Description

TQ O5SE EAST HORSLEY C.P. OCKHAM ROAD SOUTH

5/65 Horsley Towers
14/6/67
GV II*

Country House, now Staff Training College. Original house 1820 - 1829 by
Sir Charles Barry for William Currie, in Tudor Gothic Style. Tower to west end added
by the first Earl of Lovelace, Hall built in 1847. Tower to east added after Lovelace
had visited continent when the cloisters to the north were built (1859) and the chapel
to the north east was completed (1860). Old house faced with flint with brick and
stone quoins and dressings. Extensions of flint rubble with polychrome brick dressings.
Slate roofs to old house, some plain tiled roofs to towers. Old house on square plan,
around internal courtyard with "Albanian" cloisters added to north on double courtyard
plan with round tower to south east corner of eastern courtyard.
Entrance fronts: (to east) 2 storey hall to right and 2 storey gable end to left with
gable lit attic. 4 bay Hall range with stone dressed,mullioned and transomed windows
with decorative glazing bars. Round bay for full height of hall to right. Gable end
projecting to left with string courses over ground, first and second floors. One
window on each floor of 3-lights with similar glazing. Square tower in re-entrant
angle under square ogee dome and weathervane finial. Decorative banding around the
upper stage,circular bay to front of tower on lower stage. Buttressed and gabled
portico to left with chamfered,arched entrance and steps up to part glazed massive
doors. Projecting wing to right of 2 storeys ending in large circular tower of 3
stories and attic standing on large circular bastion with staircase turret to the north
west. Slit openings in bastion walls under complex brick machicolations and arcading.
Different patterns of complex machicolations over each stage and to eaves of ogee
turret roof. 6 brick dressed lancet windows on ground floor, six 2-light pointed windows
on the first floor in brick surrounds and 16 pointed windows on the second floor in very
decorative surrounds. 4 gabled dormers in the roof.
South Front: 3 storeys, 5 windows across. Large central and 4 smaller gables with
parapet between. Casement fenestration with 4 bays to ground and first floors, the
central bay flanked by octagonal buttresses under balustraded parapet.
West Front: Tall gable end with stack to right, projecting gable end and further stack
to left. Lower 4 bay range between, with 3 gables and large,square,3 stage tower to
left hand re-entrant angle. String courses over ground and first floors, casement
fenestration with attics in gables and dormers. Single storey angle bay to right.
Massive tower with offset round turret buttresses to west angles. Single storey
cloisters to left and on north side.
Cloisters: Two curved courtyards with windows at first floor level of 3 round-headed
lights with variegated brick heads and chamfered surrounds, and decorative glazing.
A pierced parapet obscures the roof over machicolated eaves. The west front is flat
with 11 windows and an octagonal turret, under'an ogee slate roof, to the north west
corner. The north front is curved. The smaller courtyard to the east is separated
from the larger cloister by a cloister range with 6 pointed windows over a horseshoe
shape, 3-step, brick edged, arched entrance. The north wall is similarly curved and
a bridge to the south joins the chapel to the tower.
Interior: Most interiors are now gone, some panelling and some panelled ceilings
survive. Large Gothic square staircase and massive Gothic style hall survive. One
arched ceiling truss (of Hammer beam type) in the hall bears the inscription
commemorating the use of steam to bend it into shape. Minstrels gallery to west end.
Cloisters: Interior of the cloisters is rib vaulted with decorative brick patterning.
The chapel interior is high Victorian Gothic with vaulting, spandrel paintings and
vivid stained glass.
PEVSNER: Buildings of England, Surrey (1971) pp 204-5

Listing NGR: TQ0982552982

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Horsley Towers at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17547538

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

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)