Rising Universe

A large kinetic water sculpture once stood in Horsham’s town centre. Known locally as the Shelley Fountain, it was designed by sculptor Angela Conner and installed in 1996 to mark the bicentenary of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley’s birth. The work’s original name, Cosmic Cycle, appears on a brass plaque beside the piece. For twenty years the fountain performed its cycle every five minutes, filling with six and a half tons of water before releasing it in a rush. The globe rose and fell continuously until the mechanism failed and the council decided it had reached the end of its serviceable life. The sculpture’s operation required 180 gallons of water daily, lost through filtration and evaporation, which led to temporary shutdowns during water shortages. A broken hydraulic cylinder in 2008 and subsequent repairs kept the fountain off for months. Public opinion remained divided, with some residents calling it ugly and others defending Conner’s creation. In 2014 a council survey found 86% of respondents favoured removing the piece from the town centre. The fountain was dismantled in June 2016, leaving only the basin for a new planting scheme. Angela Conner criticised the council’s handling of the sculpture’s upkeep, while the cabinet member for leisure and culture cited the high cost of keeping it running. A replacement artwork will be chosen through a future public consultation. The basin now forms part of the Bishopric area’s re-landscaping.