Coordinates: 51°03′43″N 0°19′30″W / 51.062°N 0.325°W / 51.062; -0.325

Horsham
Bandstand in the centre of Carfax
Horsham  Horsham shown within West Sussex
Population	55,657
OS grid reference	TQ1730
District	Horsham
Shire county	West Sussex
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Horsham
Postcode district	RH12, RH13
Dialling code	01403
Police	Sussex
Fire	West Sussex
Ambulance	South East Coast
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Horsham
Website	Horsham District Council
List of places: UK • England • West Sussex

Horsham is a market town with a population of 55,657 (2008)^{[citation needed]} on the upper reaches of the River Arun in the centre of the Weald, West Sussex, in the historic County of Sussex, England. The town is 31 miles (50 km) south south-west of London, 18.5 miles (30 km) north-west of Brighton and 26 miles (42 km) north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby towns include Crawley to the north-east and Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill to the south-east. It is the administrative and market centre of Horsham District Council area.

History[link]

The first historical record of Horsham is from AD 947. The name either originates from "Horse Ham", meaning a place where horses were kept, or "Horsa's Ham", named for a Saxon warrior who was granted land in the area.

The town has historically been known for horse trading in early medieval times, iron and brick making up until the 20th century, and brewing more recently.

Governance[link]

Horsham is the largest town in the Horsham District Council area. The second tier of local government is by West Sussex County Council, based in Chichester. In addition there are various Parish Councils.

The town is the centre of the parliamentary constituency of Horsham, recreated in 1983. Francis Maude has served as Member of Parliament for Horsham since 1997. Maude is also Minister for the Cabinet Office and HM Paymaster General.^[1]

Geography[link]

Topography[link]

Horsham has an elevation of 50 metres (160 ft) above sea level,^[2] it is situated in the centre of the Weald in the Low Weald, at the very western edge of the High Weald, with the Surrey Hills of the North Downs to the north and the Sussex Downs of the South Downs to the south.^[3] The River Arun rises from ghylls (streams) in the St Leonard's Forest area, to the east of Horsham, cuts through the south of the town then makes its way through Broadbridge Heath.It is joined by a number of streams flowing down from the northern rising around Rusper.

Town centre[link]

Horsham has grown up around the Carfax (see landmarks), which is a meeting area place of four roads. To the south of the Carfax is the Causeway. This tranquil street consists of houses erected in the 17th, 18th and early 19th century and is lined with ancient London Plane trees. The Horsham Museum is situated at the northerly end opposite to the recently developed former headquarters of the R.S.P.C.A.. At the south end of the Causeway is the Church of England parish church of St. Mary: Norman in origin, rebuilt in the 13th century and restored in 1864-65 by the Gothic revival architect S.S. Teulon.^[4] The area immediately to the south of the parish church is known as Normandy. It was formerly an area of artisans cottages and an ancient well. Moving south for fifty metres and the River Arun is encountered. On the northern bank is Prewett's Mill and on the south side is the town's cricket field. A short walk along the banks of the Arun in a south easterly direction is Chesworth Farm, an area of open public access.

To the north of the Carfax is a large park, known locally as Horsham Park, the remnant of what was formerly the Hurst Park Estate. The park has numerous football pitches, a wildlife pond and tennis courts. Various leisure facilities, including a modern swimming complex and a purpose built gymnastic centre, have been built on land around the park.

To the east along Brighton Road is Iron Bridge named after the railway bridge that carries the railway from London Victoria to Littlehampton. The area consists of mainly Victorian and Edwardian houses to the north of Brighton Road, whilst to the south there are areas of inter- and post-war housing. This area is known as the East Side.

Suburbs[link]

Horsham has developed beyond the original boundaries to incorporate some of the smaller hamlets which now form part of the outer neighbourhoods.

Holbrook[link]

An area of Horsham named after a feeder stream of the River Arun. It consists of residential housing, the majority of which is of late twentieth century origin. The suburb is substantial enough for two council wards. The hamlet around Old Holbrook House is immediately to the north of the A264 which abuts Holbrook. Holbrook House was previously the home of Sir William Vesey-Fitzgerald, Governor of Bombay and M.P. for Horsham (1852–1875). The Tithe Barn at Fivens Green is the most notable building in the district.

