Guildford, Surrey
Historical Description
Guildford, a town and a municipal borough of West Surrey, and the capital of the county. There is a junction station of the L. & S.W.R. from Waterloo and Woking to Portsmouth, the Leatherhead extension, and the Southampton, Alton, and Farnham branches of the same railway, and also branches of the S.E.R. and L.B. & S.C.R. The town stands on the river Wey, the Arun and Wey Canal, and is 30 miles SW of London. The Arun and Wey navigation connects it northward with the Thames and southward with Godalming and the sea. It possibly was the site of a very early settlement, perhaps one of the primitive Saxon marks; but it first appears on record in the will of King Alfred, and is there called Guldford or Gyldeford. It was given by Alfred to his nephew Ethelwald; and after the death of Hardicanute it was the scene of the massacre of Etheldred II.'s son Alfred and his Norman followers. It belonged to the Crown in the time of the Confessor, and all or part of the manor continued to be held by the kings of England till the time of James I.; was afterwards given to the Earls of Annandale, and passed to the Onslows of Clandon. A royal castle was built in the town; is alleged by some writers to have been a residence of the old English princes; appears, however, to have been not of earlier date than at least the time of the Conqueror; was taken in 1216 by Louis, the dauphin; seems to have undergone enlargement and embellishment at subsequent periods; had for constable Sir Simond Burleigh in 1377; went into neglect before the time of James I.; was then given to Francis Carter, mayor of Guildford; passed about 1810 to the late Duke of Norfolk, and belongs now to the Corporation of Guildford, who have expended a considerable sum in laying out the estate as public pleasure-grounds. The chief parts of the pile occupied a considerable eminence to the south of High Street, and there commanded the river; and the courts and out-buildings occupied a surrounding space of several acres. Only a few shattered walls and shapeless fragments now remain to show the precincts; but the square keep or central tower still stands, soaring above all circumjacent buildings, and forming a prominent object in the town's landscape. The keep is of Late Norman character; was cased with chalk, flint, sandstone, and rag-stone, with herring-bone or fern-leaf work; was divided internally into three storeys; is at present about 70 feet high; and has walls 10 feet thick at the basement, and decreasing gradually upward. A royal palace is said to have existed in the town, but what is called so was really a part of the castle. Orders are on record, in the time of Henry III., for the repair of the great hall, the decorating of the king's bed, and the arranging of the queen's herbary. Henry II., John, and Henry III. frequently resided here; Prince Edward brought hither to his father, Henry III., the outlaw prisoner Gordon; and Edward III. was here in 1336, 1340, and 1347.
The town stands partly on the W bank of the river, but chiefly on the E bank, and it consists principally of one long street, ascending the acclivity of a considerable hill from a five-arched bridge on the W to the suburb of Stoke on the E. Its aspect is striking and picturesque; its principal street abounds in quaint old gables, overhanging panelled fronts, and long latticed windows; its irregularity of site, its diversity of buildings, and its mixtures of the ancient and modern render it piquant and imposing; its thoroughfares also have a remarkable air of cleanliness and order, and its environs combine the attractions of fine close views and rich distant prospects. Cobbett says, "The town of Guildford, taken with its environs, I, who have seen so many many towns, think the prettiest, and, taken altogether, the most agreeable and most happy-looking that I ever saw in my life. Here are hill and dale in endless variety; here are the chalk and the sand vieing with each other in making beautiful scenes; here are a navigable river and fine meadows; here are woods and downs; here is something of everything but fat marshes and their skeleton-making agues." A good view both of the town itself and of the surrounding scenery is got from Catherine's chapel, on a small adjoining hill; a wider view is got from the summit of Booker's tower, an edifice on the hill beyond St Catherine's; and another good and extensive view is got from the top of Pewley Hill. Another fine view of the surrounding country is from Newland's corner, on the road to Albury, marked by its grove of yew trees.
The Guild-hall in High Street was built in 1683, when the old market-house was taken down; has a projecting clock-dial with decorations of gilt iron-work; includes a hall about 50 feet long, containing portraits of Charles II., James II., and Speaker Onslow, and a picture of the surrender of the Dutch flag after the battle of Camperdown, and has over the hall the council chamber, containing a curious chimney- piece brought from Stoughton House. The county hall was built in 1862, at a cost of £3500; is in the Late Gothic style; has a frontage of 82 feet, with a depth of 150 feet, and includes two halls, the one 80 feet by 37, the other 55 feet by 35. The public hall, previously used for the assize court, and containing reading-room, lecture-room, and museum of the literary institute, was built in 1845. The Corn Exchange in High Street, opposite the Guild-hall, was built by subscription in 1818, and cost £4675. The public baths, Castle Street, were opened in 1889 by the corporation, at a cost of nearly £3000. The Isolation Hospital, for the isolation of cases of infectious disease occurring in the district, is situated at Woodbridge, and was erected in 1886 at a cost of about £4000. The Regimental Depot Barracks are at Stoughton, about 1¼ mile outside town.
In 1874 Guildford was made the seat of a sufiragan bishopric to Winchester. Trinity Church superseded an ancient one; was built in 1763; stands on the summit of the hill in the E part of the town; is an edifice of red brick with a square tower 90 feet high; includes a chantry chapel with monuments of the Westons; and contains tombs of Archbishop Abbot and Speaker Onslow. The church was enlarged in 1888. St Mary's Church stands on the declivity of the hill a little south of High Street; is supposed to have been built by some of the Testard family; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with a chapel having semicircular apses on each side of the chancel, which itself had originally a semicircular apse; has a tower resting on four open arches; includes Norman and Early English parts in irregular connection with later portions; underwent restoration in 1862, and has some good stained glass windows. St Nicholas Church stands on the west bank of the Wey, near the bridge, a handsome specimen of a richly ornamented church; was built in 1876, its immediate predecessor having been erected in 1837, when some remains of 13th and 15th century work were discovered. The present structure consists of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles, north transept, west porch and a tower containing 8 bells; on the south side is a chapel connected with the manor of Loseley, containing several good monuments and brasses. St Catherine's chapel, on a site already indicated, was built by Henry II. for the use of his tenantry; went into decay; was rebuilt in the time of Edward I. by a rector of St Nicholas; fell into disuse, and is now an interesting ruin. A Congregational chapel in the town was built in 1863 at a cost of nearly £3000, and is in the Decorated English style. There are also Baptist and Wesleyan chapels. A Dominican friary was founded by Eleanor, queen of Henry III., on the ground now occupied by the barracks; was converted in late times into assembly-rooms, and has completely disappeared. The grammar school stands at the upper end of High Street; dates from the time of Henry VIII.; was constituted a free grammar school by Edward VI.; was restored and received a new scheme from the Charity Commissioners in 1888; is a Tudor edifice of collegiate appearance, with interior quadrangle; has an endowed income, and had for pupils Bishops Parkhurst, Cotton, and Abbot, and Archbishop Abbot. A middle and lower class school has been formed by uniting what was called the Blue-coat School with buildings and funds left by Archbishop Abbot to establish a factory. The Hospital of the Blessed Trinity at the head of High Street was founded in 1619 by Archbishop Abbot; is a Tudor edifice of red brick with stone dressings; forms a quadrangle of 66 feet by 73 with square entrance tower, and turrets at the angles; contains a hall, a chapel, a library, and apartments for 12 men and 10 women, and has an endowed income. The Surrey County Hospital stands close to the railway station; was built in 1865 at a cost of £15, 000, and was constructed on arrangements approved by Miss Florence Nightingale; a new wing serving as a children's ward was added in 1887. The charities of Guildford are various and considerable. Som; remarkable vaults are in High Street, under the Angel Inn, and in a house nearly opposite; have traditionally, but without any fair evidence, been regarded as works connected with the castle; possess groined roofs, supported by circular columns, all of Early English character; and were, not improbably, the underground storeys of ancient houses. Extensive ancient artificial caverns were long known to be deep in the chalk ridge on which the town stands, and at the cost of much laborious excavation were rediscovered in 1869.
The town has three banks, several breweries, two flour mills, two social clubs, two political clubs, a golf club, publishes five newspapers, and is the head of a union and county court district. Markets for country produce, meat and poultry, are held on Saturdays; markets for meat, poultry, and vegetables, on Wednesdays, and a cattle market throughout the year on Tuesdays. Fairs for sheep, cattle, pigs, and horses, are held on 4 May and 22 Nov., and a pleasure fair is held on St Catherine's Hill on 2 Oct. The manufacture of cloth was a chief employment till the time of Elizabeth, but the trade in corn, owing to the richness of the surrounding country and to the abundance of the supply, is now the chief employment. Considerable traffic in corn, malt, and coals is done by the Wey navigation; paper and powder mills are in the vicinity. The town sent two members to Parliament from the time of Edward I. till 1867; was then reduced to sending only one, and by the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, the representation was merged in that of the county. It is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 10 councillors. The area of the municipal borough is 604 acres; population, 14, 316. Bishops Abbot and Parkhurst, Archbishop Abbot, and the artist John Russell, were natives.
The four parishes of Guildford are Trinity, St Mary, St Nicholas, and The Friary. Area of Trinity, 144 acres; population, 3085; of St Mary, 35 acres; population, 1520; of St Nicholas, 2847 acres; population, 3253; of The Friary, 13 acres; population, 372. The lord of the manor and principal landed proprietor is the Earl of Onslow. The ruins of Newark abbey are in the neighbourhood of the town. The livings of the parishes are rectories in the diocese of Winchester; and those of Trinity and St Mary are united. Value of Trinity and St Mary, £260 with residence; of St Nicholas, £360 with residence. Patron of Trinity and St Mary, the Lord Chancellor; of St Nicholas, the Bishop of Winchester.
Guildford Parliamentary Division, or South-Western Surrey, was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 67,722. The division includes the following:- Guildford (except the parishes in the Woking Hundred)- Albury, Alfold, Arlington (not within the borough of Guildford), Bramley, Chiddingfold, Compton, Cranley, Dunsfold, Ewhurst, Godalming, Hambledon, Hascombe, Haslemere, Pepper Harrow, Pnttenham, St Martha, Shalford (not within the borough of Guildford), Shere, Stoke-next-Guildford, Thursley, Witley, Wonersh; Farnham (except the parish of Frimley)-Elstead, Farnham, Frensham, Seal and Tongham, Waverley; Guildford, municipal borough; Godalming, municipal borough.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Surrey | |
| Hundred | Woking | |
| Poor Law union | Guildford |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Surrey History Centre, have images of the Parish Registers for Surrey online.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Guildford from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Guildford)
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Surrey is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Guildford are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Surrey papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Surrey, 1662-1668 is available on the Heraldry page.