The Shelley Fountain at night in 2005. Picture: Steve CobbThe Shelley Fountain at night in 2005. Picture: Steve Cobb
The Shelley Fountain at night in 2005. Picture: Steve Cobb

See how Horsham town centre has changed in the past 15 years

Pictures taken from a giant ferris wheel in Horsham town centre in June 2007 give an interesting bird’s eye view and sitting alongside others from the era, they show how the area has changed in the past 15 years. The 90ft-high ferris wheel offered ‘the most wonderful view’, according to one of the first visitors to try it. It was one of only two of its design in the country when it opened for business in Carfax on June 21, 2007.

Another tall feature of Horsham’s history that is no longer there is the controversial Shelley Fountain, which was removed from Bishopric in June 2016, just before its 20th anniversary. The Rising Universe sculpture, created by Angela Conner as a tribute to the poet Shelley, was replaced by trees after its maintenance was judged too expensive by Horsham District Council and it was sold to G Forge Ltd for the Castle Westenhanger, a wedding venue in Kent.

The Shelley Fountain was unveiled on November 13, 1996, and although a survey revealed the majority of people wanted to keep it, some considered it a ‘monstrosity’, ‘monumentally ugly’ and an insult to the memory of the drowned poet.