Hidden Horsham - Water Works

HWW sluice marker

This is a water sign near the junction of Park Terrace West and Brighton road. The sign dates from when Horsham Water Works was still in existance. Its predessor, Horsham Water Co was founded in 1860 but taken over by the town council in 1878, the same year that Hills Farm was purchased to create the sewage works

The nearby archway cellars house a local florist.

In 1867 Kelly's Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Middlesex, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, stated: The Horsham Water Works Company Limited has been formed with the object of supplying the town with water from a well sunk upon land in Park-terrace east and lists Horsham Water Works Company (limited), (Mr. Robert Sheppard, engineer in chief; J. T. Rawlinson, esq. solicitor & secretary)

It was in this area that a 75 feet artesian water bore was sunk to provide a supply to Horsham in the middle of the 19th century. A reservoir was built near the Workhouse, later the Forest Hospital

A license for the Provender Mill, also known as the Town Mill, to use the River Arun was granted on the condition that it also provided water to Horsham. Wooden pipes from this period can be seen at Horsham Museum

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