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This is St. Mary’s Church in Horsham, and in a fit of excitement I’ve already written about the font, the Hoo monument, the memorial to Charles Eversfield and Percy Bysshe Shelley.

A model of the church.

Some motivational messaging in the churchyard, I rather liked this little series of stones placed in the walkway.

The externally attractive building itself has a twelfth century core, with the church being designed in the Decorated Gothic style. The medieval structure likely replaced a late Saxon or early Norman structure, with later extensions in the fifteenth century and then the Victorians faffed around with the whole structure and there was a bit of a Gothic Revival to the arrangements at this point. Much as I comment a little negatively about some of the Victorian restorations, the church was literally falling down in places and so they did save it for future generations.

The church’s interior underwent significant reordering during the Victorian era, the Oxford Movement had their way here in trying to push back towards the Catholic traditions. Some of this work was done by Samuel Sanders Teulon, one of the leading English Gothic Revival architects of his time.

And looking back along the nave.

The pulpit is from the 1870s, another Victorian installation for the church.

The impressive and beautiful altar.

Just as an aside, a boy called Jason Murray smashed part of the east window in 1867. This is something that churches have contended with for years, even though I frequently see it mentioned that vandalism and social chaos is a problem almost solely of today’s society.

This is a really lovely church, not just the heritage and history of it, but also the relaxed environment that was evident here. I was welcomed by a church volunteer who gave me lots of information about the history of the building and that added positively to my visit. It certainly felt like a church that was community driven and proud of their offerings, with the building open every day of the week.

A whole post about a font? Well, I’m like that and it’s my blog 🙂

But, it goes back to my fascination here about just how important this bit of stone has been to so many generations of local people. This was a Catholic church when the font was installed here and no-one has destroyed it, pinched it, smashed it up or anything in-between over the last seven or so centuries.

The marble font dates to around the middle of the fifteenth century and the stem underneath it is Victorian rather than being original. There’s a decorative rosette on every side and it’s fair to say that the font has seen some wear and tear.

And here’s a Francis Frith photo from 1930 showing the font in situ in the church, although it has shifted slightly over the last century.

The Hoo Monument is located in the Chapel of St. Nicholas in St Mary’s Church in Horsham, is one of those intriguing medieval creations that manages to be both grand and slightly melancholy, as well as looking perhaps a little out of place now.

It’s a chest tomb of Purbeck marble, built for Thomas Hoo (an ancestor of Anne Boleyn), who evidently wanted to make sure no one forgot him and anyone who warrants all this marble certainly should be remembered. The monument has weathered centuries of polite neglect, losing its inscriptions, brasses and decorative details along the way, but it’s still here at least.

It’s a reminder that Horsham was once wealthy enough to indulge in a bit of ecclesiastical splendour, and that death, in the 15th century, was best met with a marble chest, some vaulted stonework and a strategic position near the altar.

Although it has been knocked about over the years, it is a survivor and it has had to get through the Reformation and Cromwell’s puritan army that went around smashing things up. It’s also just a little bit in the way near the altar, so it’s done well to survive the Victorians faffing about with the building as well. I think Thomas would be rather pleased with the whole arrangement……

This really is a fine memorial located in St. Mary’s Church in Horsham and certainly one that stands out. It’s the memorial to Charles Eversfield (1683-1749) of the local country house known as Denne Place which he had inherited at the age of 12.

Eversfield was an MP between most of 1705 and 1747, representing Horsham between 1705 and 1710, then Sussex between 1710 and 1713, then Horsham from 1713 and 1715, then 1721 and 1741 before representing Steyning between 1741 and 1747. These were mostly rotten boroughs, Eversfield simply had the wealth and influence to ensure that he remained in the House of Commons.

This would have been an interesting time to be an MP, the English and Scottish union took place in 1707 and the whole Commonwealth debacle (or whatever you want to call it) had been resolved by this point. There’s more about Eversfield’s time in Parliament at https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/eversfield-charles-1683-1749.

I saw this in St. Mary’s Church in Horsham and thought that one of the greatest poets of his generation, Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), was buried here. But, he wasn’t, so that wasn’t as exciting as I thought. It appears that this is just here as a reminder that Percy had links with the church, as he died overseas with his body being cremated on the beach and then his remains buried at the Protestant Church in Rome, other than his heart which is somewhere in the UK.

Excuse the poor quality photo, I hadn’t realised that this was here at the time so this is part of a wider photo I took of the memorials in the church (and it’s located very near to Percy’s memorial bit of stone). But it’s relevant as Percy’s father, Sir Timothy Shelley (1753-1844) is buried here in the church. Timothy was the MP for Horsham between 1790 and 1792 and the son of Sir Bysshe Shelley (1731-1815), the first baronet, who had actually been born in Newark, Province of New Jersey (now the United States). He had made his money by marrying into wealthy families, but it’s perhaps a little unusual for someone to move from the colonies back to England at this time to become an aristocrat.

Anyway, back to Percy Bysshe Shelley. There’s a current controversy in Horsham at the moment with regards to a new monument in his honour, with some saying that the memorial in Horsham Park would be a fine tribute and others think it’s a waste of taxpayer’s money. Some of the £100,000 cost of the memorial would be funded privately, but there’s debate about whether the council should increase their contribution from £10,000 to £50,000. It was meant to replace the also controversial Rising Universe fountain (also known as the Shelley fountain) and that caused enough drama on its own.