Surrey: Historic church tour

St Thomas of Canterbury Church, East Clandon. Photo: Hassocks5489, CC0, Wikimedia Commons.

This tour, on Saturday 12 October, organised by the Surrey Churches Preservation Trust, starts at St Martin's Church, East Horsley (Grade 2), Ockham Road South, East Horsley, KT24 6RL with coffee at 10.15 and the church tour at 10.30. St Martin's dates back to Norman times and there is an interesting mausoleum in the North East corner of the churchyard built by the Lovelace family.

The second church on the tour is St Mary's Church, West Horsley (Grade 1), on the A246 KT24 6TA at 11.45. The foundations of the present church were laid in 1030 by a Saxon thane called Thored. The church tower was built in 1120 around a ladder which remained in situ until about the year 2000 It now hangs on the wall of the south aisle. Made out of a single tree split down the middle, it is almost fossilised as it is so hard.

13.15 Lunch is suggested at the Queen's Head pub, The Street, East Clandon, GU4 7RY - please pay for this yourself

The third and final church, at 14.30 is St Thomas of Canterbury, East Clandon (Grade 1), The Street, GU4 7RY. It is likely that there have been churches on this site since 600 AD. Construction of the present building started soon after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Following the murder of Thomas Becket, the 'turbulent priest' of Canterbury, the Benedictine monks changed the dedication of the church in 1220 to the new saint, Thomas of Canterbury.

This tour of these three most interesting churches concludes at 15.30. Guests are welcome as well as members and the cost is £10 for members and £15 for guests payable in advance here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/surrey-churches-preservation-trust

All funds raised will be used by the Surrey Churches Preservation Trust to distribute across Surrey as grants to help repair and conserve the County's churches of all Christian denominations.

More information about the Surrey Churches Preservation Trust, which is fun entirely by volunteers, can be found here: www.surreychurchespreservationtrust.org/ We welcome new volunteers and trustees.