HORSLEY MANOR AND SURROUNDING ESTATES

An estate at Horsley, owned by Goda in 1066, was granted to Troarn Abbey (Calvados) by Roger de Montgomery, earl of Shrewsbury, before 1086. The original grant was said to provide for a prior, a monk, and a parish chaplain to reside at Horsley. From those provisions emerged the cell called Horsley Priory, which Troarn Abbey exchanged with Bruton Priory for lands in Normandy in 1260. The prior of Horsley apparently had the disposal of the profits of the manor of HORSLEY until the cell at Horsley ceased to exist in or shortly before 1380. The manor was retained by Bruton Priory (later an abbey) until its dissolution in 1539. In 1541 Horsley was granted to Thomas Seymour, later Baron Seymour of Sudeley, on whose attainder in 1549 the estate reverted to the Crown. In 1553 it was purchased by Sir Walter Dennis who apparently conveyed it to his son Richard. In 1562 Richard conveyed part of the estate to Edward Stephens of Standish,and he sold the manor to Edward in 1564.

The manor-house recorded in 1464 forms the central range of Chavenage House. The house was remodelled and extended by the addition of wings and a central porch c. 1576. Further improvements were made at various times in the 17th century culminating in the redecoration of the south wing c. 1684. Early in the 19th century a Gothic baywindow and the present billiard room were added to the south front and the sills of the hall windows were lowered. A chapel with a tall tower, first recorded in 1803, was built west of the house and incorporates sculptural detail of ecclesiastical origin of the 14th to 17th centuries. In the space between the house and the chapel an extensive wing, accommodating a ballroom and service rooms, was built in 1905 to designs by John Micklethwaite in a style matching the earlier house.The extensive outbuildings include two barns and a stable court. For many years in the early 19th century the house was tenanted by John Delafeld Phelps.

In the 13th century Geoffrey de Caperun granted 7 a. of land lying by the Cotswold ridgeway at Horsley to Kingswood Abbey, but the abbey quitclaimed it c. 1265 to his son Peter, who granted it to Bruton Priory.