Littlehaven[link]

This hamlet dates back to the late 18th Century, when a small number of houses were in existence, with an inn opening in the early part of the 19th Century. A station opened in the area in 1907, originally called Rusper Road Crossing halt, but later renamed Littlehaven.^[5]

Needles[link]

South-west of the town the Needles estate was laid out from c. 1955, with a mixture of privately owned and council-built houses and bungalows. Land around Hills Farm nearby was sold for development in 1972 and further development took place in the 1980s.^[5] The Needles are named after a local farmhouse, called so as it was built using timbers from ships wrecked on The Needles formation.^[6]

New Town[link]

In keeping with many other towns, new developments to the east of the town centre were rapid in the early Victorian era, and that area of town became known, as it is today, as New Town. The area contains the Iron Bridge, a steel structure that carries the railway to the south of Horsham.^[5]

North Heath[link]

Originally used as a label to describe the northern part of the parish of Horsham (compared to Southwater to describe that part south of the River Arun), this area was developed as a neighbourhood in the latter part of the 20th Century.^[5]

Oakhill[link]

This area was originally known as Grub Street, and developed south of Depot Road in the 19th century.^[5]

Roffey[link]

All Saints Church at Roffey

Roffey is north east of the centre of Horsham and as a hamlet dates back to at least the 13th Century, with taxation records of 1296 showing 18 liable people in the area.^[5] Kelley's Post Office Directory for 1867 describes 'Roughey' as consisting 'of a few farmhouses and cottages. Here is an iron church, capable of accommodating 80 persons'.^[7] Maps of the 1880s show Roffey Corner (still spelt Roughey), but appear to label the hamlet as Star Row, with Roffey in use again by the turn of the century.^[5][8] A railway station opened as Roffey Road Halt in 1907, closing in 1937. The station is shown as being in the location now at Wimland Road.^[8] Roffey is a separate ecclesiastical parish with its own parish church—All Saints Church on Crawley Road, designed in 1878 by Arthur Blomfield. It replaced a temporary building which was licensed for worship in 1856.^[9]

Tower Hill[link]

Tower Hill is a hamlet that lies one mile south from Horsham on a ridge of land containing a sandstone known as Horsham Stone rising above the town. A quarry existed here from 1830 to 1876.^[5] Tower Hill consists of housing dating from mid Victorian to late 20th Century. It has a public house called The Boar's Head, formerly The Fox and Hounds. The economic importance of quarrying Horsham Stone to Horsham in the 19th century has left a legacy of toponyms including Stone Pit Field, Stone Barn, Stonyhurst and Stone Pit Wood.

Trafalgar[link]

An area of late 19th and early 20th centuries development on land west of the London Road at North Parade it consists chiefly of semi detached houses with corner shops,most of which have closed. Until the mid 20th century it was known as 'The Common', after a piece of common land that survived inclosure in Trafalgar Road for many years.^[5] Trafalgar forms one of the wards of Horsham Hurst (electoral division) of the Horsham District Council.

Neighbouring areas

	Warnham, Cranleigh	Dorking	Crawley
	Broadbridge Heath		St Leonard's Forest
		Horsham    East
	Billingshurst	Southwater	Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath

Economy[link]

Horsham is a market town formerly trading in cattle, sheep and corn. Its former industries include brewing, brickmaking, iron-smelting and printing.^[10] Nowadays the important industries are financial services, pharmaceuticals and technology. Horsham is also a commuter town serving London, Brighton and Crawley.^[11]

St Mark's Court registered office of the RSA Insurance Group

RSA Insurance Group,^[12] an insurance company, has its registered office in Horsham. The company first came to the town in 1965 as Sun Alliance, becoming the town's biggest employer, at its peak it employed 2,500 people. Since the peak the company has steadily been reducing its workforce in the town. In the late 1980's at the early peak of its local employment Sun Allience purchsed an area of North Street including St Mark's Church, they then proceeded to demolish the church and surrounding buildings in 1989 leaving the spire that was to become a central part of their new head office building that opened in 1991. The following year Sun Alliance decided to demolished its 1960s tower block named Stocklund House which was disliked by many for its brutal unsympathetic dominance over the town. They then built St Leonard's House on the site which opended in 1994, this building has recently been occupied by West Sussex County Council after Royal Sun Allience vacated the building. ^[13] Sun Alliance merged with Royal Insurance in 1996 to form Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group, then renamed RSA Insurance Group in 2008. Another employer in the town is Novartis a Swiss based multinational pharmaceutical company formerly called Ciba-Geigy before a 1996 merger. The site houses the firm's gastro-intestinal research centre and respiratory research centre employing over 300 people.^[14] The RSPCA,^[12] an animal welfare charity, has a £16 million headquarters at Southwater near Horsham, built to replace its former headquarters in the centre of the town.^[15] Located in the center is also The Creative Assembly, Founded in 1987 and one of the UK’s premier videogame developers. Creator of the Total War strategy games, the studio has received numerous press, industry and consumer accolades, including BAFTA and the Develop Industry Excellence awards.

