Wonersh Street circa 1933

What is especially wonderful about this row of houses on the left is that my ancestor, John Butcher (1795 - 1877) inherited one of them on the death of his father, James Butcher.

John was born illegitimately in 1795 to Sarah Woolgar and James Butcher. We know that is the case because of other documents that have been located. In 1801 Sarah and James married. In 1802 they had another son Thomas who because he was the legitimate heir inherited his father's estate, which included Tangley Manor. John was acknowledged by his father, in life and death, inheriting one of these houses and some cash.

Magic Slide Walled Garden - Great Tangley Manor, Wonersh

This was a wonderful find and it was one of those that had to come home with me!

Sale Details - Great Tangley Manor, Wonersh - May 1958

Great Tangley Manor Wonersh Surrey Estate Agents Outline Sales Details Magazine Advert 

From Country Life, May 1958

Great Tangley Manor - 1914

Painted by James S Ogilvy

Guildford High Street circa 1880

This is one of my earliest images of Guildford. Published by the Surrey Photo Company who traded at 32 High Street Guildford.

I love the wagon and carriage with the horses. This really is Guildford at yesteryear.

Puttenham Post Office circa 1951

Effects after the Storm damage - 2nd August 1906

A comment that came with the postcard suggested that this was the market stalls. My immediate thought was the bike shed area at Guildford Station or the cattle market at Guild. 

What do you think?

Advertising Postcard - Complete mystery! ~ Circa 1919

Having promised myself that I would not buy any more Guildford postcards until I had a firm decision on what to do with the ones I already owned I broke my own promise and bought this one! I know, I have absolutely no will power!

I was totally intrigued and the postcard was exchanged for smallish note of British currency and it came home with me. It sat on my desk glaring at me every time I reach for a pen from the pen pot on my desk. Now, several months on I still have absolutely no idea what it is all about!

So, if you have any ideas please do leave a comment. In the meantime I have sent a digital copy of it to the Owston (Ouston) One-Name Study registrant.

Wonersh circa 1950

Open Day at Castle Grounds 1888

This was one of those postcards that I probably paid a little too much for, but I simply had to have it.  A slightly grubby and exhausted example and who would not be after 127 years.

Isn't it just a great little example of Victorian Guildford?

Barrack Road, Stoughton, Guildford circa 1909

An early street seen of Barrack Road, Stoughton. Dated from the postmark - 1909

E is for Elstead Mill

This lovely building, once a mill still stands, and is now a rather lovely and authentic public house in the rural Surrey village of Elstead.

I have an ancestor, Sarah Ellis (nee Hall), born in London who moved to Elstead and is recorded on the 1851 Census as a lace worker. Sarah and her husband John migrated from Elstead to Geelong Victoria Australia as free settlers.

Last September, I attended the funeral of my late Mum's first Cousin. His son held the wake (family gathering) at Elstead Mill public house and was completely unaware of the family connection.
 

I discreetly took a few pictures.

Elstead Mill plaque. Taken September 2014

Elstead Mill - with the wheel still working! - Taken September 2014

The original brickwork at Elstead Mill. Taken September 2014

There was something very special about standing in a room, watching a wheel turn not just with the nineteenth century technology, but knowing that Sarah Ellis and had watched this exact wheel turn in this exact spot more than 160 years ago.

You can see who else is participating in the A – Z Challenge by clicking HERE

D is for Dennis

Anyone who lives in the Guildford area will be familiar with the business of Dennis Brothers. Originally from Devon the brothers moved to Guildford and set about building bicycle spares.

A few years ago I spotted this ashtray, which does show signed of use. As I was writing this post I came across the website for The Dennis Society, which was new to me. On that page it shows a picture of the Rodboro Buildings which for all my childhood was derelict despite being sited on some prime real estate. In fact it has only been in the last twenty years that the building has taken on a new lease of life and is the home of the Academy of Contemporary Music.

You can see who else is participating in the A - Z Challenge by visiting the participants lists at www.a-to-zchallenge.com

C is for Compton

Compton is such a pretty village. My Great Aunt lived in the next village and on occasions we would walk from Farncombe to Compton Church Once there we would sit in the pews for a rest, then wander around the grounds before heading back to Farncombe to visit my other Great Aunt. Our reward for a few hours in the fresh air was tea and coffee cake which was my favourite.

On one such walk we spotted a small antique shop. We had to wander in and see what delights they had, and every now and again my Aunt would comment "we had one of those" referring to her childhood home. I purchased a book from that antique shop on one of our last walks. The book was the Philimore Surrey edition of the Doomsday Book, which I still have and is shown here and I notice there is now a website about Surrey in the Doomsday Book and there is a Doomsday Map site.

As usual we stopped at the church on this particular day, and Aunt noticed that there was confetti still on the ground from the previous day's wedding. She picked one up and gave it to me, in the shape of a horseshoe and in a pretty pink colour. I still have that horseshoe piece of confetti, which sits nestled into the cover of the book.

My Great Aunt died in December 2010 aged 95 and was the last of my Grandfather's siblings.

You can see who else is participating in the A - Z Challenge by visiting the participants lists at www.a-to-zchallenge.com

B is for Bramley

A lovely little village on the main A281 out of Guildford towards the Sussex border. Early on in my career I worked in this cute village. That though, was not my only link to the village. My 5 x Great Grandfather, Daniel Butcher was baptised here, along with that of his siblings in the first two decades of the eighteenth century. 

There is the Bramley local History Society who formed in 1994 when I was still living in the County. My own ancestors moved from Bramley to Wonersh and had branches of that main line to the nearby villages of Hascombe and Shere. I always had the hunch that the Butcher family had originated in Sussex, and whilst I am still proving that hypothesis, Daniel Butcher married in Tillingon in 1745.

