Hidden Horsham - Ian Nairn

The Buildings of England - Sussex

Horsham Station's 'really horrible front'

Ian Nairn co-wrote The Buildings of England - Sussex with Nikolaus Pevsner. Only four pages were written about Horsham and the nearest relevant photo is that of Christs Hospital Railway Station

The book was published in 1965 and so represents a bygone Horsham when St Mark's Church still overlooked the Carfax and traffic still coursed through the centre of the town. Perhaps sharing a view with many Horsham residents Nairn expressed views supporting the bypassing of the town and replacing on street parking with a multi-storey car park

Nairn's often barbed but cruelly accurate descriptions of Horsham have been added to this site to give an independent view of times gone by, see internal links below and the boxouts on this feature. Nairn's comments are often positive and these too are referenced. His summary of the town opens with 'An exasperating, traffic-laden, half-realized town'. Nairn died in 1983 at which time the town would not have changed except for the A24 bypass. But, had he been alive when this feature was written (Oct 2008), Nairn would have seen the improvements that he requested, perhaps even initiated in the sub-conscious, of those who influenced, steered and otherwise enabled Horsham's town centre redevelopment

Traffic no longer locks up the town centre, discouraged by speed restrictions and encouraged to use the inner ring road. In addition to the multi-storey car parks (two, not one) there is the

Causeway 'As an anthology of cosy Wealden buildings it would be hard to beat'

park and ride. Perhaps now the town has been fully 'realized'. Coincidently, the story of the realization has been recorded in A Journey Through Horsham's Changes by the late John Buchanan and Dr Annabelle Hughes, see external links below

In the short piece on Horsham Nairn reports that one of Horsham's best features is the amount of 'worth-while open space in and around the town' but then describes the Carfax as 'disjointed and gap-toothed'. A recent four page feature commenting on Horsham's architecture in the context of 2008 appears on this site

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