Horsham's town centre has many national chain stores, and is suffering the loss of small and independent retailers.^[16] In 1992 the town centre was redesigned to greatly reduce the flow of traffic through the town's main shopping streets. West Street was pedestrianised. Much of The Carfax was pedestrianised to create a town square. On the Northwest side of the Carfax is Swan walk a typical shopping centre which opened in 1976 and was enclosed with a glass roof in 1989 with the addition of Springfield Court which now houses Wilkinson's. The shopping Centre once enclosed the Capital Theatre which was built in the 1930's and was sandwiched between shops and a multistorey carpark from 1976 until its demolition in early 1983 when Marks and Spencer bought the site to build their current store that opended in 1984. ^[17] A further shopping area and public square, the Forum, opened in 2003^[18] to the south of West Street. There is a partially covered shopping area Piries Place and a shopping street still open to traffic, East Street.

Landmarks[link]

In the commercial centre of Horsham is an open square known as the Carfax. This area contains the Town's Memorial to the dead of the two world wars, a substantial, well used bandstand and a Saturday market. The name Carfax is likely of Norman origin - a corruption of 'Quatre Voies'(four faces) or 'Carrefour', a place where four roads meet.^[19] The Carfax was also formerly Known as "Scarfoulkes" The derivation of which is uncertain.(See Nameplate on building at North east corner of area). Two other places share the name in England 1/[Carfax, Oxford] 2/ Carfax, Winchester. The Carfax area of Pedestrianisation it provides a centre to the town and contains commercial shops and two public houses.

The Shelley fountain fenced off for repairs in April 2009

At the west end of the town centre stands a controversial water sculpture known as the 'Rising Universe' fountain, more commonly known locally as 'The Shelley Fountain'. It was designed by Angela Connor, and erected to commemorate the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley who was born at Field Place in Broadbridge Heath, near Warnham, not far from Horsham. The design is based on a fountain planned for the city of Cambridge which was rejected due to public protest. The County Times wrote "Its appearance and quality as a public work of art has attracted widespread derision and distress. Just how long it will survive is the burning question of the moment.". At its opening the mayor of Lerici, Horsham's twin town where the poet drowned, described the memorial as "very brave". The fountain is designed to release a torrent of six and a half tons of water periodically, it is 45 ft across at its base, standing 28 ft high.^[20] It carries a plaque bearing one of his poems.

The fountain was turned off in the spring of 2006 to save water. Despite recycling it used 180 gallons a day to cover evaporation and filtration losses. However, the council has made water saving efficiencies elsewhere and the fountain was turned on again on November 13, 2006, its tenth birthday but was turned off again after that Christmas. In May 2008 the fountain was turned off again due to the failure of its main hydraulic cylinder.^[21] On 19 January 2009 the fountain was fenced off for repairs.^[22] It was reopened without the fountain functioning. The fountain was due to be repaired at the start of March 2011 at a cost of more than £30,000.^[23] As of November 2011 the fountain is functioning fully.

The Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin is the oldest building in Horsham. It has been associated with the life and worship of the community and in continuous use for nearly eight centuries. It is located at the end of the Causeway in Normandy, the oldest extant part of Horsham. It has a peal of ten bells. The present structure is largely of Mid Victorian design.^[24]

The Town Hall

The Town Hall in the Market Square is a much adapted and restructured building dating from c 1648 when it was referred to as a 'Market House'.^[25] In 1721 a new construction of Portland Stone was built containing a poultry and butter market. The building fell into disrepair and was substantially rebuilt around 1812.It was only as late as 1888 that it became the property of Horsham Council.The building was again largely rebuilt and is essentially of late Victorian origin with a Norman facade preserving some aspects of the older buildings.It has been used as council offices and as a magistrates court in the proceeding years, and more recently housed the Horsham Registry Office on the upper floor. The ground floor was still used as an occasional market place until the Town Hall was closed by the Council to be let as a restaurant.

Transport[link]

Road[link]

Horsham lies at the junction of three routes:

• the A24 north to south route from London and Dorking to Worthing
• the A264/A29 north east to south west route from Crawley to Chichester
• the A281 north west to south east route from Guildford to Brighton.

Railway[link]

Horsham's recently developed bus station.

The town has one main railway station, Horsham railway station, on the Arun Valley Line from Chichester to Crawley, Gatwick and London Victoria. Normally trains on this line depart from Bognor Regis and alternately from Portsmouth or Southampton Central and are joined at Horsham. Likewise southbound ("down") trains divide here. Other services ("stopping" during the off-peak period) leave Horsham for London Bridge. Sutton & Mole Valley line services go north to Dorking, Epsom, Sutton and London Victoria. There is also Littlehaven Station (previously named Littlehaven Halt), in the north east of the town on the Crawley line. There is also Christ's Hospital railway station serving the west of Horsham.

