About
The Shelley Memorial Project is a community interest company. *
The aim of company, based in Horsham, West Sussex, is to establish a lasting public memorial to the poet Shelley - for public enjoyment, inspiration and education, and to commemorate Horsham’s most famous citizen.
Shelley is one of the major English Romantic poets and is internationally known as one of the most influential poets in the English language. His fame and its enduring nature is particularly remarkable in view of his early death in 1822 at the age of 29. His writings are said to have influenced an impressive list of key figures in literature, philosophy and politics including Thomas Hardy, George Bernard Shaw and WB Yeats. His work is studied, admired and referenced widely in modern times. Shelley is undoubtedly a towering cultural figure and yet, in Horsham District, where he was born, there are very few references to the most famous person to have been born here.
In 1996, shortly after the bicentenary of Shelley’s birth, and in response to a call for a permanent memorial to Shelley, a sculpture by Angela Conner, entitled ‘Rising Universe’ was installed in Horsham town centre. This artwork
was a kinetic water sculpture which came to be known as the Shelley Fountain. It featured a large globe that filled with water as it rose and fell. Maintaining the artwork in working condition became expensive and, as a result, the sculpture, in more recent years, rarely operated as intended. This increased the controversy around the sculpture which met with a mixed reaction from local people following its installation. Some found it ugly in appearance and failed to see clearly the connection with the poet. Others were more appreciative of the artwork but were unhappy with frequency with which the mechanism seemed to require maintenance to keep it in working order. For some time before its eventual removal in 2016 it was not in a working state.
The Shelley Fountain was not loved by all and, for reasons not connected to Shelley’s literature, became a fairly controversial installation. Whilst it was in place, however, it did achieve some of the positive objectives that memorials represent. Since its removal many people have expressed a wish for a replacement that will reconnect the town, clearly and appropriately, with our poet and provide an appropriate memorial to the poet and his work.
In 2018, as a renewed focus on Horsham’s cultural heritage had developed with preparations for Horsham’s Year of Culture in 2019, the Shelley Memorial Project was formed.
The project met its initial fundraising target in 2022, the 200 year anniversary of the poet’s death, which enabled us to launch the commission for the artwork.
We hope to deliver our objectives in 2025.
*Our full name is The Shelley Memorial Project Community Interest Company. A Community Interest Company (CIC) is a limited company, created for the use of people who want to conduct a business or other activity for community benefit, and not purely for private advantage.
Find out more about the artist’s brief.
Read about the shortlisted artists.
Join the list of project supporters.
Read our constitution.
See our list of elected officers.
Meet the team.
See our safeguarding policy.
We are very excited to announce that we have secured an 'in principal' agreement with Horsham District Council to locate a permanent and lasting memorial to Shelley, within the boundaries of Horsham Park at our preferred location of the central crossroads within the park in front of the pond.
Further discussions are now taking place with the council around the project brief, ahead of launching an open competition to attract some of the country's leading sculptors to interpret our brief.