It is hard to imagine how the original castle would have looked like when it was first built, especially since it changed so much during the years that it was still in use. Guildford Castle is believed to have been built by William the Conqueror, around the years 1066-1071, though it is hard to find precise records from that time. Guildford was a clear choice for the site of a castle as William sought to strengthen his hold over Britain, preventing rebellion by building castles in towns all over the country. Guildford, at the time, was the only town in Surrey apart from Southwark, and a vitally important stop on the route between London and the South and West of England.

The first structure would not have been the great stone castle keep we are familiar with today, but a very basic Bailey and Motte (mound and courtyard) castle. The boundary would have run along what is now Castle Street, South Hill and the edge of Racks Close, running parallel to Quarry Street. The stone keep was not built until the twelfth century, perhaps around the 1130s, although it is hard to tell for certain.

In the late twelfth century the great tower was built of stone gathered from the Godalming area; it was a two-storey keep with the entrance placed on the first floor, both for status and defence. It is believed that the great tower was originally used as the king’s private apartments. However, when a better living space was built within the bailey, the king moved from the tower and it was instead given to the sheriff. The sheriff then used the tower both as his headquarters and as the county gaol. It is difficult to imagine the now crumbling and decaying keep housing the contemporary prisoners of Sussex and Surrey when the building was fully functional.

Though Guildford Castle was used mainly as a dwelling, it was greatly fortified and very strongly defended. It was strengthened again around 1173-1174, during the rebellion of King Henry II’s son, even though it was never actually attacked.

In 1216 the castle was given up without a fight to the armies who supported the barons that rebelled against the infamously petty and cruel King John. So even in tumultuous times, during which the countryside was ravaged by civil war, Guildford Castle remained untouched by conflict.

It was during the twelfth century that the castle went from the basic bailey and motte design to a palace, after many lavish changes were undertaken by King Henry III. Queen’s apartments were added along with luxurious decor and Guildford Castle became a true palace as we understand the word today. However, in 1254, a fire damaged the great hall and several other buildings, however, this did not halt developments.

By the time the fourteenth century had rolled around, Britain found itself enjoying relative domestic peace. Guildford Castle and other inland castles were no longer required as they once had been and so it was left to fall into disrepair. In just a short time, the once great palace that had housed royalty for centuries, had fallen into ruin, nothing remained but the king’s great chamber. Instead of residing in Guildford Castle, visiting royalty instead stayed in a newly built hunting lodge on the opposite side of the River Wey.

The great tower continued to be used as the county gaol, however it was moved to Southwark in the early sixteenth century and so John Darborne was made keeper and warden of the garden. The Daborne family remained involved with the castle and its grounds for the remainder of the sixteenth century.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century the castle was given to Francis Carter. The roof was removed in 1630 and the tower was used as a cockpit. Along with parts of the ground being auctioned off and other parts privately rented, Guildford Castle was unrecognisable from just a few centuries before.

The castle was run this way until 1885, when Lord Grantley of Wonersh sold the castle and the large part of the grounds that he owned, to the Guildford Corporation. It was then that restoration began on the tower and other walls, with extensive work also being done on the grounds. In 1888 it was opened up to the public as a pleasure gardens. After this the castle enjoyed a period of consistency while Guildford grew and evolved around it, with the residents now able to enjoy the peace and beauty brought to them by the stunning gardens.

The great tower remained without a roof until fairly recently and so the interior of the castle was subjected to as much of a battering from the elements as the outside was. Then in 2003 restoration work began once again. The tower was conserved, with original crenulations and other features being discovered along the way; each new discovery illuminating more of the castles’ long history. The roof and floor were reinstalled at the first floor level and so once again the interior was protected from the unforgiving weather.

There is now a scale model of how the castle is believed to have once looked on the ground floor today. This finely detailed model is based on what little records there are available from the time, and knowledge of similar such castles that have remained more intact. Panels of information line the walls, so that any visitor can learn the rich history of the castle for themselves. A staircase leads up to the first floor on the outside, to allow visitors to explore the keep to the very top, passing walls that once witnessed the lives of the royalty housed within.

The award winning grounds are still exceptionally beautiful, vibrant in the summer and comforting in the winter, and they are still free to enjoy, whether you are a Guildford resident or just a day tourist. Guildford Castle is an essential focal point of Guildford and its history, and visitors may find themselves struck by both awe and admiration of its timeless beauty.

