Seventeenth century summerhouse by the Wey Navigation

Image: © Stefan Czapski Taken: 19 Apr 2013

The history of this building - even its date - seems unclear. It is claimed that this was where John Donne (poet, later Dean of St Paul's) lived when he came to Pyrford following a spell of imprisonment in the early 1600's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donne . But the Surrey volume of Pevsner lists it as 'late C17 SUMMER HOUSE' - which seems highly unlikely, on grounds of style. The listings text says simply 'C17': http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-427887-garden-house-100-yards-south-east-of-pyr To me, the style of the building would suggest a date circa 1600. Whether or not Donne lived here, it is tempting to imagine the landscape as it was in his day. The building now stands close to the west bank of the Wey Navigation, a canal built between 1635 and 1653. The Navigation is embanked, so that its water level is perhaps four metres higher than in the River Wey - which flows in a meandering course a short distance further east. So when first built, the summerhouse must have stood 15 feet or so above the level of the river, which may well have flowed through a flood-plain of reed beds, with alder and willow scrub - with not a golf-course or pony paddock in sight . . .

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0