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Surrey’s attractive university
town, situated on the banks of the River Wey,
boasts the only new cathedral to have been built
in the south of England since the Reformation.
Erected in the last century, the red-brick
Gothic-style building was designed by Sir Edward
Maufe and was consecrated in 1961.
Despite this modern
masterpiece, the town dates at least to the Saxon
times period and the tower of its parish church
dates from 1036, while its castle keep was a
Norman project.
A one-time woolen and coaching
centre, Guildford’s fortunes owe much to the
creation in the 17th century of the Wey
Navigation, one of the first rivers in England to
be made navigable. The waterway connected the town
with the Thames at Weybridge and thence to the
metropolis of London. The full story of this
important innovation is told at the Dapdune Wharf
visitor centre where visitors can clamber on board
one of the few surviving Wey barges.
Guildford’s most obvious
landmark is its Tudor Guildhall. It has an
overhanging clock whose innards date from 1560.
Major attractions around the
town include the country houses of Clandon Park
(which also houses the Queen’s Royal Surrey
Regiment Museum), Hatchlands, Loseley Park and the
Elizabethan Sutton Place; the latter was one of
the first non-fortified mansions built in Britain.
Guildford’ most famous
resident was the Victorian writer Lewis Carroll
who is buried at The Mount Cemetery.
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