Horsham Museum is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

, in

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...

. It was founded in August 1893 by volunteers of the Free Christian (now Unitarian) Church and became part of Horsham District Council in 1974. It is a fully accredited museum and serves both Horsham and its district with the support of the Friends of Horsham Museum and an active volunteer base.

Location

Horsham Museum has been situated in Causeway House since 1941, but prior to that the collections found a home in the basement of Park House, North Street. The Museum occupies the entirety of the Causeway House site. In addition to the displays, the museum collections also feature: ''Archive'' The archive building was constructed to hold the Albery collection and other documents from the town's manuscript collections. ''Library'' The Curator's Library has over 2,000 books on the Museum's collections and can be consulted upon request. ''Garden'' The museum garden was, until 1981, a derelict area after many years of neglect. A project run by the Horsham Museum Society (now Friends of Horsham Museum) led by Sylvia Standing was developed to restore the garden to a fit state. In 2007 the team won the Community Services Gold Award in the Horsham in Bloom Floral Display competition, recognition of the hard work put into the garden throughout the year.

Edward Bainbridge Copnall Edward Bainbridge Copnall (29 August 1903 – 18 October 1973) was a British sculptor and painter. Best known for his architectural and decorative sculptures featuring allegorical and religious subjects. He was the President of the Royal Soci ...

's 10-foot-tall (3.0 m) sculpture of the

Crucifixion of Jesus The crucifixion and death of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in AD 30 or AD 33. It is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and consid ...

, made of coal dust and resin, was installed in St John's Church, Broadbridge Heath, Horsham, in 1964, but was removed in December 2008 to Horsham Museum.

Exhibits and collections

The Museum has a large and varied collection arranged in 18 galleries. It has a significant collection of books and memorabilia relating to the Warnham-born poet

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...

(1792–1822), including many early editions of his works and that of his second wife

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic fiction, Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of scie ...

(1797–1851). It also possesses original letters and books relating to the wider Shelley circle. The Horsham Museum owns a number of prints by local artist

John Guille Millais John Guille Millais ( , also ; 24 March 1865 – 24 March 1931) was a British artist, naturalist, gardener and travel writer who specialised in wildlife and flower portraiture. He travelled extensively around the world in the late Victorian p ...

(1865–1931). They also have a significant sculpture by Millais of fighting game birds that is now on permanent display Other collections include ceramics, ethnography, local Sussex trades and industries, working life, geology, archaeology, bicycles, and horses. A particular feature of the Museum's collections is the Archive of documents relating to Horsham and its history, including the collection of William Albery.The National Archives , Search the archives , ARCHON Directory , Repository Details
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Museum projects

In 2011 the Friends of Horsham Museum were awarded a grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund to conserve and promote the museum's extensive poster collection.

References

*Albery, William, 1947. ''Horsham Millennium'' Horsham: Horsham Museum Society *Djabri, Susan (ed.), 2000. ''The Shelleys of Field Place'' Horsham: Horsham Museum Society *Djabri, Susan (ed.), 2000. ''The Letters of Bysshe and Timothy Shelley and Other Documents from Horsham Museum and the West Sussex Record Office'' Horsham: Horsham Museum Society

External links

Official site
with collections database access * Sussex Museums Group website entr

Tourist Information for Horsham
{{coord, 51, 3, 41, N, 0, 19, 44, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Horsham Museums established in 1893 History museums in West Sussex Fashion museums in the United Kingdom Local museums in West Sussex 1893 establishments in England

Location

Exhibits and collections

Museum projects

See also

References

Further reading

External links