information that you would like to add, please let us know!

Carfax

Age: 1200s

Postcode: Multiple RH12 1 postcodes

Length: Approximately 145 metres long

Connected to: North Street

Nearest Schools: St Mary’s CofE Primary School, Arunside School, St John’s Catholic Primary School

Nearest Rail Stations: Horsham Station is 0.44 miles away, Littlehaven Station is 1.46 miles away

The Carfax has been the central hub of Horsham for nearly one thousand years. A Royal Charter was granted for a market and fair to be held in the Carfax in the early 1200s, which established the area as the central meeting and trading point for livestock traders. A roaring cattle market was held in the Carfax through until the 1800s, where until the market moved to the Bishopric. Surrounding this hub of market activity grew the first streets in Horsham, sensibly named North, South, East and West Street. Nearby, the first foundation stone for the Norman Parish Church St Mary’s was first laid in 1247. 

Whilst the market origins of the Carfax are still present, one historical feature that has not remained is the Carfax’s association with gaols. Over the centuries, the Carfax has been the site of two gaols as well as a public punishment site. The area where the current bandstand stands was once known as the Gaol Green. The first Horsham Gaol stood on the corner of the Carfax and North Street between the 1500s and the 1640s. The second Horsham Gaol, built in 1640, was in the north of the Carfax. You can see a replica set of stocks and a whipping post in the middle of the Carfax, near the Swan Walk entrance. The originals are on display in the Horsham Museum. 

As Horsham has long been a popular destination between London and Brighton, the Carfax became a central hub for coaching inns and public houses, many of which are still enjoying a booming trade. The King’s Head dates from the seventeenth century and The Crown was built in 1805. At one point in time, Horsham had over fifty pubs!

The Carfax used to be the location of the Capitol Cinema (later known as the Capital Theatre), which was built in 1923 before moving to its current location in September 2003. It was at the Theatre Royal, located near to the Stout House Inn, that Sir Michael Caine made his debut as an assistant stage manager in 1953. 

Fast forwarding to the modern day, we are very proud to be able to call the Carfax our new home! Our Horsham office is located at 35 Carfax, next door to our lovely neighbours Carmela Deli and closeby to other independent shops such as The Horsham Cellar and Moscy. 

Caterways

Age: 1950s

Postcode: RH12 2AL

Length: Approximately 198 metres long

Connected to: Cootes Avenue, Ryecroft Drive

Nearest Schools: Greenway Academy, Arunside School, St John’s Catholic Primary School

Nearest Rail Stations: Horsham Station is 0.97 miles away, Christs Hospital Station is 1.53 miles away

From our new home in the Carfax to our old home in the Caterways! Whilst not as historic, the contemporary Caterways benefits from a friendly and active community centred around the Cootes Farm Pond. The name Caterways derives from the ancient Sussex name to describe farm fields that ran crossways rather than longways away from the farmhouse. 

Causeway

Age: 1200s

Postcode: RH12 1NQ, RH12 1HF, RH12 1HE

Length: Approximately 227 metres long

Connected to: South Street

Nearest Schools: St Mary’s CofE Primary School, Arunside School, St John’s Catholic Primary School

Nearest Rail Stations: Horsham Station is 0.58 miles away, Littlehaven is 1.61 miles away

Walking down the Causeway is one of the best ways to experience the living history of Horsham, and not just because Horsham Museum is located at 9 Causeway. The street, which leads down to the 13th century St Mary’s church, is still lined with historic and ancient houses, some still with Georgian facades. Many of the historic houses, built before the 1600s, have Horsham stone on the roof. The avenue of lime trees were first planted along the road in the late eighteenth century. 

