St Mary

The foundations for St Mary’s were laid in 1030 AD, where a Saxon church was built on the site of the present nave. The original building was built of chalk clunch and some of this early work still remains in the east and west walls of the nave which shows that it was then the same length as the present church. The tower was added in about 1120 and consists of three stages. The ladder now hanging in the south aisle used to be in the tower and is likely to be the original one placed here when the tower was first built because it is too long to have been introduced at a later date. On the west wall there are wall paintings dating from about 1220. They were covered with limewash during the Reformation but were rediscovered and restored in 1972. Further conservation work was carried out in 2022 following damage caused by damp. 

The church has some notable pieces of stained glass: There is a roundel of pot-metal glass showing the Martyrdom of St Catherine in the left-hand lancet window. This dates from about 1210 and, apart from a small Madonna and Child in Compton Church, is probably the oldest piece of stained glass in Surrey. There is a small glazed portrait of a 14th century benefactor, Sir James de Berners, in the north side of the chancel dating from between 1362-1388. This piece of glass was chosen to be exhibited at the Age of Chivalry exhibition held at the Royal Academy, London in 1987. 

In the 17th century the manor on the other side of the A264 belonged to Carew Raleigh, son of Sir Walter Raleigh. After Sir Walter was beheaded his widow came to live in West Horsley Place along with the embalmed head of her husband which she kept in a red leather bag until her death. The head is now buried under the floor of the original Chantry Chapel how located behind the organ. The present Frobenius Organ was installed in 2000.