Charli Aisha Harris

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The estate was acquired by the direct ancestors of the current owners, the More-Molyneux, at the beginning of the 16th century and the house was built between 1562 and 1568 with stone reclaimed from the ruins of Farnham’s Waverley Abbey. The house was built by Sir William More after Queen Elizabeth I supposedly commented that the previous residence was too small and inadequate for her to visit. It has remained fundamentally unchanged over the years and remains, as More intended, a place of calm, grace and subtle beauty.

“Loseley House has been my family’s home for over five hundred years yet, whilst the world has changed; Loseley itself remains reassuringly constant. A place that is welcoming, fascinating and dramatic. It is a pleasure to share this with every visitor.” – Michael More-Molyneux

Loseley Park is steeped in history; it appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Losele and its assets were described as ‘2 hides. It had 4 ploughs, 5 acres (20,000 m2) of meadow. It rendered £3’. In the house itself, some of the intricate panelling in the Great Hall was once in Henry VIII’s Nonsuch Palace and others from his banqueting tents. You can also find George IV’s coronation chair, whilst the ceiling in the Drawing Room was commissioned for a visit by James I. The King was so impressed by the welcome and hospitality that he and his queen received that he commissioned a pair of portraits from John de Critz (his court painter) that still hang in the Great Hall now.

The gardens in the estate are considered national treasures in their own right and are divided into five ‘rooms’ each with their own unique planting scheme and personality. Planted with over one thousand Old English Rose Bushes, the Rose Garden can be best seen from mid-June to early July when the blooms are at their peak. The Herb Garden contains a fascinating array of over two hundred culinary, medicinal, household and decorative herbs and the Organic Vegetable Garden still provides essential ingredients to the kitchens daily. The Flower Garden is full of subtle reds, burnt oranges, vibrant yellows and blues, whereas the White Garden is a place to sit and reflect amongst the white, cream and silver plants that surround a central water feature.

The gardens are surrounded by an old wall of similar age to the house and contain a vine walk, a huge spread of wisteria, the moat and the old mulberry tree around which a family prophesy revolves.

Loseley Park is also highly sought after for its corporate event facilities, civil weddings and as a filming location. If Loseley House could impress royalty back in the day, then it’s no surprise it is so popular in modern times for corporate functions and private parties and with such a beautiful backdrop, the Tithe Barn with its ancient oak beams is the perfect place to hold a wedding reception. And the estate is in high demand for filming with TV shows such as Midsummer Murders, Agatha Christie’s Marple and Sense & Sensibility already taking advantage.

Loseley House is a fantastic place to visit, with a whole host of events taking place throughout the calendar year. Head down to Compton and enjoy the grounds, the garden and the house and relax in one of England’s friendliest historic homes.

James Martin

Images sourced from: http://tinyurl.com/kkru6ap and http://tinyurl.com/pje8qvf

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The estates at Hatchlands were purchased in the 1750s by British naval hero Admiral Edward Boscawen and his independent and intelligent wife Frances (Fanny). The old house was demolished, but both Edward and Fanny showed enormous interest in the design of the new house and landscaped the grounds. Unfortunately, the Admiral died of typhoid in January 1761 and Fanny was left to sell the property to the Sumner family of the East India Trading Company in 1770.

Both father and son made further alterations to the property. Father and later, Sheriff of Surrey, William Brightwell Sumner commissioned Benjamin Armitage to make alterations. His son, George Holme Sumner took over the estate after his father’s death in 1796 and asked Humphry Repton to redesign the park and gardens. Towards the end of the century, Joseph Bonomi was commissioned to draw up plans to extend and improve the house, alter several rooms and to make a new entrance on the west front in 1797.

Although the house stayed in the Sumner family for four generations, Arthur Holme Sumner was forced to sell Hatchlands due to mounting debts in 1888 to Stuart Rendel. Lord Rendel made many changes to the house and gardens, constructing a new entrance on the east side and converting what had originally been Admiral Boscawen’s bedroom and dressing room into a dining room and entrance hall.

At the turn of the century, Randel asked influential garden designer Gertrude Jekyll to submit designs for a formal garden that contained a parterre, which you can still see today. Then, in 1902, he commissioned the prolific, British architect, Sir Reginald Blomfield to design and build a music room.

Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel or ‘Hal’ inherited Hatchlands Park from his grandfather in 1913, making few, notable changes, but did add the stone temple to the garden before handing over the estate to the National Trust in 1945. ‘Hal’ stayed there until 1959, but Hatchlands has had various tenants since, including Francis Mathew, editor of The Times and then a Mr and Mrs Hargreaves who ran a school there until 1980.