In the St Mary’s graveyard lies Helena Bennet, whose grave faces Mecca. She died in 1853, and was a Muslim who lived in Horsham having been deserted by her husband. Bennet had married the famous European soldier Benoit, Comte de Boigne in 1788, changing her Persian name Halima to Helen, and adopting the surname Bennett, an Anglicization of the ‘Benoit’ name of her then-husband. She also converted to Catholicism as part of the marriage. Following the separation, Bennett moved to Horsham, specifically St Leonards Forest. She first lived in a large property called Colgate Lodge, before moving to an old cottage known as Rangers Lodge. As is noted in Sussex Exclusive, much discussion in the historic Horsham surrounded the elderly Indian lady who lived locally and used the footpath through the Forest. 

As briefly mentioned, the excellent Horsham Museum is located on the Causeway, in a mediaeval house once owned by Robert Hurst Jr, an English Liberal Party politician who was the MP for Horsham between 1865 to 1868 and from 1875 to 1876. 

Horsham has a link to the dinosaurs, through the discovery of a giant iguanodon found nearby. The palaeontologist who discovered the Horsham dinosaur, George Bax Holmes, lived at 8 Causeway. The Bax Castle pub stands on land where Holmes made some of his discoveries. 

There is a plaque on 8 Causeway that commemorates the women who worked in the Horsham Supply Depot at this location during the First World War. During World War Two, ‘dragon’s teeth’ were placed alongside both sides of the Causeway. These were anti-tank concrete pyramids, of which you can still see original examples down Chesworth Lane. 

Sir Timothy Shelley, father of Horsham’s most famous son Percy Bysshe Shelley, owned a property down the Causeway. Sir Timothy Shelley himself served as the MP for Horsham, and was a major landowner in the area. This house was leased to the Collyer’s School headmaster William Pirie in the 1840s. Another famous Horshamite, author Hammond Innes, lived at No. 18 and attended the now-defunct Causeway Preparatory School.

Cavendish Close

Postcode: RH12 5HX

Length: Approximately 156 metres long

Connected to: Cottingham Avenue

Nearest Schools: Holbrook Primary School, North Heath Community Primary School, All Saints CofE Primary School

Nearest Rail Station: Warnham Station is 0.63 miles away, Littlehaven Station is 0.72 miles away

The Honourable Henry Cavendish was born on 10 October 1731 grandson of William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire. He was a natural philosopher and scientist whose greatest discovery was “inflammable air” which he discussed in a paper in 1766. This work was replicated by Lavoisier who renamed it Hydrogen.

The Cavandish family traces its lineage across eight centuries to Norman times, and is closely connected to many aristocratic families of Great Britain. Peregrine Cavendish succeeded to the title in 2004 and became the 12th Duke of Devonshire. His main residence is Chatsworth, the magnificent estate in the Derbyshire Peak District, but the name is well known in Sussex for the estates they still own in Eastbourne from which Devonshire Park gets its name.

Chennells Way

Age: 1970s

Postcode: RH12 5TW

Length: Approximately 441 metres long

Connected to: North Heath Lane, Reapers Close, Harvesters, Plough Lane, Sorrel Road

Nearest Schools: North Heath Community Primary School, College of Richard Collyer, Littlehaven Infant School

Nearest Rail Stations: Littlehaven Station is 0.43 miles away, Horsham Station is 0.74 miles away

The name for Chennells Way derives from two sources; the local stream Chennells Brook as well as Chennelsbrook Castle. The castle was built by the de Braose family in the thirteenth century close to the modern day Lemmington Way. It was a motte and bailey castle,which was typical of the time. However, as no trace remains of this castle, it is likely that the initial wooden structure was never replaced with stone. Chennelsbrook Farm farmhouse is one of the oldest buildings in Horsham, dating back to 1296. The building is still lived in, although it has undergone multiple renovations over the centuries.

