The name Guildford derives from the Anglo-Saxon Gyldeforda which means Goldenford and may refer to the golden sand on the bed of the River Wey which was fordable at a point near which a Saxon settlement grew up. Probably the original Saxon settlement was on the last ride of Saint Mary's Church, the tower of which was built in about 1050AD. The tower, with its weather vane, occupies the approximate centre of the picture. To its right one can see the ruined keep of the castle. In order to maintain order among the rebellious Saxons, it was the Norman Practice to build castles such as the one at Guildford which originally consisted of a mound probably with a wooden tower on top and a bailey adjourning it, enclosing domestic buildings.

The Western end of St. Mary's, obscured in the picture by a group of buildings which are undoubtedly the town mills, is clearly marked on the 1739 ichnography or ground plan of Guildford. The history of the town mills is a long and complicated one. They were used for a variety of purposes, but chiefly as corn mills, malt mills and fulling mills, the latter used to produce a smooth nap of raw cloth and to get the grease out of it for dying purposes. In 1701, William Yarnold installed pumps in the fulling mill which pumped water through hallowed out elm logs to a reservoir. After various repairs were done, Guildford Corporation acquired the water undertaking at the mills installing new pumps in 1896 having previously acquired the mills from the Poyle charity.

The chimney, seen to the left of our picture, belongs to Filmer and Masons Iron Foundry, founded by Edward Filmer in 1794.

We are grateful to Mr John Brown for his help in preparing this entry.