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Godalming

Godalming photos (126 available)

Old photo of Godalming

Godalming maps (2 available)

Old map of Godalming

Godalming books (32 available)

Godalming memories

Last Public Hanging

Godalming, Old Boarden Bridge 1906

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 scate and slide on it. Was the Boarden bridge the only one there at that time? Still a ford, I think.
Contributed by Michael George

Boyhood memories of Peperharrow road.

Godalming, Peperharow Road 1907

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 Busbridge School aged 10 to 11 years, were about to start at Meadrow Secondary School at the end of the holiday.
Sadly , my friend Billy Ranger drowned whilst swimming here, we had planned to start the new school together (for mutual support). Billy was a lovely character and lived
in one of Tuesley Cottages between Quarter Mile ...read more here
Contributed by Michael George

Doodlebug 1944 ish.

Godalming, Holloway Hill 1910

Hidden by or almost visible in the trees beyond the large house on the left is a small cottage or lodge, opposite the beginning of Busbridge Lane just visible behind and to the right of the people in the road. One morning during the war (WW2) a stray
Doodlebug (Flying bomb) landed and exploded opposite this cottage and destroyed it. Minutes before, the occupants, adults and several children had left and gone down to school in Godalming. I lived in Duncombe Road and we had broken windows and a cracked wall in our house.
Contributed by Michael George

Surrey memories

Last Public Hanging

Godalming, Old Boarden Bridge 1906

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 scate and slide on it. Was the Boarden bridge the only one there at that time? Still a ford, I think.
A memory of Godalming contributed by Michael George

Extracts From Godalming & Surrey books

Godalming, High Street 1895

Here we see a cobbled High Street in the sunlight of one of the last years of the 19th century. There is not a vehicle in sight. On the left is a butcher’s shop, whilst a horse waits patiently. On the right is the Great George Inn.
An extract from from"Surrey Photographic Memories".

Godalming, High Street 1895

Here we have a splendidly detailed view of Godalming's High Street towards the end of the Victorian era. At number 69, Luxford's vegetable and fruiterer's shop boasts a colourful assortment of local produce, including bunches of grapes. Next door is the overhanging 16th-century frontage of the White Hart Inn, with its impressive arch leading into the stable yard. The hotel was closed and converted into shops in the early 1930s. The barber's shop with its prominent shaving sign dated back to the 18th century. On the opposite side of the street were Ballard's Stores standing next to the Angel Commercial Hotel, operated at this time by John Jasper Taylor. He advertised his facilities as being 'replete with every accommodation and comfort', and would even arrange for 'flys to meet trains if required'.
An extract from from"Surrey Revisited Photographic Memories".

Godalming, view from Frith Hill 1898

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.
An extract from from"Godalming Town and City Memories".

Godalming, Congregational Church 1898

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.
An extract from from"Godalming Town and City Memories".

Godalming, Wesleyan Church and School 1903

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 laid out to a design by Gertrude Jekyll. The Roman Catholic Church, discounting the 1000 years or so before King Henry VIII separated the Anglican church from it, has a relatively short history in Godalming. From 1899 mass was celebrated in a corrugated iron building in Croft Road, but in 1904 the Godalming Catholic Parish was created and a new priest, Father Hyland, was appointed. His lodgings at 36 Croft Road were opposite an empty hillside and he decided to build a new permanent church there. This was completed in 1906. He was probably its principal benefactor, and when he died in 1950 was buried under the Sanctuary.
An extract from from"Godalming Town and City Memories".