D and E: The A to Z of Horsham Road Names and Streets

17 February 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!

Darwin Close

Postcode: RH12 4ZR

Length: Approximately 54 metres

Connected to: Innes Road

Nearest Schools: Littlehaven Infant School, Northolmes Junior School, Kingslea Primary School

Nearest Rail Station: Littlehaven Station is 0.44 miles away, Horsham Station is 0.80 miles away

In 2017 a mysterious image appeared on the wall of the alley that leads from the Carfax to Piries Place. It was believed to be of the renowned naturalist Charles Darwin, and speculation was that it had been created by Banksy. This was fuelled by the appearance of Banksy style rats on the nearby walls of Sainsburys.

Darwin had links with Horsham. It was Darwin that proposed Frederick DuCane Godman, the builder of South Lodge on the outskirts of Horsham as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1882.

Delius Gardens

Postcode: RH13 6RY

Length: Approximately 50 metres long

Connected to: Elgar Way

Nearest Schools: Leechpool Primary School, Northolmes Junior School, St Robert Southwell Catholic Primary School

Nearest Rail Station: Littlehaven Station is 0.90 miles away, Horsham Station is 1.35 miles away

Frederick Delius was an English composer, born in Bradford. He is best known for the exquisite On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, written in 1912. His parents were both from Westphalia, a region of Germany, but his ancestry was Dutch.

Denne Road

Postcode: RH12 1JE

Length: Approximately 606 metres long

Connected to: East Street, Denne Parade, Talbot Lane, Hadmans Close, Dukes Square, Old Denne Gardens, Normandy, Chesworth Lane, Fordingbridge Close

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

Nearest Rail Station: Horsham Station is 0.61 miles away, Christs Hospital Station is 1.63 miles away

The name probably comes from the Saxon word for woodland pasture. It is an ancient path and would have been the main route to the south. Denne Park was a deerpark owned by William de Braose, and there has been a property on the site since at least the thirteenth century.The present house was built in 1606, and was held in the Eversfield family until1947 when the house was converted into apartments. At the Horsham end of the road is the Drill Hall, built in 1927. Collyer’s school was originally in Denne Road, but the buildings fell into disrepair and the school moved to Hurst Road in 1890 and the site became a girl’s school. These buildings were demolished to build St Mary’s Primary school, and the late Queen Mother laid the foundation stone for the school on a visit to Horsham in 1967.

Doomsday Gardens

Postcode: RH13 6LB

Length: Approximately 128 metres long

Connected to: Hammerpond Junction

Nearest Schools: Heron Way Primary School, QUeen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee School, The Forest School

Nearest Rail Station: Horsham Station is 0.95 miles away, Littlehaven Station is 1.57 miles away

Doomsday Green used to be a small hamlet, and may be named after the farmer who owned the land. 

Horsham was not mentioned in the Doomsday Book, the survey of England carried out on the order of William the First in 1085. Horsham existed, it was first mentioned in 947AD, and it is not known why Horsham wasn't listed. It has been suggested that the inspectors were on a tight schedule and decided not to visit. If so, it was lucky for the residents of Horsham as they did not have to pay the new taxes on their assets.

Drake Close

Postcode: RH12 5UB

Length: Approximately 295 metres long

Connected to: North Heath Lane

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

Nearest Rail Station: Littlehaven Station is 0.31 miles away, Warnham Station is 1.04 miles away

Sir Francis Drake was an English explorer and privateer best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580, the first by an Englishman and only the third in History. He is now often seen as a controversial character. He was a privateer, seen in some ways as a legalised pirate who attacked many Spanish and Portuguese ships for their treasure, and because of his connections with the early slave trade.The king of Spain and Portugal, King Philip II was said to have offered the huge sum of 20,000 ducats (£4 million) for Drake’s life. 

Earlswood Close

Age: 1980s

Postcode: RH13 6DB

Length: Approximately 337 metres long

Connected to: Comptons Lane

Nearest Schools: Northolmes Junior School, Leechpool Primary School, Littlehaven Infant School

Nearest Rail Station: Littlehaven Station is 0.59 miles away, Horsham Station is 0.81 miles away

This site was originally staff accommodation for the Forest Hospital which had occupied the buildings originally built as the Union Workhouse on Crawley Road. It became part of the Earlswood Hospital, the main site being at Redhill,  in 1949. The Forest Hospital had been used as the number 9 Canadian General Hospital after the D Day landings, with capacity for up to 600 men, but it had fallen into disrepair after the war.

East Street

Postcode: RH12 1AA

Length: Approximately 306 metres long

Connected to: Denne Road, Park Way, Barttelot Road, Denne Parade

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

Nearest Rail Station: Horsham Station is 0.43 miles away, Littlehaven Station is 1.49 miles away

East Street was one of the earliest Horsham Streets. The Kings Head, on the corner of East Street and the Carfax was a coaching inn with roots in the seventeenth century, being on the road down to Brighton.In the eighteenth century part of the building was used by the Inland Revenue, and the sign can still be seen on the side of the building.

There was a large air raid shelter built in East Street during the Second World War, stretching from Park Street all the way down to Barttelot Road.

Eversfield Road

Age: 1930s

Postcode: RH13 5JS

Length: Approximately 323 metres long

Connected to: Elm Grove, Orchard Road

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

Nearest Rail Station: Horsham Station is 0.49 miles away, Littlehaven Station is 1.38 miles away

The Eversfield family owned Denne Park from the mid sixteenth century, and built their new house on the site of a previous house in 1606. They also owned Chesworth House. The family were very influential in Horsham, with several representing the town as the MP when voting was restricted to a very small number of property owning residents. There is a very fine, and large, portrait of Charles and Mary Eversfield on the staircase in Horsham Museum, the portrait dating back to the Eighteenth Century.

Chesworth House, previously owned by the Eversfield Family

Eyles Close

Age: 1970s

Postcode: RH12 2HT

Length: Approximately 154 metres long

Connected to: Saxon Crescent

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

Nearest Rail Station: Horsham Station is 0.93 miles away, Littlehaven Station is 1.20 miles away.

This is named after Albert Hope Eyles who was headmaster of Victory Road Boys school in the 1930s. The Victory Road schools, infants, boys and girls, burnt down on the 10th January 1940, and Mr Eyles was instrumental in allowing the British Legion building in North Street as temporary classrooms until the school could be rebuilt.