Air[link]

Horsham is 20 km (12 mi) from Gatwick Airport and 65 km (40 mi) from London Heathrow Airport.

Other[link]

Cyclists, pedestrians and horseriders can reach Guildford and Shoreham via the Downs Link, a long distance bridleway and cycle route which follows the now disused Horsham-Guildford, and Horsham-Shoreham railway lines and passes through Southwater, just to the south of Horsham. Most bus services are run by Metrobus, with other routes operated by Arriva, Compass Bus and Stagecoach.^[12] See List of bus routes in West Sussex.

Newspapers[link]

The West Sussex County Times is a paid-for newspaper that has served the town since 1869. The Horsham offices of the paper also publish a free newspaper called the Horsham Advertiser. Another free newspaper, The Resident, was set up in 2008.

Education[link]

The entrance to The Forest School.

The main secondary schools in Horsham are:

• Tanbridge House School (mixed comprehensive),
• Millais School (girls' comprehensive),
• Forest School (boys' comprehensive).

Horsham is also home to the well-known:

• College of Richard Collyer, (sixth form) founded in 1532, and known more commonly as "Collyer's", on Hurst Road. This road also has on it the Arun House adult education centre (a constituent institution of the Central Sussex College).
• Christ's Hospital, To the south of the town is the 'Bluecoat School', a public school founded in 1552, with strong links to the City of London. It moved to the area in 1902.
• Farlington School for Girls, An independent girls school at Strood Green about three miles from Horsham travelling towards Rudgwick
• Horsham YMCA provides programmes of training for young people entering the workforce. This is supported by accommodation for up to 44 homeless young people

Sports[link]

Cricket[link]

Horsham Cricket Club play their home matches at Cricketfield which is used twice a season by Sussex CCC for matches. Although cricket was played in Horsham before 1768, the first recorded game of a town side was on 8 August 1771, which is when Horsham Cricket Club was created. The Club has played various locations over the years, before settling at the present ground in 1851. Horsham Cricket Club were national champions in 2005.

Football[link]

Horsham F.C. are the town's senior football club and currently (2011–12) play in the Isthmian League Premier Division. This is currently the highest division the club have ever played in. They have had some success in recent seasons, reaching the final of the Sussex Senior Cup in 2007. They reached the 2nd round of the F A Cup in 07-08, losing in a replay to Swansea City. The team currently play at the Horsham YMCA ground (see below) whilst they seek a new ground in Horsham. The dedicated followers of the team are known as the 'Lardy Boys'.

Horsham YMCA FC, founded in 1898, are playing their 2009/10 season in the Isthmian League Division One South. They are nicknamed 'The YMs', and play their home games at Gorings Mead in the Iron Bridge part of Horsham. [1]

Forest F.C. were established in 1958 as the Old Boys team of Forest School and joined the Sussex County League in 1988. For the 2009-10 season, they are members of the Sussex County League Division Three.

Horsham Sparrows cater for community youth, girls and womens football as well as the Horsham and District Youth Football League.

Rugby[link]

Horsham RUFC who play at the Coolhurst Ground, are the town's premier Rugby Union team. They were founded in 1928 with their first headquarters at the Station Hotel opposite Horsham Station. Initially the team played on farmland adjacent to the Warnham Park Estate but from 1930 until 1968 they were settled at Horsham Cricket Club. The club grew considerably after the war with further pitches rented in Horsham Park. In 1972 they moved to their present home. At present Horsham 1st XV are in London 4 South East. The club runs teams at every level starting with u7s [2]

Holbrook RUFC are a smaller rugby club, based at The Holbrook Club in north Horsham. It was originally formed in 1971 as Sunallon RFC, which was the name of the then Sun Alliance Sports & Social Club. This then developed into Sun Alliance RFC and following a merger with the Liverpool based Royal Insurance in 1996 into Royal & Sun Alliance RFC (RSA). Holbrook RFC now have two teams as of the 2008/09 season, with the 1sts in Sussex League 1 following promotion, and 2nds in Sussex League 3. [3]

Gymnastics[link]

Horsham Gymnastic Club have a national reputation for producing top female gymnasts^[26][27] a number of whom have progressed to the England and Great Britain national squads.

