Midhurst is a small West Sussex market town within the South Downs National Park that is home to approximately 5,000 inhabitants. Despite its proximity to a Roman stronghold, pre-conquest archaeology is thin on the ground here and finds are limited to a handful of pre-historic tools (including a Palaeolithic hand axe), a Bronze Age barrow and Roman coins and pottery, likely to be the remnants of an isolated Roman farm. All of these items were discovered outside of the centre of the town.

The name Midhurst was first recorded in 1186 and translates from old English as place in the middle of wooded hills and this reflects the position of the town at the base of the Rother valley at a point where major north-south and east-west routes cross the river. Some local historians believe that the town was founded as a subsidiary burh of Chichester by Alfred the Great in the 8th century, but with no documentary or archaeological evidence of any Saxon settlement it seems most likely that the name was given for the purposes of navigation or trade and that Midhurst started to develop as a planned town shortly after the Norman Conquest.
On conquering Southern England in 1066, William I awarded the lands on which Midhurst stands to Roger De Montgomery, one of his principal counsellors.

This page is an index of the historical buildings and curiosities that I have photographed and investigated within the modern boundaries of the town. This will be a work in progress so please bookmark and visit regularly for updates.