In 1987 the house was leased to Mr and Mrs Alec Cobbe who brought to it their historic family collections of portraits, old master paintings, books, fine furniture and the famous collection of keyboard instruments. The Cobbe Collection is Europe’s largest collection of keyboard instruments associated with famous composers including JC Bach, Chopin, Elgar, Mozart, Beethoven and Bizet.

Hatchlands Park is a fine Georgian house with a magnificent array of art, furniture and historical instruments, with tranquil gardens and 400 acres of parkland. So head down with the family to experience the natural adventure area for children or to take a look around a fantastic piece of local history.

James Martin

Images sourced from: http://tinyurl.com/n3ks72v and http://tinyurl.com/ksy2qbq

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Sir Richard Onslow (the ‘Red Fox of Surrey’), who spent many years as MP for Guildford and Chancellor of the Exchequer, acquired the Clandon Park estate in 1641. He was responsible for laying out huge formal gardens with beautiful parterres, pools, fountains and avenues. However, it was his great-grandson, Thomas, the second Lord Onslow (born in 1679) that was responsible for rebuilding Clandon as a fashionable Palladian mansion, as the house we see today.

Still, not all of the Onslow’s had such affection for Clandon Park. When Thomas’ son Arthur inherited the house and grounds in 1827, he simply ordered it to be shut up and allowed the estate to fall into disrepair, which is how it remained until 1870 when William Hillier Onslow, aged just 17 found himself the 4th Earl of Onslow and owner of Clandon Park. William sold land to pay for repairs, redecoration and improvements and even bought back some of the family heirlooms at auction.

William also spent four years in New Zealand where he held the title of ‘Governor General’. This is significant because on his return, he also brought a Māori meeting house named Hinemihi back with him, which can still be found in the gardens. This was originally situated near Lake Tarawera on the North Island and provided shelter to the people of Te Wairoa village during the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886. The building was covered in ash and surrounded by volcanic debris, but its occupants survived. It remained half buried until 1892 when Lord Onslow had it removed and shipped to Clandon Park. During the 2012 London Olympics, the New Zealand Olympic team visited Hinemihi to pay homage.

Richard, the 5th Earl of Onslow, continued the improvements to the house, but in 1914 war broke out. In World War I, the house was offered as a hospital for injured troops and similarly when World War II arrived, the Onslows moved out and the house was used by the Public Records Office. By the mid-20th century, the house was beginning to suffer due to lack of investment and during post war austerity it was almost impossible to keep a large country house afloat.

Nevertheless, Lady Iveagh, the 6th Earl of Onslow’s Aunt, bought Clandon Park from her nephew and in 1956 gave it to the National Trust, saying at the time, “It is with the deepest satisfaction that I can now feel that my old home is safe for the future.”

Since being presented to the National Trust in 1956, the house has been extensively restored and refurbished under the guidance of John Fowler. The house now contains the fine collection of 18th-century furniture and porcelain acquired by the remarkable connoisseur Hannah Gubbay, as well as the Ivo Forde Meissen collection of Italian comedy figures and Mortlake tapestries and other textiles and carpets. The building also houses the Queen’s Royal Surrey Regiment Museum.

While the wider parkland is still in the hands of the Onslow family, you can still see seven acres of gardens that surround the house. These are home to a small parterre garden, Hinemihi (the Māori meeting house) and the walled Dutch Garden.

James Martin

Images sourced from: http://tinyurl.com/mhfv6sb

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Guildford House was built in 1660, and was originally the home of John Childe, the then Mayor of Guildford. It became the residence for the Martyr family in 1736, though sadly very little is known about the period between its construction for John Childe in 1660 and its changeover to the Martyr family.

It remained with the Martyr’s for just over a hundred years and then, in the mid 1840’s it went from a residence to being a business premises. In 1959, again just over a hundred years on, it was opened as Guildford Art Gallery and the tone was set for how Guildford House would remain for at least the next 50 years.

Today it is one of Guildford’s best, if most sadly underappreciated, attractions. The council run Gallery, which is situated upstairs in the striking Grade 1 listed building, offers and extensive and constantly evolving selection of local art, as well as a selection of art work from the Borough Collection. Not only that, but the onsite café offers a peaceful alternative to the hustle and bustle of high street coffee chains. Whether you want a quiet cup of tea after perusing the art upstairs or perhaps a cup of coffee away from the busy town centre, then it is certainly worth popping in.

Perhaps one of the most remarkable features of Guildford House is that admission to the building, and to the gallery itself, is completely free all year round. This offers a unique experience of exploring both Guildford’s history and its current creative flare, no matter what your budget for a cultural day out. It also offers guided tours and even workshops for any age, where visitors can enjoy learning from and working alongside some of the town’s local talent.

