Cootham ( , ) is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in the Horsham District of

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 ...

, England. It lies on the A283 road 0.9 miles (1.4 km) west of Storrington. Cootham's population numbers around 200 and there is one

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

named The Crown, parts of which date from 1555. As a well known coaching inn 'The Crown' had its own stables. They were situated on the south side of the road opposite the pub and were converted, some years ago, into houses that are known today as Crown Cottages. The

lies in the lee of the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the eas ...

, between the country estate of Parham (included in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

) and the village of Storrington, where the nearest facilities are located. The main road running through the middle of Cootham is the A283 that runs west to

Pulborough Pulborough is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England, with some 5,000 inhabitants. It is located almost centrally within West Sussex and is south west of London. It is at the junction of the north–sout ...

and

Midhurst Midhurst () is a market town, parish and civil parish in West Sussex, England. It lies on the River Rother inland from the English Channel, and north of the county town of Chichester. The name Midhurst was first recorded in 1186 as ''Middeh ...

and east to Storrington and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. Items of local interest include the Southdown Gliding Club which operates flights from Parham Airfield at the western extremity of Cootham; Cootham Village Hall which hosts various local community activities and Parham House itself, one of the south east's finest country houses. Public transport is limited to one bus, Compass Travel route 100, that runs to

Pulborough railway station Pulborough railway station serves the West Sussex village of Pulborough. It is at the western end of the village, just off the A283 road. It is down the line from via . History The first railway to reach Pulborough was that from Horsham to ...

on the

Bognor Regis Bognor Regis (), sometimes simply known as Bognor (), is a town and seaside resort in West Sussex on the south coast of England, south-west of London, west of Brighton, south-east of Chichester and east of Portsmouth. Other nearby towns i ...

London Victoria Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street (not the Q ...

line. In the 1980s, oil was discovered beneath a large part of Cootham and a small pumping station was constructed at the corner of the gliding field. This is still operational and features two 'nodding donkey' pumps and a gas burner. Much of the area surrounding Cootham is protected from development, though housing has encroached significantly since the late 1980s and there is now little untouched land between Cootham and Storrington.

External links

Villages in West Sussex Horsham District {{WestSussex-geo-stub