Midhurst is located on the River Rother and is the home of the ruins of the Tudor Cowdray House as well as the Victorian Cowdray Park. Midhurst was rated the second best town in England by the Country Life Magazine. In 2001 the Census put the population at 4, 889 in 2, 327 households on 333 hectares but only 2, 258 of the residents were active in the economy. The parish church, St. Mary Magdalene and St. Denys, stand on a site where the Midhurst Castle once stood.
The castle was dismantled sometime between 1284 and 1311 by Bishop Durham after it was abandoned in 1280 by the de Bohun family who went to the Cowdray House. The church is mentioned in 1291 and the later in 1367 as being in a place called Courtgene. The churches inside has had major restoration done to it with some major changes leave very little of the original medieval look. In 1422 is was largely remodeled in the Perpendicular style at the end of the reign of Henry V.
Anthony-Maria Brown, the 2nd Viscount Montagu, owned Cowdray House in 1609 and he was briefly detained because they believe he had a part in the Gunpowder Plot since he briefly gave a job to Guy Fawkes as a footman. He is now buried in the Midhurst Church. Annually the town has a major polo competition, the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup, which is held on the Lord Cowdray estate and the final being played in its ruins. Prince Charles as well as many members of the royal family can be found play there.
In 1993 this location was also where a Pink Floyd charity concert was held. Midhurst was linked by three railway line. In 1866, the Puborough line, in 1864 the Pertersfield line and in 1881 the Chichester line. The Chichester line closed in 1935 for passengers in 1951 all together. Midhurst had two train stations, the South Coast Railway and London Brighton plus the London and South Wester Railway. All the passenger services were done at the SCRandLB in 1925 with the Southern Railway. In 1955 the last of the passenger trains ran and the last of any kind in 1964.
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