Godalming
Godalming is a town in the
Waverley district of the county of
Surrey,
England, seven
kilometres south of
Guildford. It is built on the banks of the
River Wey and is a prosperous stockbroker belt
commuter town for
London and home of one of England's most prestigious schools,
Charterhouse School.
The town has existed since
Saxon times (see also
Godalming (hundred)), and probably earlier. It is mentioned in the will of King
Alfred the Great, and the name itself has Saxon origins, 'Godhelms Ingus' roughly translated as "the family of godhelm", and probably referring to one of the first
lords of the manor.
By the time of the
1086 Domesday survey, Godalming had three watermills and a population of roughly 400 people. At the time, its manor belonged to the King, but a few hundred years later, ownership transferred to the
Bishop of Salisbury, under a charter granted by King
Edward I of England.
In the year
1300, the town was granted the right to hold a weekly market and an annual fair. Its major industry at the time was woollen cloth, which contributed to Godalming's prosperity over the next few centuries, until a sudden decline in the
17th century. Instead, its people applied their skills to the latest knitting and weaving technology and began producing stockings in a variety of materials, and later to leatherwork.
A willingness to adapt, and move from one industry to another meant that Godalming continued to thrive. For example, paper making was adopted in the
17th century, and was still manufactured there in the
20th century. The quarrying of
Bargate stone also provided an important source of income, as did passing trade - Godalming was a popular stopping point for stage coaches between
Portsmouth and
London.
In
1764, trade received an additional boost when
canalisation of the river took place, linking the town to Guildford, and from there to the
River Thames and London.
So successful was Godalming, that in the early
19th century it was considerably larger than today's county town of
Guildford, and by
1851 the population had passed 6,500. Already, it was becoming a popular residence for commuters, for it was connected to London by railway two years earlier, in
1849, and to Portsmouth in
1859. Today the town is served by
Godalming railway station on the
Portsmouth Direct Line.
Godalming came to world attention in
1881, when it became the first town in the United Kingdom to install a public supply of
electricity, and the first in the world to boast electric street lighting, driven by a
Siemens AC Alternator and
dynamo at Westbrook watermill, feeding seven
arc lights and 34
Swan incandescant lights.
The long history of Godalming is still evident in its architecture, from its
parish church, with its Saxon
chancel and
Norman tower, to its 19th century town hall, nicknamed the
Pepperpot. The town has around 230 listed buildings, featuring everything from
Tudor timbers to 17th century brickwork.
Other significant buildings include
Edwin Lutyens's Red House, and one of the best known English public schools,
Charterhouse stands about a mile from the town, on the top of Charterhouse Hill. Charterhouse won the
FA Cup as the Old Carthusians in 1880 and 1881.
Winkworth Arboretum, with its collection of rare trees and shrubs, is situated a few miles to the south.
Godalming is on the mainline
railway between
London (Waterloo) and
Portsmouth, and is served by South West Trains. The village of
Farncombe is effectively a suburb of Godalming to the north east of the town, it too has a railway station. The town is also served by a bus network connecting the town centre with residential areas such as Busbridge and Charterhouse.
The comic novel
The Return of Reginald Perrin, by
David Nobbs, contains the following footnote:
"Note: It is believed that this book mentions Godalming more than any other book ever written, including A Social, Artistic and Economic History of Godalming
by E. Phipps-Blythburgh." The novel was the second in a trilogy, adapted to become a hit TV series:
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.
The town has often been used as a backdrop for the shooting of various films and television programmes. In February
2006, for instance, the picturesque Church Street, which runs from the
Pepperpot to the
parish church, was used in the production of
Holiday, written and directed by
Nancy Meyers. Local residents, quite accustomed to seeing
British personalities such as
Damon Hill,
Chris Evans and
Anthea Turner, who all live locally, were very interested by the presence of
Hollywood superstars such as
Cameron Diaz and
Jude Law around town.
*Admiral Sir
John Balchen [
1]
*
Julius Caesar (cricketer)
*
Ben Elton (comedian)
*
Chris Evans (TV and radio personality)
*
Aldous Huxley (writer)
*
Rachel Hurd-Wood (actress)
*
Gertrude Jekyll (gardener)
*
Edwin Lutyens (architect)
*
Mick Mills (footballer)
*
James Oglethorpe (founder of the
Province of Georgia)
*
John (Jack) Phillips (radio operator on the Titanic)
*
Christopher Timothy (actor)
*
James Plaisted Wilde, Baron Penzance*
Damon Hill |
Mary Toft attended by the astonished John Howard |
In
1726 Mary and Joshua Toft, both of Godalming, were married. On
September 27th her family summoned the local surgeon, John Howard who, to his astonishment, arrived to find Mary giving birth to a stillborn rabbit with the legs of a kitten. Mary explained that she had been startled by a rabbit in pregnancy, and since that moment had craved roast rabbit, and had dreams about them. Some versions of the story say that she claimed to have encountered a six foot high rabbit which assaulted her in rather a personal manner, but most academic accounts prefer the former explanation; it seems to be a tale which lost nothing in the telling. Further births followed, until eventually she had given birth to fifteen rabbits. Word spread, and crowds began to gather at Mary's home to see the mysterious offspring, who had all been preserved in glass jars. There was a thorough investigation by the King's own surgeon, and getting nervous Mary Toft confessed that she had stuffed dead rabbit babies inside her and faked labour pains. The medical establishment were so embarrassed that charges were dropped. And so, Godalming entered the modern world.
*
Godalming Town Council*
Town museum*
Railway timetable updated every 2 minutes*
Godalming Fire Station*
The Rabbit Woman*
England's Last Public Execution*
Godalming aerial photographs*
The River Wey and Wey Navigations Community Site
