Horsham
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The market town of Horsham is rich in
Shelleyana. Many sites that would have been
familiar to Shelley still exist: among them
are Park House, Springfield Park, and the
Manor House. South of Horsham along the
A24, the West Grinstead Parish Church in
which Timothy Shelley and Elizabeth Pilfold
were married still holds the eighteenth
century pews from which their relatives
viewed the ceremony.
In the Horsham town center, one can find
Angela Conner's Shelley memorial, "Rising
Universe" (it's right next to the
McDonald’s; we immediately
rechristened it the "McMemorial"). Unveiled
in November 1997, it was (according to the
KSMA Newsletter of March 1998) immediately
dubbed by locals as a "split pea," a
"mammoth ice lolly," and a "lychee in a
potato skin."
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| But Horsham offers a good deal more than
the memorial. The best local source of
information is the Horsham Tourist
Information Centre (9, The Causeway, Horsham,
West Sussex RH12 1 HE, phone: 01403 211661,
fax: 01403 215268, museum phone: 01403
254959), which sells several Shelley-related
books and pamphlets, including
"Shelley’s Horsham." It is open from 10
AM to 5 PM Tuesday through Saturday, and is
housed in a sixteenth century timber framed
house on the ultra-fashionable Causeway,
where Shelley’s father owned the
property shown here. |
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| Arun House, the "cottage" that
Shelley’s grandfather preferred to his
£80,000 Castle Goring, can be found on
Denne road, privately owned by the Rooney
family. Contemporary gossip hinted that Sir
Bysshe must have been a bit mad to live in
such relative squalor—although to
modern eyes, the snug home seems a good deal
more appealing than a drafty fortress. Next
to the cottage is the cemetery where Tom
Medwin (Shelley’s boyhood friend who
turned into an incredibly boring Italian
houseguest) is buried. |
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| Another interesting Horsham site is the
Church of Saint Mary’s at the foot of
the Causeway. The exterior is much as it was
in Shelley’s time, although the
interior has been completely redone. The
family vault of Shelley’s father,
mother, and grandfather are here, along with
a memorial plaque to Percy Bysshe. |
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| Outside of Horsham, between the A264 and
A281 motorways, one can find Saint
Leonard’s Forest, one of
Shelley’s favorite rambles, and a
favorite subject for the wild tales he told
his sisters and brother. It is of course the
home of the legendary Great Snake, and even
today remains rather wild and delightfully
Romantic. |
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