Hidden Horsham - Horsham Heritage Sundial

The Sundial in the Forum

The bronze sundial in The Forum is the artistic centrepiece of the area. The £150,000 project was announced in September of 2002 and promised a time capsule visible through a glass window. The capsule is said to be in place but there is no window. Erected in 2003 the sundial was unveiled by the Her Majesty, the Queen on the 24^th October. It not only shows the time when sunny but has representations of over thirty segments of history in the Horsham District

This is part six of the six part feature that investigates each part of the detail.
See also parts 1 2 3 4 5 (6)

The Railway

Railways have been important to Horsham even before the line arrived at Horsham Station. Prior to 1848 unsuccessful efforts were made to include Horsham on the potentially lucrative London to Brighton line. In 1859 it was successful in joining the London to Brighton line with Portsmouth at which point Horsham ceased to be a terminus

The Railway

Bluecoat School

Bluecoat School

Not mentioned on the border of the sundial, only on the plaques, is the bluecoat school of Christ's Hospital at Stammerham. It relocated from London in 1897 and, until just a few years ago, the students could be seen in town in their uniform of long coats and stockings. Nowadays the uniform is only worn for school purposes

A standing student is depicted on the sundial in the bluecoat reading from the book 'Alice in Wonderland'. The school was founded in by Edward VI at Newgate in 1552 to take children that were made poor and destitute by Henry VIII dissolution of the monasteries. Until the move to Stammerham it remained in Newgate except for the period following the Great Fire of London. The foundation stone was laid by Edward, Prince of Wales on 23^rd October 1897, the anniversary of the birthday Edward VI

Leonardlee Gardens

The grade I listed Leonardslee House and 200 acres of gardens are in Lower Beeding, just a short distance from Horsham. For a 100 years the gardens have been open to the public and this continues from Easter with spectacular rhododendrons through to late October when autumn colours abound

Update: In June 2010 the gardens opened to the public for the last time, they are now in private ownership

The underlying landscape was a result of seven hammerponds for the iron industry but from 1907 it was redeveloped as a country home and gardens by Sir Giles Loder. Wallabies are kept in one part of the gardens but some have escaped and are now living and breeding in the adjacent St Leonard's Forest. The gardens are also world renowned for their rhododendrons and azaleas

Leonardlee Gardens

Shipley Windmill & Hilaire Belloc

Hilaire Belloc (1870 - 1953) was born a frenchman but was naturalised to the UK in 1902 having spent much of his boyhood in West Sussex. He was a writer, a journalist and a Member of Parliament. As a poet all his life, he is best remembered for his “Cautionary Tales” for children. Belloc was the Liberal MP for South Salford in 1905, later becoming an Independent

In 1906 Belloc purchased and lived at Kingsland (sometimes called Kings Land) in Shipley. Totalling five acres and including Shipley Windmill he lived there until his death. The windmill is the youngest in Sussex, being built in 1879 and was leased to Earnest Powell until 1926 when it ceased being an active mill. Despite its age the mill fell into disrepair but Belloc was instrumental in its restoration. Since 1987 the mill has been in the hands of a charitable trust which pays a peppercorn rent to the owner Charles Eustace, great grandson of Belloc. Horsham District Council and West Sussex County Council are amongst the trustees

Belloc is shown on the sundial alongside the Shipley Windmill

Shipley Windmill & Hilaire Belloc

Royal Observer Corps

Bluecoat School

The back of the Drill Hall in Denne Road, Horsham, was the base for Group 2 of the Royal Observer Corps (ROC) during World War II. The Observer Corps was established in 1925 to enable early detection of an airborne attack on London. Initially it relied on 43 observer posts in Kent, Surrey and Sussex but this was expanded in the years preceding World War II. The ROC were a civilian unit but under the control of the Royal Air Force (RAF). In 1941 it earned its 'Royal' prefix from George VI and it became a uniformed force, initially in boiler suits as the full battle dress was rolled out. In the same year women were allowed to join

The scenes in the film 'The Battle of Britain' are said to resemble the activities at Horsham where model aeroplanes were pushed around a map of Britain

During WWII the RAF requisitioned the nearby Normandy Centre for the ROC so that they could use the ktichen and dining room. On May 12^th 1945 when all of the Luftwaffe aircraft were grounded the ROC was stood down. In later years the ROC built underground concrete bunkers on the Denne Hall site; these to be used in the event of a nuclear attack. The bunkers were decommissioned in 1990. The sundial shows one observer looking to the skies through binoculars whilst another radios the information back to the headquarters

A small nuclear bunker still exists in Horsham, built for the Cold War. Although decommissioned it remains as a monument to the period

Pulborough Brooks

Pulborough Brooks is an ideal venue for bird watcher and lovers of the outdoors to enjoy the West Sussex countryside. The nature reserve, based in the Arun Valley, boasts a range of birds that change with the seasons that can be seen from the four hides and three viewpoints

The sundial shows water and wading birds

Sempur Sursum - Ever onwards and upwards

A modern aeroplane is seen flying into the clouds in a reference to Gatwick Airport. Although it is outside of Horsham District it has brought much wealth and employment to the area.

The one remains, the many change and pass

This quote is another reference to Shelley. Taken from Adonais: an Elegy on the Death of John Keats; it is on the sundial to signify that as people and place change around us there is always something that remains. Perhaps, for now, this sundial. So far it has outlasted one of its major benefactors Alders who went out of business even before the credit crunch of 2008

The last three subjects are closely intertwined in the sundial and all can be seen in the photograph below

Three subjects combined

Vaughan Williams

The composer's full name is Ralph Vaughan Williams but his first name is rarely mentioned. Originally from Down Ampney, Gloucestershire he moved to nearby Leith Hill on the death of his father. In 1904 Vaughan Williams discovered English folk songs and set about transcribing and preserving them, later becoming president of English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS). In recognition of his early and important work in this field the EFDSS named its Vaughan Williams Memorial Library after him

Vaughan Williams wrote the Pilgrims Progress opera base on John Bunyan's allegory of the same name. The hymn 'He who would valiant be' came from that opera. There appears to be no reference to Vaughan Williams on the sundial, only on the plaques on the plinth

Cicely Mary Barker

Born in 1895 on the 28^th June in West Croydon Cicely Mary Barker was an artist specialising in fairies. At the age of 16 she was paid for a series of postcards and spent the rest of her life as an artist. Her most notable works were the collection of seven Flower Fairy books. As a devout Christian Cicely also illustrated religious books and painted panels for churches

There seems to be some disagreement about the spelling of the first name with many references going for Cecily. Uniquely the plinth uses the middle name May, not seen in any other reference. An image of the cover of the book 'Spring Songs with Music from Flower Fairies of the Spring' confirms the headline spelling of Cicely Mary Barker. The plinth describes a fairy playing 'hide and seek' but Hidden Horsham has not been able to spot one on the sundial yet

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