Public services[link]

Horsham Community Hospital, is open weekdays, and is located on Hurst Road. The town also has its own law courts, ambulance station, fire station and police station also located on Hurst Road. The Statutory emergency fire and rescue service is provided by the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. Home Office policing in Horsham is provided by the Sussex Police.^[28]

The Registry of births, deaths and marriages is located in Park House, North Street in central Horsham.

Community facilities[link]

Pavilions In The Park

Horsham Park immediately to the north of central Horsham is 24 hectares of open space for the use of the people of Horsham. It contains an 18th century country house used in part by the Horsham District Council and contains formal gardens and a maze. At the eastern side is The Pavilions In The Park leisure centre with a gym and a 25m swimming pool run by a private company for Horsham District Council.^[29] A BMX and Skate park is located on the Hurst Road side of Horsham Park.^[30] The remaining space is used extensively for leisure pursuits such as tennis, football and rugby.

Horsham Museum is located on the picturesque Causeway in a half timbered medieval house. It has local history objects displayed in twenty-six galleries.^[31] Situated on North Street is 'The Capitol',^[32] the venue (formally Horsham Arts Centre) features a theatre, 2 full-time cinema screens, a studio and gallery. On Lower Tanbridge Way is two storey modernised library run by West Sussex Libraries.^[33]

Cultural references[link]

The first illustrated history of Horsham was written in 1836 by Howard Dudley at the age of 16. It includes descriptions of St Mary's Church and other buildings along with lithographs and wood-cut images of the town. The book entitled The History and Antiquities of Horsham has been reproduced in full to enable research on line.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had the fictitious Openshaw family, in the Sherlock Holmes story The Five Orange Pips, residing in the town.

Douglas Maddon's book The English Department's Whores,^[34] is a thinly-veiled satire of life in Horsham.

Notable deceased residents[link]

This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (June 2010)

• John Roland Abbey (1894–1969), book collector.^[35]
• George Bax Holmes (1803–1887), palaeontologist^[36]
• Robert Blatchford (1851–1943), author and socialist.^[37]
• Wilfred Brown (1922–1971), singer^[38]
• Henry Burstow (1826–1916), singer and bell-ringer, important to the early twentieth-century folk-song revival, and for his 'Reminiscences of Horsham', published in 1911.^[39]
• Samuel Carpenter (1649–1714), First Treasurer and Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania. Born in 1649 in Horsham. His father was John Carpenter, the Sheriff of Horsham, who was murdered while attending his duties in Horsham on August 9, 1671.^[40]
• Edward Bainbridge Copnall (1903–1973), artist and president of the Royal Society of British Sculptors lived in Horsham from an early age. One of his works, a sculpture titled 'The Astronomer' was presented to the College of Richard Collyer in the town, by his sister Phyllis Millar and is on display in the upper quadrangle. Other examples of his work are kept by Horsham Museum.^[41]
• John Copnall (1928–2007), artist and teacher, a leading English abstract painter and teacher at the London Central School of Art and Design.^[42]
• Walter Crane (1845–1915) artist and book illustrator died at Horsham^[43]
• Howard Dudley (1820–1864),wrote the first illustrated history of Horsham in 1836^[44]
• Walter Dendy Sadler (1854–1923) artist and painter, was brought up in Horsham.^[45]
• Frederick Gough MC TD (1901–1977), an army major at the Battle of Arnhem, served as Horsham's Member of Parliament from 1951 to 1964.^[46]
• Catherine Howard (c.1520-1542), one of King Henry VIII's wives, lived in Horsham.
• Robert Henry Hurst (1817 – 1905). Liberal Member of Parliament for Horsham from 1865 to 1868, and from 1875 to 1876
• Hammond Innes (1913–1998), author, was born in Clarence Road.
• Thomas Medwin (1788–1869), poet and biographer of Lord Byron and his cousin Percy Bysshe Shelley.^[47]
• John Guille Millais (1865–1931), painter, naturalist and author, son of the Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais,.^[48]
• Raoul Millais (1901–1999), artist, son of John Guille Millais.^[49]
• Edward Mote (1797–1874), Writer of the hymn 'My hope is built on nothing less' and was minister of Rehoboth Baptist Church in New Street for 26 years where he is buried.^[50]
• John Pilford (1769–1834), Royal Navy officer most noted for his command of the HMS Ajax at the battle of Trafalgar.^[51]
• Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) was born at Field Place, Warnham two miles from Horsham.^[52]
• Lt.-Col. George Styles GC (1928–2006), army bomb-disposal expert, was educated at Collyer's School.^[53]
• Eric Thompson (1929–1982), narrator of the British version of The Magic Roundabout, was educated at Collyer's School.^[54]
• William Vesey-Fitzgerald (1818–1885), Governor of Bombay, M.P. for Horsham lived at Holbrook.^[55]
• Howard Vincent (1849–1908), Conservative Party Member of Parliament, barrister and police official who was born at Slinfold^[56]

