Lovelace Bridges

Lord Lovelace, once owner of the East Horsley Estate, was an enthusiastic forester. In order to facilitate the transport of timber by horse drawn carts in the very hilly woods to the south of Horsley Towers, he had tracks constructed with gentle inclines. This involved the construction of embankments over small valleys and crossing tracks were bridged.

The bridges were usually horseshoe shaped, and there were fifteen in all, of which ten remain. They range from about six feet wide at Meadow Plat, to the eighteen foot span of the Dorking Arch, which crosses Crocknorth Road. The style of the bridges is ornate, with a  brick and flint structure and various styles of ornamentation applied to the arches. All carried tile name plaques, of which two survive. The remaining bridges are Hermitage, Troye, Raven Arch, Briary Hill East, Briary Hill West, Robin Hood, Stony Dene, Oldlands, Meadow Plat and Dorking Arch.