Guildford House Gallery played its part in Guildford Borough’s Big Draw this year, which ran from October 5 through until November 2. During this event, the Gallery (alongside Susie Allen) hosted an exhibition of futuristic creatures, all of which were created on a doodle wall. The juxtaposition of futuristic creatures in such a historical setting certainly made quite an impact!

If art isn’t to your taste, then fear not as Guildford House is a great, must-see attraction located centrally on the High Street, right next to the Guildhall. Situated on the ground floor inside is Guildford’s Tourist Information Centre, where the friendly, helpful staff are always glad to help. There are a multitude of leaflets available, full of information on events, history and a hundred and one other things to do and see in Guildford.

Guildford House is open Monday – Saturday, 10am – 4:45pm and Sunday, 11am – 4pm.

Charli Aisha Harris

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St Mary’s almost certainly stands on the same site that Guildford’s first church, likely a small timber construction, was built around 600AD. The very first settlers of Guildford would have built the town around this place of worship, as the church would have been the centre of the community. However, the beautiful stone construction that we know today was not built until almost 500 years later, around 1050AD and as we know, the tower of this original Saxon building still stands today.

It is thought that the canons of Merton Priory rebuilt the church further, giving it a cross shaped plan, when they acquired St Mary’s around 1120. The evolution of the church, from the first timber building to the church we see nowadays is an interestingly rich one, marked well by the changes in attitude towards worship and the church itself.

Upon visiting St Mary’s Church in modern times, with its beautiful stone vaulted ceiling and stunning stained glass windows, it is easy to imagine both the everyday town residents and visiting royalty walking the stone floors to worship. Of course the church is much changed now since the days of kings ruling from the castle and bowing before god within the church walls.

The church was gradually extended, with St John’s chapel being added to the south of the building in the 1140’s, but the greatest change to St Mary’s came during the middle of the sixteenth century, at the time of the Reformation. During this period attitudes changed a great deal regarding the way in which churches were decorated and used but fortunately the corbels (stone brackets supporting the timbers in the aisles) predominantly survived. One, on the South side, shows a wonderful carving of ravens placing food into Elijah’s mouth. Two others in the north aisle, however, remain scarred by destruction and used to display engravings of angels.

It is likely that during the Reformation, these depictions of spiritual beings were seen as idols and thus lead to their heads being knocked off and destroyed. There is even evidence of the Reformers white washing over the bright paintings that would have once decorated the walls, and destroying all but three of the seven alters that used to stand. All of this was done to emphasise the belief that it was the King or Queen, not the Pope, who controlled the Church of England.

The next marked change came when the chancel was shortened in 1825 to make Quarry Street wider, and then in 1863 St Mary’s was restored by Thomas Goodchild. Much of the stonework was renewed, the galley was removed and a pulpit was added. It is in this pulpit that the Reverend Charles Dodgson, whom you may recognise by his pen name Lewis Carroll, used to sometimes preach. He would take the opportunity to preach at St Mary’s whilst visiting his families nearby home, ‘The Chestnuts’ and it was actually within St Mary’s that his funeral was held. To picture the man who brought to life Alice, the Jabberwocky and the Mad Hatter, standing in St Mary’s preaching to the gathered congregation seems a strange image indeed!

The church still stands, a mixture of Saxon, Reformation and Victorian construction, having watched over Guildford for nearly 1,000 years. Its walls have sheltered both the common folk and royalty while they worshipped, offered sanctuary to the town folk and truly withstood the test of time. When exploring Guildford, a visit to the church is a must for those interested in the town’s history, or even just for those looking to appreciate a little slice of beauty nestled away in the busy commercial centre.

Though gaining entry to the church requires a modicum of timing, it is well worth the effort to see the sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows, and to inhale the deeply timeless scent of history itself. St Mary’s is open on the first Tuesday of every month and on most Thursdays between 11:00am and 3:00pm. It is certainly a beautiful piece of Our Town’s history.

Charli Aisha Harris

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The museum was founded in 1898 and now houses a large collection of archaeology, local history, needlework and art from around Surrey. Overall the museum cares for over 75,000 objects, dating from around 500,000BC (the Lower Palaeolithic) to the modern day and the collection contains objects either from, or in some way related to Guildford, and to a lesser extent Surrey. The Museum currently has Guest Curators that include Anne Milton MP, the Bishop of Guildford, Christopher Hill and the High Sheriff of Surrey, Elizabeth Toulson.