Notable living residents[link]

This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (June 2010)

• William Beer - Sussex CCC cricketer
• Junior Campbell (born William Campbell) (lead guitarist, singer and songwriter with the sixties band The Marmalade), Also known for co-writing the music for the original Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends television series' and films.
• Harry Enfield - English comedian attended Collyer's sixth form college. His famous Kevin the Teenager character made mention of living on Merryfield Drive in Horsham. He currently plays Jim Stonem in the E4 drama, Skins. Also Stavros the kebab shop owner is allegedly based upon the owner of the Greek Fish & Chip Shop near the station in the mid-1970s.
• Robin Goodridge - Drummer in rock band Bush attended Tanbridge House School.
• Jamie Hewlett - Artist/cartoonist and creator of the comic strip Tank Girl (made into a film in 1995) and co-creator of the band Gorillaz (nominated for five Grammy Awards in December 2005). He attended both Tanbridge House School and the former Northbrook Art College.
• Douglas Maddon - Novelist and former lecturer at Collyer's Sixth Form College
• Alan Mullery- Former footballer with Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur,former manager of Crystal Palace and Brighton and Hove Albion.
• Chris Nash - Sussex CCC cricketer
• Simon Nye - Writer of Men Behaving Badly, attended Collyer's when it was still a Grammar School
• Paul Parker - England and Sussex CCC cricketer (captain); attended Collyer's School
• Chris Simms (author) - Crime thriller writer who was born in Horsham
• Jamie Taylor - Footballer for Dagenham and Redbridge FC in Football League Two
• Michael Thornely - Sussex CCC cricketer
• Faye White - Footballer captain of England and player for Ottawa Fury, formerly of Arsenal
• Roy Whiting - Convicted child killer of 7 year old Sarah Payne .
• Holly Willoughby - TV presenter and model attended Collyer's Sixth Form College.
• The Feeling - a pop band

Recent comments[link]

In October 2006, Horsham was pronounced the second best place to live in the UK, coming ahead of places such as Epsom and Tunbridge Wells and only beaten by Winchester. This was claimed by a Channel 4 show, The 10 best and worst places to live in the UK.

The programme mentioned that:

• Horsham was in the top 15% for low crime;
• about 70% of students gained 5 A* _ C grades at GCSE;
• over 85% of the workforce is economically active;
• Horsham has a high life expectancy of 76 years for men and 83 for women;
• there are no official homeless people living in Horsham.

In 2007, a Reader's Digest poll put Horsham as the 25th best place in mainland Britain to bring up a family.^[57]

On 27 September 2007, Horsham was awarded as the overall winner of Britain in Bloom in the Large town / small city category in the whole of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland with a Gold Award. It also has the honour of being presented with the Royal Horticultural Society's 'Bloomin' Wild' award which reflected the theme for year's national judging.

Horsham is placed number 27 in the book Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places To Live In The UK. The satirical book describes Horsham as "a No Fun Zone run by old conservatives for old conservatives."^[58] This award was given because of the Horsham Council refused to build a Night Club in the town, then carried on to say said that "the weekly disco at the Roffey youth centre would be enough".

Twinning[link]

Horsham District twinnings:

• St Maixent L'Ecole, France^[59]
• Lage, Germany^[59]

Horsham Town twinnings:

• Lerici, Italy^[12]
• Horsham, Victoria, Australia^[12]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Horsham

• Horsham District Council - Local Government website
• Visit Horsham - Official Visitors' website
• Horsham at the Open Directory Project

Ben Wallace

Ben Wallace in 2009.
No. 6 – Detroit Pistons
Center / Power forward
Personal information
Born	(1974-09-10) September 10, 1974 (age 37) White Hall, Alabama
Nationality	American
High school	Central HS (Hayneville, Alabama)
Listed height	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight	240 lb (109 kg)
Career information
College	Cuyahoga CC (1992–1994) Virginia Union (1994–1996)
Pro career	1996–present
Career history
1996–1999	Washington Bullets / Wizards
1999–2000	Orlando Magic
2000–2006	Detroit Pistons
2006–2008	Chicago Bulls
2008–2009	Cleveland Cavaliers
2009–present	Detroit Pistons
Career highlights and awards
NBA Champion (2004) 4× NBA Defensive Player of the Year (2002–2003, 2005–2006) 4× NBA All-Star (2003–2006) 3× All-NBA Second Team (2003–2004, 2006) 2× All-NBA Third Team (2002, 2005) 2× NBA Rebounding Champion (2002, 2003) NBA blocks leader (2002) 5× NBA All-Defensive First Team (2002–2006) NBA All-Defensive Second Team (2007)

Ben Camey Wallace (born September 10, 1974) is an American basketball center for the Detroit Pistons of the NBA. A native of Alabama, Wallace attended Cuyahoga Community College and Virginia Union University and signed with the Washington Bullets (later Wizards) as an undrafted free agent in 1996. In his NBA career, Wallace has also played the power forward position and with the Washington Bullets/Wizards, Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, and Cleveland Cavaliers teams.

