West Horsley

History

West Horsley appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Orselei held by Walter, son of Othere. Its Domesday assets were: 8 hides; 1 church, 8 ploughs, woodland worth 20 hogs. It rendered £6 each year to its lords of the manor. Both Horsleys were burnt to the ground during the Norman conquest of 1066 since its Saxon thane, Brixsi, was brother-in-law to King Harold and refused to submit. The village was part of the lands given to the Norman, Walter Fitz Otha, the new constable of Windsor Castle.

The population fell dramatically during the Black Death and the land was given over to grazing, since the peasant population was insufficient for farming.

In 1636, during a court case concerning a tithe dispute, a witness called Henry Mabbinck testified that he played cricket "in the Parke" at West Horsley, one of the sport's earliest references.

Beatrix Potter, best-selling author of children's books, used to stay at a cottage in the village, Tyrrellswood with her uncle and aunt, and did many of her paintings of animals and wrote some of her books there. Helen Allingham painted a country thatched cottage images of England in the village in the same period.

Bill Pertwee, who played the air-raid warden in Dad's Army, lived in East Horsley during the time of his role. He is locally famed for appearing in the local pub and the youngest present singing the theme tune Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler? as he entered.

One of the victims of the John Duffy and David Mulcahy (branded 'railway murderers') was killed in West Horsley in 1986, although Horsley railway station itself is in East Horsley.

Church

St Mary's Church, is a flint Saxon building dating from 1030 and is Grade I listed. The church was spared when the rest of the village was burned in 1066. Its tower was added in 1120, and the church extended to its current size in 1210.

West Horsley Place

West Horsley Place is a medieval house that was substantially reconstructed between the 16th and 18th centuries. It shares in top-ranked listing status for architecture. Acquired in 1931 by the Marquis and Marchioness of Crewe, after the death of the Marquis in 1947 it was left by his wife (Peggy née Primrose d. 1967) to their daughter, Mary Crewe-Milnes, Duchess of Roxburghe (23 March 1915 – 2 July 2014). On her death in 2014 it passed to her great-nephew Bamber Gascoigne, the grandson of her much older half-sister Lady Annabel Hungerford Crewe-Milnes.

Bell and Colvill dealership

This long-established motor dealers bearing its original name rather than that of its products, occupies a site accessed next to the roundabout leading onto the village main street from the A246.

Sheepleas open space

The Sheepleas Woods are a beech woodland and grassland on the northern downslopes of the ridge of hills known as the North Downs in the extreme south of the village, and stretch to 103 hectares (255 acres) (1.03 km²) within the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Upper Common

This similar sized and shaped area of woodland is slightly higher than Sheepleas open space.

Cranmore School

The boys' preparatory school (ages 5–13) for more than 450 pupils has a Roman Catholic setting.

Transport

The village is served by Horsley railway station, in the nearby village of East Horsley.

It lies on the A246, and south of the M25 and the A3.

Demography and housing

The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that was apartments was 22.6%.

The proportion of households in the civil parish who owned their home outright compares to the regional average of 35.1%. The proportion who owned their home with a loan compares to the regional average of 32.5%. The remaining % is made up of rented dwellings (plus a negligible % of households living rent-free).

Notable people