You can see who else is participating in the A - Z Challenge by visiting the participants lists at www.a-to-zchallenge.com

A is for Aldershot

My first choice for A was in fact Alfold. I have a rather lovely postcard of this Surrey village which is close to the Sussex border. My filing system has become flawed! and so I have substituted with Aldershot.

Aldershot is in Hampshire, and is well known for it's military presence.  You can read more HERE. My Great Great Uncle was stationed here in the late 19th Century as he was in the Medical Corp, or as it is known now the Royal Army Medical Corp (RAMC), who are located at Keogh Barracks and there is a regiment museum located in Aldershot still. You can see their web site HERE.

This has not been used, so dating can only really be estimated with the occurrences within the postcard. I love the soldiers gathered on the left, whereas we see the modern inventions of the car and aeroplane in the sky above.

For those interested in the unusual name of Keogh, there is a One-Name study for the name and you can read more about that HERE

You can see who else is participating in the A - Z Challenge by visiting the participants lists at www.a-to-zchallenge.com

A - Z April Challenge

Over the course of the coming month the Guildford and District blog will be taking part in the April A - Z Blogging Challenge.

Each day a post will be published representing the letters of the alphabet - 1st April is A, 2nd April is B and so forth. The only exception is there is NO post on Sunday!

Long time readers of this blog may recall I have previously shared what is my genealogical postcard tool - this postcard shows a 10 mile radius of Guildford. Not all the places on this postcard will be shared over the coming month. There will be some previously shown favourites and some new ones!

So stayed tuned! You can see who else is participating in the A - Z Challenge by visiting the participants lists at www.a-to-zchallenge.com

Grantley Arms, Wonersh

Tangley Manor circa 1913

Published by Francis Frith - 65258 which dates to circa 1913

Wonersh Street, circa 1915

This is one of my favourite cards of Wonersh. My several times Great Grandfather, John Butcher (1795 - 1877) inherited one of the cottages on the right hand side.

Early on in my career I worked in the next village. I would routinely walk between Bramley and Wonesh, past these cottages on my way to the Grantley Arms for a sandwich and drink. It always felt very "warm and fuzzy" to be walking along the path that John walked, around 150 years previous.

Guildford & Neigbourhood Album Cover by Frank Lasham, Guildford circa 1919

I spotted this lovely old album of views of Guildford and Neighbourhood last year. I was very tempted to purchase but the reality was I already have a copy, but the front cover of the album is pretty tatty. I asked if I could take a picture of the cover so that I could share it here and thankfully the then owner let me. The album itself dates to circa 1919.

WRAC's Receiving Freedom of Guildford circa 1980's

Although not especially old this scene represents a time when there was a military barracks at Guildford. I recall parades such as these from my childhod.

I grew up in Guildford in the 1970's and 1980's. It was quite common to see the WRAC's at the railway station boarding trains crying because they had been posted to Ireland and of course in this period the situation in Ireland was a fragile one.

Whilst this picture and the story I have shared is not especially it old, it does record a time in the Guildford pictorial history.

Bramley Grange Hotel, Bramley circa 1929

High Street from River Bridge Guildford 1911

This is a great view. Initially I could not work out what was missing from the picture, but once I gained a sense of place I could tell immediately.

This is the Bridge that crosses the River Wey and looks up the High Street to the town clock. St Nicholas Church is behind the viewer. This is the time before the road (A281), Debenhams and the underpass. This is before cars, which is why there was no road here.

I love the shop views and the boards on the side of the buildings advertising the various businesses. This is the view that my Grandfather, who was aged 3 at the time this postcard was sent would have seen. My Grandmother had yet to be born.

The Jolly Farmer, Puttenham circa 1909

A postally used card sent to a family member, complete with ink stains!

Produced by Alfred Challen, Compton

Wonersh circa 1950

Guildford from St Catherine's

I have very happy memories of St Catherine's. In the summer holidays my Grandmother and I would walk to St Catherine's. The reward a drink from the spring there, Gran would pack in her bag a small plastic beaker. It had red and white spots and would gently bend down and capture the water being careful to not capture any of the sand. We would have a drink and enjoy a rest on a seat before walking back to home.

I don't know if this is a view I remember, but I am sure that it is one that my Grandmother would have seen many times.

Guildford Railway Station - 30th August 1953

Stoughton Barracks Hospital Wing circa 1905

Lords Hill, Shamley Green circa 1909

This was such an unusual postcard that despite being in a slightly worse for ware state, I had to purchase it and ad to the collection.

Fatal Smash, Epsom Road, Guildford ~ 9th Feb 1911

Barnett Hil, Red Cross Building Wonersh circa 1953

The Keep, Stoughton Barracks

Country Lane between Wonersh and Shamley Green

Published by the S. & W. Series of postcards circa 1910. This is a view that my ancestors who most certainly have seen as they walked this area. My Great Grandfather, Charles Butcher was born in Wonersh in 1869.

The Old Rectory Guest House, Guildford

I own two copies of this picture. One used with the postage stamp of 1915 which is much paler in colour and this one which is not used and has brighter and vibrant colouring.

Guildford Lido circa 1950

A slightly different view of the lido and is the view I pretty much remember from two decades later than the date of this postcard.

Guildford Lido, circa 1930

There was something familiar with this postcard. Recollections of visiting the lido through my childhood and sitting at the tables outside, with the ever so faintly mottled and dotted patten in a pale blue colour.

Across the Roof Tops to St. Mary's

This postcard by Judges (5719) I found quite curious. It seems such a strange view to take and because it is quite unusual I had to purchase it and add it to the collection.