He has won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award four times, a record he shares with Dikembe Mutombo. In six seasons with the Pistons (2000–2006), Wallace made two NBA Finals appearances (2004 and 2005) and won a championship with the Pistons in 2004.

Early life[link]

Ben Wallace was born in White Hall, Alabama, a small town in Lowndes County, and is the tenth of eleven children. He later attended Central High School in Hayneville where he received all-state honors in basketball, baseball, and football (as a linebacker). Former basketball player Charles Oakley is Wallace's mentor, having discovered Wallace at a 1991 basketball camp, and later recommended Wallace to his previous college, Virginia Union.

College career[link]

Wallace first played college basketball on the junior college level at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland for two years. There, staples of Wallace's defensive prowess were shown as he averaged 17.0 rebounds and 6.9 blocks per game. He then transferred to Virginia Union, a Division II school, where he studied criminal justice. Wallace averaged 13.4 points per game and 10.0 rebounds per game as a member of the Virginia Union Panthers, whom he led to the Division II Final Four and a 28–3 record.^[1] As a senior, Wallace was named to the First-Team All CIAA and was selected as a First Team All-American (Div. II) by the NABC. Wallace was a letterman in football, baseball, basketball and track. He won All-State honors in all but track.

NBA career[link]

Early career[link]

As an undrafted player, he was signed as a rookie free agent by the Washington Bullets on October 2, 1996 after playing in Italy. In 1999, Wallace was traded to the Orlando Magic along with Tim Legler, Terry Davis, and Jeff McInnis for Ike Austin.

Detroit Pistons[link]

On August 3, 2000, he was traded along with Chucky Atkins to the Detroit Pistons for Grant Hill, in what was at the time considered a one-sided trade; Hill had planned to sign with Orlando as an unrestricted free agent, but the sign and trade deal allowed Hill to receive a slightly more lucrative contract while Detroit received at least some compensation for losing its marquee player. Since the trade, Wallace won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, and 2005–06 seasons, and was selected to six All-Defensive teams. In the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons, he led the league in both rebounds and blocked shots, the first to do so since Hakeem Olajuwon. In 2003, he was voted by fans to the first of his four NBA All-Star Game appearances as a center for the Eastern Conference.

Near the end of a November 2004 game against the Indiana Pacers, Wallace responded to a foul by Indiana's Ron Artest by shoving Artest, which eventually led to the Pacers–Pistons brawl, involving both players and spectators. Wallace was suspended for six games, and his brother David Wallace, received a year of probation and community service for punching Indiana players in the stands.^[2]

Wallace during his tenure with the Bulls

The game was a rematch of the heated Eastern Conference finals which the Detroit Pistons won on their way to the 2004 NBA Finals where they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 on the back of Wallace's effective and strong defense against a declining but still dominant Shaquille O'Neal.

The Pistons began a tradition of sounding a deep chime whenever "Big Ben" scored or recorded a block on Detroit's home court, The Palace of Auburn Hills – an allusion to the original Big Ben in London. (The Bulls and Cavaliers continued the gimmick during his respective tenures with Chicago and Cleveland).

Chicago Bulls[link]

On July 3, 2006, Wallace agreed to a four-year, $60 million deal with the Chicago Bulls.^[3] Chicago Bulls coach Scott Skiles had a strict "no-headband" policy, but decided to make an exception for Wallace when his teammates voted in favor of allowing him to keep the signature headband.^[4] During his two-year run in Chicago, Wallace battled with various knee injuries and averaged 5.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 2.0 blocks per game.

