English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Horsham

Major Settlement in the Parish of Horsham

Historical Forms

  • Horsham 947 BCS834 12th BCS1125 963 Ch 12th 1233
  • Horsam 1301 Ipm
  • Horsom 1657 SAC42,116
  • Hosham 1601 MarL

Etymology

This is a compound of hors and ham or hamm , 'horse homestead or enclosure,' i.e. presumably where they are bred. The 17th cent, etymology recorded in SAC 53, 197 is noteworthy: “very very bad wayes, from whence it is sayd that towne had its name, the steps to it being up to the horses hams.”