Horsell was first documented in the 13th century, although the parish church of St Mary the Virgin is believed to date from the middle of the 12th century. The name probably comes from the Anglo-Saxonhorig scylf, meaning "muddy slope". This may refer to the hill known as Horsell Rise now carrying the metalled track.[4]
Until the late 19th century, the village consisted of scattered cottages and farms, surrounded by fields, heathlands and nurseries. Suburban development began in the 1880s, but the village remains largely rural in character.[5]
St Mary's Church
In 1951 the civil parish had a population of 6858.[6] On 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished.[7]
One of Horsell's significant locations is Horsell Common, where H. G. Wells set the landing of the Martians in his novel War of the Worlds. The common is the site of a bronze-age barrow cemetery as well as a World War I era Muslim burial ground, a bomb crater from World War II, a large seasonal pond with a sandpit, and an open field extending to the grounds of the McLaren headquarters. It hosts a wide variety of plant and wildlife species and has the status of a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The World War II Home Guard base on the common has disappeared. Several smaller institutions were evacuated here during the war.[10]
The Anglican parish church of St Mary the Virgin dates back to the middle of the 12th century, and still retains the original doors. The church has strong links with one of the village's junior schools, Horsell C of E Junior School. The village's other schools include the Horsell Village School, built 1851, and independent school St. Andrew's School along with Woking High School, formerly Horsell High School.
It is also the home of Woking and Horsell Cricket Club, whose members have included Alec and Eric Bedser. The famous twins played cricket for Surrey; Alec also played with great success for England.
^Church Hill is a hill in Horsell which has a connecting road between central Woking and the village High Street
^Norman Lake used to be a body of water where now is the street of Common Close which has houses dating back to the 1930s, the lake is visible on maps of horsell for example this one which is from 1873.