Chesworth Lane

Age: 1930s

Postcode: RH13 5AJ, RH12 1JP, RH12 1GH, RH13 0AA

Length: Approximately 318 metres long

Connected to: Denne Road, St Mary’s Gardens, Chesworth Gardens, Chesworth Close, Chesworth Close, Chesworth Crescent

Nearest Schools: St Mary’s CofE Primary School, Littlehaven Educational Trust, Arunside School

Nearest Rail Stations: Horsham Station is 0.69 miles away, Christs Hospital is 1.61 miles away

Chesworth has long been associated with royalty. The name derives from the Saxon for ‘Ceoldred’s Farm’, with an original farmhouse standing at the site since before 1066. The 1086 Domesday Book mentions that the Chesworth farmhouse has been granted to WIlliam de Braose, remaining in this family for over 300 years before they fell out of favour with the crown. The Duke of Norfolk took control of the building by the late 1400s, before it was once again forfeited to the crown. Both Edward I and Edward II were recorded to have stayed at Chesworth House. 

During the sixteenth century, Agnes, dowager duchess of Norfolk lived in Chesworth House. She was the grandmother of Ann Boleyn, and step-grandmother to Catherine Howard. Catherine, the fifth wife of Henry VIII, lived at Chesworth from the age of thirteen. 

The house itself has been demolished and rebuilt many times, although the current house has remained largely unchanged since the 17th century additions to the remaining 15th century build. The stunning gabled roof contains Horsham stone. 

Picture of Chesworth House, source.

Chichester Terrace

Postcode: RH12 1DB

Length: Approximately 177 metres long

Connected to: Wellington Road, Norfolk Road

Nearest Schools: St Mary’s CofE Primary School, The College of Richard Collyer, Horsham Nursery School

Nearest Rail Station: Horsham Station is 0.23 miles away, Littlehaven Station is 1.29 miles away

The Cathedral city of Chichester is the only city in West Sussex and is its county town. It was a Roman and Anglo-Saxon settlement and a major market town from those times.

Horsham is part of the diocese of Chichester but has its own Bishop. The Bishop of Horsham has responsibility for most of West Sussex and for some parishes in East Sussex to the north of Brighton and east of East Grinstead, together with one parish in Kent. Bishops House is on the Guildford Road. The current incumbent is the Rt Revd Ruth Bushyager who was consecrated as a bishop at Lambeth Palace in 2020.

Churchill Avenue

Age: 1970s

Postcode: RH12 2JP

Length: Approximately 297 metres long

Connected to: Greenway, Spencer’s Road

Nearest Schools: Greenway Academy, Trafalgar Community Infant School, The College of Richard Collyer

Nearest Rail Stations: Horsham Station is 0.74 miles away, Littlehaven Station is 1.4 miles away

Churchill Lane is named after Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister during the Second World War. This Horsham street is far from unique for taking naming inspiration from this Great Briton; there are even streets named after Churchill across France, Belgium and Gibraltar. This is in addition to two Royal Navy warships and a United States Navy destroyer. The Infantry Tank MK IV, a British Second World War Tank, is also commonly referred to as the Churchill Tank. Churchill was a regular visitor to South Lodge during his time in Parliament. 

Clarence Road

Age: 1890s

Postcode: RH13 5SQ

Length: Approximately 502 metres long

Connected to: Oakhill Road, Oxford Road, Devonshire Road, Cambridge Road, St John Close, Brighton Road

Nearest Schools: Littlehaven Educational Trust, Millais School, The Forest School

Nearest Rail Stations: Horsham Station is 0.33 miles away, Littlehaven Station is 1.33 miles away

The Duke of Clarence is a title used for junior royals, the last one being the eldest grandson of Queen Victoria who died in 1892. Hammond Innes, the prolific British author, was born at number 68 in 1913, before moving to 18 The Causeway at the end of the war.

Comptons Lane

Postcode: RH13 6BJ

Length: Approximately 2,345 metres long

Connected to: Multiple roads

Nearest Schools: Millais School, Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee School, The Forest School

Nearest Rail Station: Horsham Station is 0.65 miles away, Littlehaven Station is 1.15 miles away

There was a fine house and garden, Compton’s Brow, built by J G Millais, son of the painter Sir John Everett Millais in 1900. J G Millais was famed for his ornithological specimens, which he displayed in a private museum. He also cultivated award winning rhododendrons under the advice of Sir Edmund Loder from Leonardslee. The house was demolished in the 1960s when the site was redeveloped for housing.