East Horsley is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, 21 miles southwest of London, on the A246 between Leatherhead and Guildford. Horsley and Effingham Junction railway stations are on the New Guildford line to London Waterloo. The two-halves of ancient Horsley are similar in having substantial woodland and some chalky lower slopes, in the south, of the North Downs.
History
Manors
East Horsley appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as having two manors, listed under the chief manor's heading of Horslei. This was held by Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury. Its domesday assets were: 3 hides and 1½ virgates; 8½ ploughs, woodland worth 50 hogs. It rendered £5 per year to its overlords.
The Bishop's Manor in East Horsley seems to have belonged to the see of Exeter throughout the Middle Ages. Malden writing in 1911 associates closely the Domesday entry in Latin meaning 'Bishop Osborn of Exeter holds Woking' with this manor which his successors later held, since there is no trace of any land held by the Bishop of Exeter in Woking in pipe rolls, Assize Rolls, feet of fines or the records of Lambeth Palace.
thumb|upright|left|[[Ada Lovelace|Ada, Lady Lovelace (writer, mathematician, and what we might call today a "computer programmer") lived at Horsley Towers]]
upright|thumb|The 1st Earl of Lovelace's Mausoleum in the churchyard of Martin's Church, East Horsley
After Currie's death in 1829, the property was acquired by the 1st Earl of Lovelace (1805–1893). It was the marital home of Ada, Lady Lovelace (the writer, mathematician and what today we would call a "computer programmer"). The 1st Earl of Lovelace had fifteen bridges, known as the Lovelace Bridges, constructed on his estate to facilitate the transport of timber by horse-drawn carts. The bridges were built where the tracks crossed existing bridleways or roads. Ten bridges still exist.
In the early 1900s, the 3rd Earl of Lovelace applied restrictive covenants on most of his former fields when selling these to private developers, leading to the overwhelming proportion of homes being detached. No minimum plot size is specified, and planning is controlled by Guildford Borough Council, subject to advice from the local Horsley council.
Horsley Towers was also the home of Sir Thomas Sopwith, the aviation pioneer.
Geography
The settlement is 21 miles southwest of London, partly on the A246 between Leatherhead and Guildford. As such it forms a cross between a nucleated village and dispersed settlement directly north of this road, with a wide array of medium-sized individual home plots typically of . Horsley and Effingham Junction railway stations are on the New Guildford line in the parish (connected to London Waterloo and both have a line direct to Leatherhead and Epsom).
The village has the parade of shops and businesses of the two Horsleys (see West Horsley), Otherwise the two halves of ancient Horsley are similar in having substantial woodland and some chalky lower slopes, in the south, of the North Downs.
Amenities
thumb|left|Facing this parade is another which is [[timber-framed creating diversity in the village's shops with homes above]]
;Shops and businesses
The main row of shops is near the western railway station on a local thoroughfare from the end of Forest Road towards Ockham, a small number of professions operate here, such as accountants, opticians and the NHS medical practice. A Legacy hotel is in the village.
The medieval church, St Martin's, is part of the Diocese of Guildford.
The Nomad Theatre is a well-equipped amateur production stage which is behind the smaller of East Horsley's two rows of shops, Bishopsmead Parade. Its construction was largely financed by National Lottery grants from Arts Council England. The theatre opened in October 1998 with a production of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood.
Demography and housing
East Horsley had 1,343 detached homes (of which 1,309 were inhabited) and fewer than 183 of any other dwelling types at the 2011 census, and a high proportion of business-owners and directors, accordingly it was deemed Britain's "richest village" by The Daily Telegraph in 2011 and again in 2015.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ 2011 Census Homes (inhabited)
|-
!Output area !!Detached !!Semi-detached!!Terraced!!Flats and apartments!!Caravan/temporary/mobile home||Shared between households
At Guildford Borough Council the ward of the borough is represented by three councillors.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Guildford Borough Councillors
!colspan="2"|Election!!Member!!
Electoral Division
|-
|style="background-color: " |
|2013
|W.D. 'Bill' Barker || Horsleys
|}
East Horsley is in Guildford parliamentary constituency.
Neighbouring areas
Neighbouring areas are:
See also
- List of places of worship in Guildford (borough)