The Surrey Archaeological Society was founded in 1854 and began collecting objects, from excavations and private donations, but unfortunately had to keep moving homes, leaving the valuable artefacts in a shockingly bad condition. The Society was offered a premises for a new museum and library by Guildford Borough Council in 1898 as part of a row of cottages built on the site of the castle’s old gatehouse. In 1885 the Council had purchased Guildford Castle and its grounds, and opened them up as a public park and bowling green and so they were clearly committed to preserving Guildford’s history.

Most of the artefacts now housed in the collection have been there for less than 100 years and many of the objects in the collections remain on near-permanent loan from the Society. The Museum houses some fantastic relics like religious headdresses’ from the Romano-British temple site at Wanborough, Mesolithic handaxes from Farnham and everything from the Tudor site of Farnborough Hill Convent excavation.

The Museum began to collect social history objects in 1905 and in 1907 it accepted a donation from Gertrude Jekyll of her entire collection of objects relating to “Old Surrey Life”. This generous gift from the celebrated garden designer has formed the basis of the ‘local history’ collection and much of the donation is still on display today such as a napkin featuring an embroidered portrait of Queen Elizabeth I which was believed to have actually been used by her. It also includes a green velvet suit purchased in London’s Carnaby Street in the 1970s and some fragments of a Zeppelin bomb dropped on the St Catherine’s area of Guildford in WWI.

Another of the museums prized possessions is its specialist needlework collection. It includes a wide selection of smocks worn by farm labourers in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, known as Surrey Smocks, a “lending quilt” from a local parish church and 18th and 19th century samplers. The Museum also has a treasured art collection which came about after a merger between Guildford Museum and Guildford House Art Gallery in June 2009. Therefore, the Museum staff now also care for the Guildford Borough Council’s art collection including a number of works by Guildford-born artist John Russell.

Guildford’s museum has the ability to take you back through time from prehistoric finds in Surrey fields through to Stone Age tools, medieval costumes and Roman head-dresses. It offers free entry between 11am and 4.45pm on Monday to Saturday, but is closed on Sundays and on Christmas Day. There are also children’s facilities and a gift shop where visitors can purchase history books, stationary, postcards and other such gifts.

Ade Lawal

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The Guildhall is a Grade I listed building and is also where the Mayor and Guildford Corporation met to regulate the commerce of the Borough in the upstairs Council Chamber until 1931, and where the various courts of law sat in judgement.

The building is predominantly Elizabethan, although it is thought to stand on the site of a pre-existing Medieval Guildhall which is known to have been in place in the 1300s. The Council Chamber with balcony overlooking the street and bell tower above was added in 1683 when the building was refurbished, and the clock was presented to the Corporation by a London clockmaker (John Aylwark) who struck a deal with them in order to have freedom of trade in the borough.

Elizabeth’s Coat of Arms was inserted in the stained glass window above the judge’s bench after one of her visits in 1589, which also was the catalyst for the extension at the north of the building. The Arms of the Borough itself were added later along with those of Anne of Denmark who was James I’s queen. There are also beautiful paintings of Charles II, James II and William and Mary, and one of the colour party of the Queen’s Regiment commemorating the presentation of the Freedom of the Borough in 1946.

The ground floor is of Tudor origin and houses the Civic plate as well as many rare items such as a 16th century two-handed sword which hangs over the bench. This decorative item is then carried in front of the Mayor during an annual procession; a traditional that has occurred since 1922.

Fine wood panelling can be found upstairs in the Council Chamber and a carved chalk fireplace which is most likely to have come from the nearby demolished (at the end of the 1600s) Stoughton Manor House. The paintings include a portrait of Admiral Sir Richard Onslow after his victory at Camperdown, painted by John Russell RA, whose father was four times Mayor of Guildford.

The pride of the Guildhall is the Borough Plate, a collection of beautiful silver which includes pieces which form the insignia of municipal authority and items used in connection with banquets and other functions.

The Mayor has a campeachy or logwood Staff (which is said to have been presented by Queen Elizabeth) which bears the date of 1565 and the castle, which also figures in Guildford’s Coat of Arms. The Mayor’s golden Badge and Chain date back to 1673 and the Mayoress has matching gold badges with silver for other dignitaries.

With two rooms available for hire, the Guildhall can accommodate events ranging from small meetings to private functions and wedding receptions for up to 100 guests. The Guildhall is open Tuesdays and Thursdays to the public and the town guides lead tours which are free of charge with no booking necessary, simply turn up at the designated times and a guide will take you on a tour around the historic building. Group tours are also available by prior arrangement.

Ade Lawal

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