On the immediate left are the town's municipal buildings, now known as the Borough Hall. We can just see two high arches
of part of the building.
Godalming Council had spent a long time discussing new
municipal buildings and had examined a number
of sites. By October 1899 they had reached the stage of
putting a scheme out to tender. At the Council's meeting
that month the Municipal Buildings Committee reported that
twelve tenders had been received although another had been
turned down as it did not comply with the terms of the competition.
They had opted for the Bridge Road site, especially as there
was already an independent Public Hall on Bridge Street that
had opened in 1861
and its Company was to be paid £2,000[1].
Godalming Town Council met again in December 1899
to reconsider what had become the much debated question
of providing municipal buildings, particularly in their relation
to the Public Hall site. By this point the Council had decided
to abandon the scheme but the Municipal Buildings Committee
had met once more and was now recommending that the rejected
scheme for purchase should be re-adopted. It was now planned
to buy both the Public Hall and the Stone House properties.
The latter had been kept unoccupied for a long time. In another
complete U-turn the Council now wanted the decision they
had reached on the 9th of November to be rescinded, and wished
to purchase the two properties. Lascelles, Tinkler & Co.,
Ltd. was also to be approached with a view to acquiring
a right of way into the Bury's Footpath[2].
It had become really controversial and four Councillors resigned
over the issue[3].
The Town Council held its first meeting in the Municipal
Buildings Council Chamber in August 1901[4].
The town was in celebratory mood and when Baden
Powell opened a new cloister at Charterhouse School "Bridge-street
was also gay, and at the Municipal Building the windows were
draped with red, white and blue hangings"[5].The
Council did not vacate the Pepperpot and move in completely
until 1907/8[6].
Also in the first decade of the twentieth century W G Fudger
of Peperharow Road gave the first kinematograph exhibitions
in the municipal buildings[7].
Further away, but on the same side, was Rutherford's "Motor
Cycle Depot. Accessories, Pits, Garage" at No.33[8].
On the far right was Hector Buckland Mallard's tailoring
business; he described himself as a "traditional tailor"
and was still occupying no 13 in 1911, having taken over
from James Street,
but later
moved to 15 Bridge Street and then to No. 33 by 1916. Next
door, at no.14, was the home of the local newspaper The
Surrey Advertiser & County
Times. This was the paper's printing office and they
would also print stationery and "advertising" - presumably
posters and leaflets. Their shop windows were full of post
cards and there was a lending library here too. For a time
there was a dairy at 15 Bridge Street, the third shop in this
building. Beyond that was "The Surrey", a restaurant that provided
hot dinners and teas in 1907 according to the painted signs
on the front and side of the building. This was "West
Surrey House" at 17 Bridge Street where Arthur Woods was
the licensee in 1891[9].
Robert Brown was the publican in 1911. This group of buildings
became the Co-op site but were demolished in the 1980s when
Waitrose redeveloped the site.
It is hard to know who was living at 18 Bridge Street at
this time, but the property was not demolished and stands
next to the entrance of the Waitrose car park today. At the
end of the row that we can see is a lovely building with
classic canted bay windows, then no.19. In 1907 the ground
floor bays had less glazing bars than they do today, so the
property was almost certainly used as a shop by the High
family at this time[10].
The parapet above the first floor windows is pierced by three
sets of balustrades, although they aren't easy to see here.
The whole building has been beautifully restored in recent
times. There is another, slightly lower, property next to
it that is screened from view by the bay windows (20 Bridge
Street)[11]. However,
the sharp eyed may be able to see its fence which is close
to the lamp post.
At the end of Bridge Street was an enormous tree, a London
Plane. It almost totally eclipsed a large property known
as The Bridge. In 1911 this was the home of Miss Melicent
Marshall, a lady of private means, and her brother Walter
Douglas Marshall who worked at the London Stock exchange[12].
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