West Horsley

West Horsley

The King William IV is one of two pubs of the village

Daws Dene refers to part of the Sheepleas and adjoining public woodlands of the North Downs
West Horsley
 West Horsley shown within Surrey
Area  10.83 km2 (4.18 sq mi)
Population 2,828 (Civil Parish)[1]
   – density  261/km2 (680/sq mi)
OS grid referenceTQ0752
Civil parishWest Horsley
DistrictGuildford
Shire countySurrey
RegionSouth East
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town LEATHERHEAD
Postcode district KT24
Dialling code 01483
Police Surrey
Fire Surrey
Ambulance South East Coast
EU Parliament South East England
UK ParliamentMole Valley
List of places
UK
England
Surrey

Coordinates: 51°15′40″N 0°27′14″W / 51.261°N 0.454°W / 51.261; -0.454

West Horsley is a semi-rural village between Guildford and Leatherhead in Surrey, England. It lies on the A246, and south of the M25 and the A3. The Sheepleas Woods are 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).

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.[2] 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.[3]

The population fell dramatically during the Black Death and the land was given over to grazing, since the peasant population was insufficient for farming.[3]

Beatrix Potter, bestselling 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.[4]

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.

Amenities

Church

St Mary's Church, is a flint Saxon building dating from 1030 and is Grade I listed.[5][6] 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.[7]

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.[8] 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).[9] 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.[10]

Bell & Colvill dealership

The Bell & Colvill car dealership is a landmark by the roundabout on the cross-county route past the village

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.[11]

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

West Horsley has few apartments in favour of larger housing without communal areas within them
The Sheepleas features this poppy field
 2011 Census Homes
Output area Detached Semi-detachedTerracedFlats and apartmentsCaravans/temporary/mobile homesshared between households[1]
(Civil Parish)701 337 25 46 2 0

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

 2011 Census Key Statistics
Output area Population Households % Owned outright % Owned with a loanhectares[1]
(Civil Parish)2,8281,111 48.7% 37.1%1083[1]

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

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Key Statistics; Quick Statistics: Population Density United Kingdom Census 2011 Office for National Statistics Retrieved 21 November 2013
  2. ↑ Surrey Domesday Book
  3. 1 2 "West Horsley Parish Council | History of the village". www.westhorsley.info. Retrieved 2016-02-25.
  4. ↑ Children On A Path Outside A Thatched Cottage, West Horsley, Surrey Helen Allingham (1848-1926)
  5. ↑ St Mary, West Horsley by the Leatherhead Road, Grade I listing Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1377828)". National Heritage List for England.
  6. ↑ "West Horsley Parish Council | History of the village". www.westhorsley.info. Retrieved 2016-02-25.
  7. ↑ "Church History: St Marys". stmaryswesthorsley.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-25.
  8. ↑ West Horsley Place, Grade I listing Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1188949)". National Heritage List for England.
  9. ↑ Obituary for Mary Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe, announcements.telegraph.co.uk; accessed 12 July 2014.
  10. ↑ Bamber Gascoigne to save 500-year-old manor after accidental inheritance dated 21 March 2015 in The Daily Telegraph online edition, accessed 22 March 2015
  11. ↑ Cranmore School Listing at the Independent Schools Council

External links

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