Hidden Horsham - New Street

New Street

New Street has a collection of interesting properties along its length. It stretches from the southern end with the Queens Street and Brighton Road junction through to Oakhill Road in the north, labelled as Upper New Street. It was previously known as Pest House Lane, after the pest house of c1725 where those with contagious deseases were sent. It was renamed c1830 and towards the end of the 19th century the area was developed further with Victorian and Edwardian residential properties

At the junction with Brighton Road there are three listed buildings, dating from the early to mid 19^th century and noted for their gently bowed frontages. The roof also curves around joining the two roads together, see the main picture above

At 2 New Street, although originally known as 'the rear of no 1 Brighton Road', is Clifford Durrant's Stained Glass business, see external link below. It is believed that the property was built as a store and beef salting area for the Lintott grocers in Brighton Road. The left hand window has been converted from a doorway, the vertical bricks under the window, not used on the other three front windows, suggest that this was not original. Centrally it has an upper door which is still used to bring products in and out of the upper floor. The present owners purchased the property in 1980 for £12,100 [2006:£35,852.06] from Stephen & Peggy Hayes who were operating a grocers shop next door, their son using the building as a garage and workshop. It had also been owned by Mr J W H Cockram who moved from his address at 7 East Street where he baked meat and fruit pies and sold them warm from the oven. It is now used for making and restoring ecclesiastical stained glass and manufacturing traditional leaded lights for both Sussex and further afield such France, Falkland Islands and the Caribbean

The semi-detached cottages at 3 & 4 New Street have been around since as early as 1881 when the carpenter and joiner David Bravery lived there with his family. Next door is the property once used by Wholey the Blacksmith, now numbered No 20 - some street numbers seem to have gone amiss. The properties mentioned above are all in the shadow of the new Brighton Road Baptist Church currently under construction

Perhaps the oldest property is one dating back to the early 16^th century, lying hidden from the road by hedgerow. It has been listed by English Heritage and has been photographed as part of their Images of England project. The Horsham stone roof has been replaced with tiling but the timber framing is still evident. See Hidden Horsham's listed buildings feature for more information

Opposite the above property is the Rehoboth Baptist Church with the main building dating back to 1834. A modern steel, glass and red brick entrance has been added to the front. An older red brick extension to the rear is evident, with the graveyard is still in place at the back. A detailed history of the church can be found on using the external link below

On the left hand side as you enter New Street from Queen Street there are some more older properties. Two of them form a group and may well have been built around the same time as those opposite it and mentioned above. Pinewood Interiors and The Courtyard share this range; the former having a first floor loading door similar to those at Nos 2 and 20. A coach entrance appears below. A more recent wooden archway links to the next building, evidence on the brickwork suggests that a more substantial link pre-dated this

A factory unit that appears to be from the 1960s illustrates the progression in the street. A large unit housing New Street Garage is the neighbour to the above properties. Time will judge as to whether this property looks old and attractive in years to come

The final set of photographs show the residential properties in Upper New Street. A mix of Victorian and Edwardian terraces and semi-detached houses line the road. Features include the firewalls protruding through the roofline to prevent the spread of fire along a terrace. Many of the houses have inscribed names identifying groups of two or four properties

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