The Guildford Heritage Forum brings together groups and individuals to share information, discuss local heritage issues and, when necessary, speak with one voice. In particular we are following the Guildford Museum Project due for completion towards the middle of the next decade. Members also organise the annual Heritage Open Weekend each September in conjunction with…
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
The threatened closure of Debenhams in Guildford has been postponed until January 2021. Debenhams is closing a number of stores across the country in a bid to save the chain. See article below for more information https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jan/03/debenhams-kicks-off-make-or-break-year-with-19-store-closures?CMP More on history of Debenhams Plummer Roddis or “Plummers” planned and built a huge department store on what…
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…
The Guildford Dragon
The Guildford Dragon is the town’s online newspaper and we are lucky to have it. It has been reporting on local issues since 2012. Founded by David Rose, former editor of the Surrey Advertiser and Martin Giles a former reporter it is a wonderful chronicle of modern history, a valuable source of local history and,…
Guildford Dragon History Articles
Since 2012 the Guildford Dragon online newspaper has published several hundred articles on local history in addition to its daily news. Here I list about 130 articles covering topics such as Places (22), People (9), Industry (6), Entertainment (mostly RocknRoll Years) (22), Events e.g. floods, great storm, guy riots (5), traditions (5), Wey Navigation (4),…
Guildford Town Guides
Visit the Guildford Town Guides website The Guildford Town Guides were originally established over 30 years ago. In 1984 Matthew Alexander, Curator of Guildford Museum, started a series of courses on Guildford History. The courses were supplemented by a set of notes on various Guildford topics. At the end of the course, Matthew suggested forming…
The Guildford Society
Visit The Guildford Society website At the vanguard of preserving the town has been the Guildford Society. Nothing illustrates this better than the presence of Lloyds Bank in Guildford High Street. The historic frontage supports the banks image and adds to the High Street and the story behind its survival is a good one. The…
Guildford Museum Project – Background
2015 – Museum Review Following the failure of a second lottery bid, announced in March 2015, the future of Guildford Museum seemed in doubt. (see History of Guildford Museum) A review was set up to decide the future of the museum, whether keep it and if so whether to move it elsewhere. A report by…
Friends of Guildford Museum
Visit the Friends of Guildford Museum website In 1994 Matthew Alexander, Curator of Guildford Museum, brought together several museum supporters with the aim of forming a Friends of the Museum. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the concept of friends organisations to fundraise for museums gathered steam across the country. After a bit of…
Surrey Archaeological Society
View the Surrey Archaeological Society website Almost 50% of the collections in Guildford Museum belong to the Surrey Archaeological Society, which founded the museum in 1898. Today we think of archaeology in terms of excavations but the Victorians took a broader view. The collections of the Surrey Archaeological Society contain not only Prehistoric, Roman and…