Robin's Thatch

A locally-listed thatched house built by Frank Chown in 1931.

Constructed in 1931, this locally-listed house is one of the first built in Woodland Drive byFrank Chown (1878-1942), the man who pioneered residential development in East Horsleyduring the 1930’s.This house displays many of Chown’s customary design features, including fine thatching,eyebrow windows at the first floor level, red-brick fireplaces and the widespread use of oak for internal doors and window frames. One unusual feature is a sunken drawing room, set ata lower level from the adjacent rooms, reflecting the particular contours of this site.

This house was orginally called Gorsty Hayes, but new owners changed the name in 1959 to Robins Thatch, a reflection of the birds which came regularly to feed outside their kitchen.

Whilst subsequent interior changes have been made when modernising the house, it still retains essentially the same footprint today as it had when first built.

Further background on Frank Chown and his work may be found in the Horsley Heritage website under the Local History section entitled “Frank Chown: East Horsley’s housing pioneer”.