Thames Tributary Mole - Slyfield

Thames Tributary Mole
The Mole flows south east and then turns north east


Post to the north Cobham Road
Post to the west Bookham Lodge
Post to the east Fetcham Splash

Cobham Road
Slyfield House. Slyfield dates probably to the 14th. In the 16th Edmund Slyfield was Sheriff of Surrey and in 1614 it was sold to George Shiers, the apothecary to James I who rebuilt it. Artisan brickwork from the 17th - Decorative with Italian influence but there are fragments of a larger house from 1625-40. This is a 17th house plus a late medieval timber framed building in a square courtyard house in the style of the most advanced City of London work although much of it was demolished 1743. The main building is considered to be one of the finest examples of Jacobean domestic architecture. Garden walls with original archways. It was here that Sir John Fenwick was arrested in the Cedar bedroom in 1659 to be executed on Tower Hill. He had been part of a plot to kill William III which failed but ironically it was the horse which had been confiscated from him which stumbled on the mole hill and led to William’s death. The house is said to have the ghost of a blue donkey.
Outbuilding. Range of farm building including stables, stores, etc. Probably early 19th weatherboard, and red brick
Slyfield Farm. Was the service wing of the main house? The detached building with flint work on the north wall is part of the original mansion turned into a farmhouse in 18th. Probably originally 15th and cased in brick in 17th, Built of hand-made brick with some flint cladding. Inside the north wing seems to have been servants quarters and probably once had an open gallery
The garden wall, attached to the north-west corner of the farm builind with square gate piers in the centre
Slyfield Mill. This was the site of a Doomsday Mill, and by 1614 there were two corn mills and a fulling mill. The last mill was built here in the late 18th and it closed in 1846 and was demolished. Traces of the watercourses remain. In 1969 some timbers which included the outer rim of a waterwheel were found.
Pillar Box. Opposite Slyfleld House is an example of the standard box of 1887 made by Andrew Handyside & Co. which gives the royal cipher and the words ‘Post Office’.
Yehudi Menuhin Music School. Internationally regarded music school on this site since the 1960s.
Sheepbell Farm. Probably late 17th and extended and altered. Built in hand-made red brick

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