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…
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…
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…