Town in Surrey, England
Guildford
A cathedral built with bricks the public paid for, a clock hanging over the High Street, and the grave of Alice's author: meet Guildford.
Key information
- County
- Surrey
- Nation
- England
- Population
- About 77,000 (2011 Census)
- Known for
- Its cathedral on Stag Hill, the steep cobbled High Street, the University of Surrey and a cluster of video-game studios
- What locals are called
- Guildfordians
- Famous people
- Lewis Carroll (died here), George Abbot, Mike Hawthorn (died on the bypass)
- Football clubs
- Guildford City
About Guildford
The cathedral that was built brick by brick
Guildford Cathedral sits on Stag Hill and looks like nothing else in the Church of England. Designed by Edward Maufe, it is a tall, pale-brick building, and it was the first Anglican cathedral built on a new site in southern England since Salisbury in the Middle Ages. The foundation stone went down in 1936, and the Second World War then stalled the work. The cathedral was finally consecrated in 1961, 25 years after the first stone. Part of the money came from ordinary people, who could pay to have their names inscribed on bricks. So thousands of Guildfordians and visitors are literally part of the walls.
A High Street that tilts and a clock that leans out
Guildford's High Street drops steeply towards the river, and it is still paved with cobbles in places. Halfway down, the Guildhall pushes a big gilded clock out over the pavement. It has hung there since 1683, and it is the town's best-loved sight. The name is usually traced to Old English for a golden ford, a crossing of the River Wey where the sand shone. That crossing is why the town is here. Further up the street stands Abbot's Hospital, a Tudor-style almshouse founded in 1619 by George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury and a Guildford boy. It still provides homes for elderly residents.
Where Alice's author spent his last days
Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, died in Guildford in January 1898 at The Chestnuts, the house on Castle Hill where his sisters lived. He is buried in the town's Mount Cemetery. In the castle grounds, a sculpture of Alice stepping through the looking-glass nods to the connection, and beside the river a second sculpture shows Alice with the White Rabbit. The castle itself is a ruined Norman keep, with gardens that make a fine place for a picnic. The keep once stood beside a royal residence, and the town grew up in the castle's shadow.
The river that made Guildford busy
By the Middle Ages, Guildford was a wool-cloth town, and its coat of arms still carries a woolsack. In 1653 the River Wey Navigation opened, one of England's earliest river improvements, and barges carried timber, grain and gunpowder between Guildford and the Thames. Dapdune Wharf, on the edge of town, preserves that story. It was the home of the Wey barges. Guildford later made vehicles too. Dennis Brothers, which started with bicycles in 1895, built fire engines and lorries here for decades, and Dennis engines became a familiar sight on British roads.
Games, students and a racing tragedy
The University of Surrey, founded as a university in 1966, moved onto the Stag Hill site beside the cathedral. Its research park and graduates helped turn Guildford into a hub for video-game studios. Media Molecule, the makers of LittleBigPlanet and Dreams, are based here. On the sports side, the Guildford Flames play ice hockey at the Spectrum, and Guildford City carry the football banner. The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, opened on the riverbank in 1965, is a landmark of the town's cultural life. The A3 bypass has its own sad footnote. Racing driver Mike Hawthorn, Britain's first Formula One world champion, died on it in January 1959, only months after winning the title.
The night the town made national news
On 5 October 1974, IRA bombs exploded in two Guildford pubs, including the Horse and Groom. Five people were killed. The case grew into one of Britain's worst miscarriages of justice, when four people, the Guildford Four, were wrongly convicted. Their convictions were quashed in 1989, and their story was told in the film In the Name of the Father. Today the town is better known for its shops, its pubs and the views from Pilgrims' Way across the Surrey Hills.