WOKING'S HISTORY DISTRICT BY DISTRICT
Horsell and Goldsworth Park
Horsell ChurchThe Stone Age site of Brockhill (on what is now the playing fields of Goldsworth Park), and the Bronze Age burial mounds on Horsell Common, are just two of the prehistoric sites in the area. The name ‘Goldsworth’ (la Goldhord) probably records the discovery of a hoard of Roman gold coins somewhere in the area - so perhaps the inhabitants of Goldsworth Park should look carefully in their borders!
Horsell, like Goldsworth, was first recorded in the 13th century, but whereas Goldsworth was historically a tithing of Woking, Horsell was included in the area of Pyrford. The Saxon bounds of the manor of Pyrford certainly included places on the present-day northern boundary of Horsell and the two villages had close ties even up to relatively recent times. Horsell Church was originally a chapel held by Westminster Abbey, but the chapel later passed into the hands of Newark Priory. 
Sales leaflet for the Brookwood mews development in Goldsworth Park
Horsell in the olden days was a very spread-out settlement, with small outlying communities on the edge of the common at places such as Horsell Birch, Cheapside and Kettlewell - each of which still retains its fair share of old cottages and former farmhouses.
Indeed, the conservation area at Horsell Birch has more listed buildings than the area centred on Church Hill, Horsell.
Horsell Birch was also the site (in the late Victorian period) of Woking’s only windmill - a strange contraption with fixed sails that wouldn’t work when the wind blew in the wrong direction! It was used by the village carpenter, whilst the blacksmith’s was at Cheapside and the village brewery was located at Horsell Moor (in what is now called ‘Brewery Road’).
Horsell’s main industry, however, was its nursery grounds, with the Cobbett family being well known for the growing of roses on their land now occupied by Rosehill Avenue and Nursery Close. The Cobbetts also had a coal business, with a wharf on the Basingstoke Canal, while at Goldsworth were the brick-fields originally set up to supply bricks for the construction of the waterway. The brickfields were later owned by two well-known local families who were perhaps more famous for the plants they developed -The Jackmans of St Johns Hill (Clematis) and the Slococks of Goldsworth (Azaleas and Rhododendrons). 
Postcard of Horsell High Street
Virtually the whole of what is now Goldsworth Park was Slocock’s Nursery until the late 1960s, when the family decided to sell the land for development. When the estate was begun it was said to be the largest private housing development in Europe by a single contractor. In effect the estate was a ‘mini-town’, with schools, shops, an industrial area and sports facilities being amongst the items originally planned and built, and a fire station, hotel and sixth-form college being some of the ideas never taken forward. Perhaps the greatest asset of the area, however, is its plants. Much of the old nursery stock was retained in the development, along with the ancient trees (and some of the hedges) that marked the old field boundaries. It is these, and the landscaping of new areas, that helps to make Goldsworth Park one of the better developments of the 1970s and 80s.
Postcard of Horsell High StreetThe pages on The Basingstoke Canal, The Railway and Famous People deal with more information about those subjects.
Booklets.
The Woking Community Play Association’s book ‘Changing Woking - 1900-1929’ contains a wealth of information on the Horsell area.
Langman’s Bridge on the Basingstoke Canal in Goldsworth ParkBooklets on ‘The Prehistory of the Borough of Woking’, ‘The Place Names of Woking’ and ‘Newark Priory’, as well as ‘The War of the Worlds Cycle Tour’- and ‘Heritage Notes’ on Horsell (Birch), Horsell (Village) and Horsell (Common) - are available - please see the list of publication on the HERITAGE WALKS page.
