Horsley Towers

Details

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

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

288645

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Nairn, I Rev. by Cherry, The Buildings of England: Surrey, (1971), 204-5

End of official list entry

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