Horsell / Horishull / Horsehill / Horshill

No entry found for Horsell in the Domesday survey. Brayley (1850) writes: "The Font is a square stone, supported on slender columns." Milbourn (1880) quotes Salmon: "Salmon says Horshill has no place in Domesdei to ascertain its Being. In Edward I.'s reign it had no Parish Church, but a Chapell under Woking, at which the Inhabitants of Purford also attended. The church, which was formerly the chapel to the hamlet, is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and is a fair type of a simple village church. [...] The old font, described by Brayley in his History of Surrey as being a square stone on slender columns [cf. supra], has disappeared. The present font is new, of poor design." The Victoria County History (Surrey, vol. 3, 1911) notes: "The chapel of Horsell originally belonged to the monastery of Westminster. The date of its foundation is not apparent, but in 1258 the Abbot of Westminster granted the advowson, with that of Pyrford, to the priory of Newark. [...] There is nothing of earlier date than c. 1320, and to this period belongs the north wall of the nave. The tower was added in the 15th century, and the south aisle early in the 16th century, while the rest of the building is quite modern"; there is no mention of a font in the VCH entry. The Horsell St Mary Parish web site [www.stmarys-horsell.org.uk/home.htm] [accessed 19 December 2015] notes: "In the clergy vestry are a number of photographs and sketches. One dated 1814 depicts the font removed in 1829, which was possibly of late Norman date." The present stone font is Victorian, probably from the late-19th century restoration of this church.