The Village of Horselege
The present house and gardens stand on the site of Horselege, a village that grew up more than a thousand years ago. Around the dwelling of the local thegn – a Saxon nobleman – stood a cluster of thatched huts.
Written sources from this early period are scarce, but a few names survive. A Saxon nobleman named Aelfred, created Earl of Surrey by King Alfred after the Battle of Thanet (871–900 AD), held estates across Surrey and Kent and is thought to have lived here. In the early 11th century a Christian Dane called Thored built the first church of St Mary from chalk and flint around 1030. In 1036, “for the good of his soul,” Thored gave half his land to the Archbishop of Canterbury, creating the two parishes of East and West Horsley.
During the reign of the Danish King Cnut (1016–1035), Horsley was owned by Danish thanes. By 1066 the manor was held by Beorhtsige (Brixi), a Saxon thegn married to one of King Harold’s sisters. This connection to the royal house places West Horsley at the heart of the dramatic events of the Norman Conquest.
1066 - From Beorhtsige to Walter FitzOtha
Most of West Horsley’s able-bodied men would have followed Beorhtsige to fight at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. In the aftermath of William’s victory, West Horsley was reportedly burnt to the ground and many of its inhabitants massacred. Yet Beorhtsige himself survived the Conquest and appears at William I’s court in 1068, an early example of how some Saxon nobles were co-opted into the new Norman regime.
After 1066 William redistributed Beorhtsige’s estates and West Horsley was granted to Walter FitzOtha, later known as de Windsor, who became Constable of Windsor Castle and Keeper of the Forests. Walter’s descendants – through the FitzGerald or “Geraldine” line – would go on to play a major role in Anglo-Irish history.
Life in a Saxon Manor
A Saxon manor house was a simple but vital hub of local life. The building, which would have been on the footprint of the current house, may have consisted of two single-storey timber halls: one great hall for public gatherings and feasting, and a private hall where the lord and his family lived. Around it clustered farmsteads, workshops and the huts of villagers whose lives were tied to the thegn’s estate.
Saxon Names, Lasting Echoes
The Saxon past still echoes in the local landscape. All the villages between Leatherhead and Clandon bear Old English names:
Fetcham – “Fecca’s homestead”
Bookham – “homestead where beeches grow”
Effingham – “homestead of Effa’s people”
Clandon – “hillside cleared of vegetation”
Brixton, further afield, is named after Beorhtsige himself. According to legend he erected a stone there so large it could be seen for miles – “Brixistane” meaning “stone of Brixi.”
An Enduring Foundation
Though little of the Saxon manor survives above ground, West Horsley Place is built on its footprint. The parishes created by Thored still shape the area, and the names of villages, fields and lanes preserve memories of a community that existed here before the Normans arrived. The story of West Horsley Place in the Saxon age sowed the seeds for this local seat of power to became a part of wider English history.
