Nestled in the northern edge of Woking town sits the village of Horsell, Surrey. Now considered a suburb of Woking, Horsell developed independently of its neighbour; as for most of its history Horsell consisted of a small collection of houses and farm lands. Originally a tucked away impoverished settlement, Horsell has developed greatly over the past century and is now proliferated with contemporary luxury builds priced at over £1 million!

Horsell was only first recorded in the 13th century; however there is extensive archaeological evidence that sugggests Horsell has been occupied for thousands of years. For example, the discovery of two Bronze Age Bell Barrows on Horsell Common dated from 2500 – 700 BC! Barrows were funerary monuments during the Bronze Age period and highlight human societal habitation of the area dating back to over 4,000 years ago! However, most of Horsell’s contemporary history has been hindered by its impoverishment and isolation. Before the introduction of the railway to nearby Woking in 1880, the community of Horsell was still agricultural and remote. The advent of the Woking railway line encouraged the boundaries of Woking to swell, subsuming Horsell in its expansion and ending its history of agricultural removal.

However, Horsell’s history is not totally dominated by this isolatory theme - in fact Horsell is the site of a great literary moment in British history. H.G Wells, social critic and prolific author, published ‘The War of the Worlds’ in 1898 - a serialised science fiction tale that described a war between humans on earth and extraterrestial lifeforms. The sandpits of Horsell are described by Wells as the first landing site that the warring extraterrestials land upon, and even today the sandpits at Horsell are visited by science fiction fans!

Horsell Common, where the barrows are located, is situated under a protected conservation area and is also flanked by protected Green Belt land. As such, much development in Horsell has been limited to single-use and single-scale housing developments and rennovations, with scarce large-scale housing developments in the area. However, the adopted local plan for Woking up to the period of 2027 has recognised the need to develop Horsell further and provide affordable housing to the locale. This is mainly focused on the regeneration of Horsell’s timber yard, which aims to produce over 60 new affordable homes in the Horsell area before 2027, ushering in a new period of development for the area!