Warnham

Warnham is a village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. The village is centred 2 mi NNW of Horsham, 31 mi from London, to the west of the A24 road. Other named settlements within the parish include the hamlets of Goosegreen, Kingsfold and Winterfold as well as parts of Strood Green and Rowhook. The area is in the northwest of the Weald, a gently sloped remnant forest in southeast England and largely a plain by erosion.

The parish has a land area of 1980 hectares (4892 acres). In the 2001 census 1958 people lived in 784 households, of whom 935 were economically active.

History
The Anglican Parish Church, dedicated to St. Margaret was built in the 14th Century, but contains substantial later additions. St Margaret's is host to monuments belonging to at least three influential families nationally, the Durford, the Lucas and the Shelley family - in the case of the Shelley family internationally.

Warnham Court
Formerly Hollands Manor, Warnham Court built in ashlar was built for Henry Tredcroft in 1828. Warnham Court School until August 1996 occupied the building, set in the listed Warnham Park immediately southeast of the village, with extensions and outbuildings by architect Arthur William Blomfield and his son Sir Arthur Blomfield. The park grounds were laid out from the early 1830s, developed in the mid and late 19th century by the landscape designer Edward Milner and his son Henry, and later with a pinetum by Harry J. Veitch. Extended with a wild garden in the early 20th century, the gardens are surrounded by a 19th-century park.

Field Place
The early 19th century poet and Romanticist Percy Bysshe Shelley, husband of Mary Shelley was born at Grade I listed Field Place, a broad-fronted country house set on an estate/working farm, baptised there in 1792. He later rode every day for lessons with Reverend Edwards, Warnham's vicar.

== Warnham has a number of shops, including a village store and butcher, two pubs The Sussex Oak and The Greets Inn, and Warnham railway station lies nearly a mile away from the village, on the Sutton & Mole Valley Lines. The station was built primarily for the brick works, which had some sidings until recently. It only offers a passenger service during peak times. The level crossing is now permanently closed.

Kingsfold
Kingsfold is the northern settlement on the A24 and Marches Road 2.8 mi north of Horsham. The village lies close to the Surrey border just south of the medieval windmill Shiremark Mill also known as Capel Mill and Kingsfold Mill' which is 20 metres north of the border in Capel. The village has one pub, The Owl.

Goosegreen or Goose Green
Goosegreen consists of a cricket pitch, just north of the town, Broadbridge Heath, Field Place mentioned above in the History section and four Grade IIlisted buildings.

Rowhook
Rowhook' is a hamlet on the Broadbridge Heath to Ewhurst, Surrey road 3 mi northwest of Horsham. Rowhook lies on a junction of two Roman roads, one being Stane Street (Chichester), the other being unnamed which runs to the top of "Hurtwood" on the Greensand Ridge in Ewhurst. Stane Street runs diagonally across Rowhook.

From the junction of the A29 and the A281 to the south, the path of ancient stane street passes through Waterland Farm, becomes a lane two listed buildings and continues in an north-easterly direction toward Ockley, Surrey where it once again joins the A29.

While divided by the parish boundaries of Warnham, Slinfold and Rudgwick, the majority of the hamlet and in particular, Rowhook Manor, which is a Grade II listed building of early medieval origin, is in Warnham civil parish.

Notes and References

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