Horsham: the back story

About Horsham: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Brighton Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Horsham was a growing market town when its parish church of St Mary the Virgin was completed in about 1247. The church still closes the Causeway, the heart of the town’s conservation area; an inn has stood on the Market Square since at least 1611; and the Art Deco Ritz cinema of 1936 lives on as The Capitol.

Walk down the Causeway on a quiet morning, past old cottages with carved bargeboards, and you arrive at the churchyard of St Mary’s, the oldest building in Horsham, with its shingled spire above the trees.

St Mary’s and the Causeway

A Norman church stood here first; traces survive in the tower, the west door and the north-west wall. The present church of St Mary the Virgin was completed in about 1247, when Horsham was a fast-growing market town, and has been in use for nearly eight centuries. Unusually for its age it is built in one style, Early English, with a nave and chancel of equal width. Its ten bells ring out over the town, and its setting at the end of the Causeway is the focal point of today’s conservation area.

Check opening times and trains on the official sites before you travel.

The Market Square

An inn was first recorded on the site of the Anchor Hotel in the Market Square in 1611; the present building dates from 1899. Today the square and the streets around it, from East Street to the Bishopric and Piries Place, are where Horsham eats and drinks.

From the Ritz to The Capitol

The Capitol began life as the Ritz cinema in 1936, an Art Deco building with a 1,086-seat auditorium and a Compton organ. It became the ABC in 1967, passed to the district council in 1982 and reopened as the Horsham Arts Centre in 1984, keeping much of the Ritz’s Art Deco auditorium. Transformed into The Capitol in 2002–03, with two cinema screens, a theatre, a studio, a gallery and a café, it celebrated its 90th anniversary on 13 June 2026.

Eating and drinking

FELIX on the Market Square brings back the independent bistro; the Bishopric has The Green Dragon, La Piazzetta and Chak De India; Piries Place has cocktail bars; and Horsham Brewery Company pours its own beer on Blatchford Close.

Around Horsham

South of the town lie Leonardslee’s lakes and gardens at Lower Beeding, with Restaurant Interlude and rooms at Leonardslee House, South Lodge, and Knepp, the rewilding estate where white storks breed again. Horsham Museum is closed for roof repairs until 5 January 2027.

Our advice: start at St Mary’s and walk up the Causeway into town, lunch on the Market Square, and see a film or a show at The Capitol; check the Capitol’s site first, as it has been closed for refurbishment this autumn.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Horsham: the back story before you go.