Cleveland Cavaliers[link]

Wallace during his tenure with the Cavs

On February 21, 2008, he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers as part of a three-team deal that included the Seattle SuperSonics and the Chicago Bulls.^[5] The deal moved Wallace to the power forward position with Zydrunas Ilgauskas as the starting center. Following the trade, Wallace played in 22 regular season games (all starts). In 26.3 minutes, he averaged 4.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. In 72 total regular season games Wallace averaged 4.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.^[6] Wallace had a Cavalier regular season high of 12 points on February 24, 2008 against the Memphis Grizzlies, and had regular season Cavalier highs of 15 rebounds against the Charlotte Bobcats and four blocks against the Orlando Magic.^[7] In the 2008 playoffs, Wallace played in 13 games (all starts) and averaged 3.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game.^[6] He had his playoff high of 12 rebounds in Game 4 win against the Washington Wizards in the first round of the NBA playoffs.^[7] On November 25, 2008, Wallace grabbed his 9,000th career rebound and blocked his 1,900th career shot.

On June 25, 2009, Wallace was traded to the Phoenix Suns with Sasha Pavlović, a second round draft pick and $500k for Shaquille O'Neal.^[8] On July 13, 2009, the Suns bought out Wallace's $14 million contract, saving $8 million in the process. Wallace actually received $10 million but Phoenix was in luxury tax so the savings were effectively doubled.

Return to Pistons[link]

On August 7, 2009, Wallace agreed to re-sign with the Pistons as a free agent to a 1-year deal. He formerly wore #3 with the Pistons, but changed his jersey to #6 upon his return, allowing Rodney Stuckey to keep that number. On July 11, 2010, Wallace agreed to a 2-year deal with the Pistons.^[9]

On August 4, 2010, Wallace was re-signed by the Pistons.^[10] On November 30, 2010, in a 90-79 road loss to the Orlando Magic, Wallace surpassed the 10,000 rebound mark for his career, becoming the 34th player in NBA history to achieve that mark.

On December 22, 2010, in a 115–93 road win over the Raptors, Wallace played his 1,000th game becoming the 95th player in NBA history to achieve this record.

On February 14, 2012, Wallace played his 1055th game, passing the record held by Avery Johnson for most games by an undrafted player.^[11] The same night, Wallace announced his plan to retire at the end of the 2011-12 season.

Player profile[link]

Ben Wallace primarily plays the center position despite being somewhat undersized. Wallace is listed at 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m), 240 lbs, a frame that is more suited for a forward rather than a true center. He, himself, admits his actual height is 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m).^[12] However, Wallace's long wingspan, brute strength, tenacity, and keen ball awareness make up for his lack of height at the center position. As a result, he is lauded for his prolific rebounding and shot blocking,^[12] having been voted the NBA Defensive Player of the Year four times. Unfortunately, Wallace lacks solid offensive scoring skills, with most of his points coming from offensive put-backs, baskets in transition, or other high-percentage field goals. His most problematic area on offense is his free throw shooting. Wallace's career free throw shooting percentage has never exceeded 50%.^[13] This has often led teams to foul him much like the Hack-a-Shaq defense.^[14]

Personal life[link]

Wallace is married to Chanda and is the father of two sons, Ben Jr. and Bryce, and one daughter, Bailey.^[15] Wallace appeared on the cover of ESPN NBA 2K5. An inflatable basketball training aid of Wallace's likeness, called the Inflatable Defender, is manufactured by PlayAir Systems. His sneaker, the Big Ben was released November 5, 2007 under Stephon Marbury's Starbury label and sold for $14.98 at Steve & Barry's stores.^[16] Fans often arrived at games sporting wigs in honor of his trademark afro hairstyle.^{[citation needed]} However, he usually only had the afro for home games; for away games, he had his hair styled into cornrows.^{[citation needed]} In 2011, Wallace was arrested and charged with DWI and carrying a concealed weapon.^[17] Wallace noted to Arda Ocal of The Score Television Network that he is a fan of professional wrestling, citing some of his favourite wrestlers as Andre the Giant, Big John Studd, Hulk Hogan and John Cena.^[18]

Honors and statistical highs[link]

Wallace is honored with the Pistons at the White House for the team's victory in the 2004 NBA Finals.

• NBA Champion: 2004
• 4× NBA All-Star: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
• 4× NBA Defensive Player of the Year: 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006
• 6× All-NBA Defensive Team:

• First Team: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
• Second Team: 2007

• 5× All-NBA:

• Second Team: 2003, 2004, 2006
• Third Team: 2002, 2005

• 2× NBA regular-season leader, rebounds per game: 2002 (13.0), 2003 (15.4)
• NBA regular-season leader, blocks per game: 2002 (3.5)
• 2× NBA regular-season leader, total rebounds: 2001 (1052), 2003 (1026)
• NBA regular-season leader, total defensive rebounds: 2001 (749)
• 2× NBA regular-season leader, total offensive rebounds: 2003 (293), 2006 (301)
• NBA regular-season leader, total blocks: 2002 (278)

NBA career statistics[link]

Regular season[link]

Playoffs[link]