Lovelace Bridges, East Horsley

Surrey

A glorious mainly wooded Surrey trail passing all nine of Lord Lovelace's publicly accessible bridges along with his former residence Horsley Towers, where he lived with his wife, Ada Lovelace. If you pick the the right day as well there is the opportunity to also visit The Lovelace Mausoleum at St Martin's Church in East Horsley

Summary

Distance/Elevation
13.3km (278m)
Difficulty
Moderate (4 hours)
Average time
4 hours
Parking
Plentiful & Free
Route Advice

  • Dog friendly
  • Parking
  • Multiple pubs
  • Village
  • Forest/woodland
  • Mud likely when wet
  • Church/cathedral
  • Bird spotting
  • National Trust
  • Historic site
  • Great for running
 
  • Starting AddressSheepleas, St Mary's Car Park, Epsom Road, West Horsley, Leatherhead, UK

Did you know

In order to facilitate riding through the woods and extracting timber, Lord Lovelace built 15 bridges in total. Altogether he built fifteen bridges (10 remaining/9 accessible)ranging in size from around six feet at Meadow Platt to eighteen at Dorking Arch.

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Ada Lovelace, the daughter of Lord Byron was immersed in mathematics from age 4 by her mother Lady Byron herself a mathematical wizard who believed a rigorous course of study rooted in logic and reason would enable her daughter to avoid the romantic ideals and moody nature of her father.

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Horsley Towers, built in 1828 (originally name East Horsley Park) started as a two-storey mansion house designed by Charles Barry who's other works include the Houses of Parliament. It was later sold to William King-Noel, 1st Earl of Lovelace who expanded the house to his own designs. Lovelace lived at the Towers with his wife, Ada.

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Related Links

Route Score

8

7

7

9

Route Notes

Lovelace Mausoleum
The Lovelace Mausoleum at St. Martin's church is only open one day a year during Open Heritage Day (late summer/early autumn).

Horsley Towers
While this short stretch of the route is not public, Horsley Towers are relatively relaxed about the public walking along this road.

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