The Guildford Heritage Forum was founded in 2015 at a time when our heritage was under threat from all angles. A devastating fire had just destroyed Clandon House. Guildford Museum was facing closure. Developers were at the door wanting to build high rise buildings in the town and swallow up the Green Belt. The need…
Thoughts on the future of Guildford Museum
Gavin Morgan June 2020 The Council’s decision to shelve the ambitious museum project is a blow to the High Street which stood to gain a new town centre attraction. We must focus efforts on ensuring that heritage still gives the High Street all the support it can. After all, heritage is one of the town’s…
Can heritage help post Covid-19 Guildford?
By Gavin Morgan – 22nd May 2020 Plans to support the High Street with an £18 million revamped museum extension, cafe and entrance from the Castle Grounds have been halted. The National Lottery Heritage Fund has frozen lottery applications for the foreseeable future to free up resources to help existing projects through Covid-19. In these difficult…
Friends of Guildford Museum Newsletters
The newsletters published by the Friends of Guildford Museum are an invaluable resource. They tell the story of the museum since 1996 and contain information on its earlier history. There are also articles on the collections and various aspects of local history. They have been scanned in PDF format and you can look at them…
Eating-In Exhibition
18th January to 28th March The “Eating In” exhibition (https://www.guildford.gov.uk/eatingin) runs from 18th January 2020 to 28th March and is well worth a visit whether you want a ten minute diversion from shopping or want to enjoy in detail the variety of exhibits. My first impression was just how colourful the exhibition is. The bright…
Chilworth Gunpowder Mills
This year is the centenary of the closure of the Chilworth Gunpowder Mills in various stages across 1920. I decided to speak to the Council on 6th February to ensure they were all aware of the significance of this site. Much of the site is in ruins and hard to understand. So I want to…
North Street Development Update
Guildford Borough Council released the following statement below on the long awaited North Street Development on 19th February. Guildford Borough Council and St Edward Homes, a joint venture company owned by the Berkeley Group and M&G Real Estate, are set to bring forward plans for the regeneration of the five acre North Street site in…
Guildford Museum News -Feb 2020
Museum gets “green light” for Round 1 Lottery Bid The Guildford Museum Project has passed yet another hurdle and submitted a Round 1 application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund on Monday 2nd March asking them for £4m towards the new Museum project. A response is expected in June. NLHF passed the “Expression of Interest”…
Walnut Tree Close Bridge
A £3.4 million project to replace a pedestrian and cycle bridge over the River Wey in Guildford has increased in cost with a further £450,000 now needed to build a new one. Guildford Borough Council’s executive has been warned it does not have a “bottomless pit of money” by a councillor following its decision to…
Debenhams Future
Latest: Closure postponed until 2020 but building put on sale for £20M. See comment from Guildford Society Update: 29th Jan 2020: the decision not to close Debenhams was, it turns out only temporary. Today Get Surrey reported that Debenhams is going on the market for £20 million. The site has potential to provide a major…
2020s – A Dangerous Decade
This is a copy of the email sent out by the Guildford Society on 1st January 2020. It provides an important warning of the threats facing Guildford as well as a good summary of the last decade. 2010’s – The quiet before the storm? Not much happened in Guildford in the 2010s. A few large developments…