On 22 October Horsham Museum & Art Gallery will launch a redisplay of the Medieval Gallery which will bring to life key stories about how Horsham and the District were formed.
After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William the Conqueror split Sussex into six vertical segments with Horsham under the control of William de Braose who soon built Bramber Castle to control his lands. In the years following the Norman Conquest Horsham steadily grew, becoming a Borough and market town by the time control passed to the de Mowbray family (later the Duke of Norfolk) in the late 1300s.
A key artefact of the Medieval gallery will be the Shipley Reliquary, generously on loan from Shipley Parochial Church Council. Horsham Museum currently holds few artefacts from this period within its collection, so the reliquary presents an opportunity to bring to life Horsham and the District during the de Braose’s era. Dating from the 13th century, the reliquary is an example of Limoges enamel, produced in France between the 12th and 14th century. The precise date that the reliquary arrived in Shipley is unknown, but St Mary the Virgin Church was built by the Knights Templar in the 12th century. They would still have had control of the church when the reliquary was created, although the order was suppressed soon after in the early 1300s.
Horsham District Council Cabinet Member for Leisure and Culture Cllr Roger Noel says:
The Shipley Reliquary will be one of the most historically important exhibits in our museum and will attract visitors to Horsham from all over the world. I am very excited about the long-awaited unveiling of this fabulous artefact and would encourage everyone to come to the Museum to view it themselves.
Visitors to the museum will be able to discover more about Limoges enamel as well as the development of Horsham and the District, from the importance of Steyning as a port to the development of castles across the District. Other artefacts on display from the Medieval period include the Horsham Hoard, a series of vessels, most likely for domestic use, discovered in Horsham’s West Street in the Victorian period and a signet ring from the late Medieval period, recently donated to the Museum through the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
Horsham Museum & Art Gallery is open Tuesday – Saturday, 10am – 4pm and entry is free.
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