Description

TQ 05SE WEST HORSLEY C.P. EPSOM ROAD

5/230 West Horsley Place
14/6/67 (Formerly listed on
Guildford Road)

GV I

Country House. C15 wing, C17 core, refronted in early C17 by 2nd Viscount Montagu,
further altered in mid C18 by Henry Weston who ordered the wings be shortened.
Timber framed, exposed to rear with brick infill, clad in red and brown brick to
front with hipped,plain tiled roofs. H-shaped plan, main front to south, with north-
east wing demolished.
Entrance front (south): two storeys and attics on plinth with brick cornice over
ground and first floors, brick plat band to top of parapet and following shape of
end gables and central Dutch gable. End gables with brick dentils to right. 6
gabled casement dormers, 3 either side of centre. Single bay wings with ten bay
centre. Bold brick pilasters to first floor on bases carrying diamond motif,
composite order capitals simplified into canted plain projections, echoed in
entablature above. Originally each wing projected three bays but that to right was
reduced to one bay and given plain gable with Venetian window, now blocked. Thermal
window to end gables, blocked to right, Venetian window to first floor left, tripar-
tite window to ground floor left. Lunette window to centre gable in attic storey,
10 first floor and 8 ground,16-pane,glazing bar sash windows under gauged brick
heads below. Big central brick doorcase with Doric pilasters flanking "Gothick"
doorcase with brick hood mould and glazed ogee transome light. Single bay extension
set back to left with one window on each floor.
Left hand return front (west):- 3 rendered stacks and irregular mixed fenestration
of glazing bar sashes and leaded casements. Mathematical tiling to first floor
left, arched brick fireplace to base of one stack.
Rear:- Rendered gable with cusped bargeboards and ogee apex. Offset end stack to
right. Mixed sash and leaded casement fenestration, large sandstone block C16 stack
in angle with wing.
Interior:- Entrance lobby - domed with band of Greek Key patterning. Great Hall -
originally part of the Medieval Hall? Now floored with Doric colonnade in position
of screen. Stone flagged with egg and dart eaves cornice. 6-panel doors under
Doric modillion pediment overdoors. 4 columns to screen with geometric pattern
to soffits. C17 oak staircase with turned baluster balustrade, decorated dado rail.
Square newel posts. Square panel ceiling decoration over. Smaller stair to east
end of house with square newel posts and square balusters, large spherical finials
to newels and good panelling, fielded in parts.
First floor room to west wing:- marble fireplace with deep leaf moulding, broken
swan neck pediment over fireplace. Rose garland carving in deep relief and Greek
Geometric lintel to window. In roof space of west wing are a series of octagonal
and plain crown posts, at least two of which have moulded plinths and caps and four
way bracing. In centre range lower gabled wings roof structures of earlier build
survive.
The house is also of considerable Historic Interest as it was owned by
Carew Raleigh, son of Sir Walter Raleigh, Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald "Fair Geraldine"
of the Earl of Surrey's Sonnets and also belonged to the Nicholas and Weston
families.

PEVSNER: Buildings of England, Surrey (1971) pp.512-3.
Country Life Articles - Vol 85 pp.302, 328, 354.

Listing NGR: TQ0880053011

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• West Horsley Place at Wikipedia
• West Horsley Place official website
• Wikidata Q17527554

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings