Godalming, Surrey

The Licenced Victualler

My great-grandfather Walter Alfred BEARMAN was the 'pub manager' in 1908. He was married to Helen Mary Bearman and had been resident in Godalming for some time, the earliest I am aware of was 1899 when my grandfather's sister was born. Walter was originally the blacksmith in Godalming. There is a picture in the Frith gallery of two children standing on... [more]

Last Public Hanging

I think it took place in 1818 opposite the church and what is now the Phillips Memorial, on the other side of the river . ( Llamas Lands?) The depression made in a horse shoe shape was where the crowd stood to watch the event! Each year, the Horseshoe, as we called it, flooded and froze and we all gathered to... [more]

My Grandmother

My grandmother lived in Godalming at 20 Pound Lane, her name Annie Winter. She used to work in the Milk Bar in the High Street with a lady named Mrs Margaret Barnes. She did not die until 1977 and is buried alongside her husband Thomas Winter in Eashing Lane cemetery. She was a member of the deaf club. She had friends... [more]

Boyhood memories of Peperharrow road.

It was the summer of 1946 and we used to go swimming in the river at a spot called "The Ginny" which was up the road a little (towards the camera) on the opposite side of the road to these houses. This part of the river was used as a swimming pool by Charterhouse school. We, that is children from... [more]

Godalming Town and City Memories

In its early years the main entrance to Charterhouse was along Peperharow Road, seen here from the water tower on Frith Hill. Development with houses for staff was rapid. Now there is not a single vacant plot.

Godalming Town and City Memories

The churchyard at Busbridge is full of memorials, including one to Gertrude Jekyll, the great gardener, who lived nearby at Munstead. But the church is itself a memorial, paid for by Emma Ramsden of Busbridge Hall to commemorate her first husband. Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott RA, it was built in 1866 in bargate stone lined with chalk.

Godalming Town and City Memories

The Churches Like the Congregationalists before them, the Methodists set up their new church by the river (see 49196). They felt a need to fill 'The Surrey wilderness', an area of under-representation for Methodism, and significant funding came from a fund set up by Hugh Price Hughes: unfortunately, he died before it was finished, and the church was named after him as a memorial. The gardens were... [more]