HORSHAM  , a

market town in the Horsham parliamentary division of Sussex, England, 38 m . S. by W. from London by the London, Brighton and South Coast railway . Pop. of urban district (19o1) 9446 . It is pleasantly situated in the midst of a fertile country near the source of the Arun . A picturesque avenue leads to the church of St Mary, principally Early English and Perpendicular, with remains of Norman work, having a lofty tower surmounted by a spire, and containing several fine monuments, tombs and brasses . Other buildings include the grammar school, founded in 1532 and rebuilt in 1893, a town hall and corn exchange, erected in 1866 in Italian style, with an assembly room . In the vicinity are several fine mansions . The buildings of Christ's Hospital (q.v.) at West Horsham were opened in 1902, the school being removed hither from London . The town has industries of tanning, founding, carriage-building and flour-milling . Some neolithic remains have been found at Horsham . The town is not mentioned in Domesday Book, but the Rape of Bramber, in which it lies, belonged at that time to William de Braose . His descendants held the borough and the manor of Horsham, and through them they passed to the family of Mowbray, afterwards dukes of Norfolk .

There are traces of

burgage tenure at Horsham in 1210, and it was called a borough in 1236 . It has no charter of incorporation . Horsham sent two representatives to parliament from 1295 until 1832, when the number was reduced to one . In 1885 it was disfranchised . In 1233 Henry III. granted William de Braose a yearly three-days' fair at his manor of Horsham . In the reign of Edward I . William de Braose claimed to have a free market on Wednesdays and Saturdays . Fairs are held on the 5th of April, 18th of July, 17th of November and 27th of November . Market days are Monday and Wednesday . " Glovers " of Horsham are mentioned in a patent roll of 1485, and a brewery existed here in the time of Queen Anne .