Coolham
Village and parish in West Sussex, England
Coolham is a small village in the civil parish of Shipley and the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is at the crossroads of the A272 and B2139 roads 2.8 miles (4.6 km) south-east of Billingshurst.
During the Second World War there was an Advanced Landing Ground nearby called RAF Coolham, used to support the D-Day landings. This was only in use for about eighteen months, and had almost no permanent buildings.
There was once a prominent Quaker community in Coolham, and the "Blue Idol" meeting house, a timber-framed building, still exists just under 1 mile to the west, in the adjacent parish of Thakeham. William Penn, who earlier had founded Pennsylvania in America, was closely involved in its establishment, and is believed to have worshipped there. The local junior school was founded as the Coolham British School (later Coolham Primary School) in 1889 by the Quakers.
Coolham is in the ancient parish of Shipley, which adjoins the A24, near the ruin of Knepp Castle. The castle dates back to medieval times, and was used as a hunting lodge for King John.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Coolham”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Selsey Arms, Coolham, West Sussex 02.jpg by Acabashi, CC BY-SA 4.0
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