Norrell's Lodge
Image: HCPS

It is not certain when these two lodges were built, for the date plaques are not clear. It  seems from the increased amount of decoration that they may have been built in the 1860s. Near here there used to be a farm called Norrels Farm, whose history may have gone back to Saxon times. The name means ‘north spring’ (norwell), and the people who lived here took their name from the farm.

The family died out in the late 16th century and the farm was  absorbed into the manor. When the railway company was prospecting the land, Lord Lovelace bought this farm together with a great deal of other land along the route where the railway was about to come through, then he sold it to the railway company, making a nice little profit for himself.

After he bought Horsley Towers in 1840 Lord Lovelace had a new driveway made from his house at Ockham coming through the woods and fields and past the site of Norrels Farm which had been pulled down. These two lodges were built on either side of the new driveway and gates were erected.

Image: HCPS

When the railway engineers were making a cutting for the line between Effingham and Horsley in 1885, they were directed to make a private bridge across the cutting to accommodate the  drive and also to plant trees to hide the railway from the drive. This was known as The Forest.

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