• Aldous Huxley, author of "Brave New World", was born on Peperharow Road on 26 July 1894; the announcement of his birth in "The Morning Chronicle" just says "Charterhouse". His mother Julia founded Prior's Field School and his father was a Classics Master at Charterhouse. Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout Movement, was educated at the school, presumably moving with them when the school moved to the town from London in 1872.
  
  
• Sir Edwin Lutyens lived at Thursley as a child for six months every year from the age of seven. Lutyens was one of the Principal Architects who worked for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and he supervised the design of the Etaples Military Cemetery, nr. Le Touquet, France, where both of Ann's grandfathers are buried (see our genealogy pages and Picture Gallery). Gertrude Jekyll, the famous gardener who collaborated with Lutyens and who also designed the garden for the Phillips Memorial, lived at Munstead.

• A footpath near our house dates from Saxon times. It goes down the hill to the site of a Roman brickfield.

• In the nearby village of Compton are two buildings dedicated to the memory of George Frederick Watts, the eminent Victorian artist and portrait painter. Watts' most famous portrait is that of his actress first wife and was painted in 1864. Called Ellen Terry (Choosing) the young woman, whom he married when she was only sixteen, is shown with her flowing red hair, smelling camellias. There are five camellias in her hair and a small bunch of wild flowers in her left hand. Watts lived in the village for many years and a great deal of his work is exhibited in the Watts Gallery. His mausoleum, erected by his second wife, is the Watts Memorial Chapel and is a fine example of the Arts and Crafts movement. G.F.W. installed a corner stone on 23 Feb 1903 - his 86th birthday.
  
  

• The Arts and Crafts cloister memorial garden, between the church and the river and close to Godalming Station, was built following the untimely death of Jack Phillips, the wireless operator who stayed at his post on the ill-fated SS. Titanic until the ship sank, on 15 April 1912. Phillips was born in Farncombe. Money was raised by public donations from Godalming residents, from others in the U.K. and also people from overseas and the memorial was opened in April 1914.
  
  
  
  Phillips Memorial Cloister
  
  
  
  The cloister, shown above and below, was designed by Hugh Thackery Turner of Westbrook whilst the garden was designed and planted by Gertrude Jekyll. Jack Phillips is also named on a family grave in the local cemetery and a wild garden has also been created in his memory. The Museum web site has more about Jack Phillips.
  
  Although it was restored in 1993, the Council were subsequently granted Lottery funding for extensive restoration work, including the repair of the bowl of the fountain.
  
  Also see The Phillips Memorial Cloister
  Family grave and his memorial at the Nightingale Cemetery
  
  

Drinking fountain provided by the Postal Telegraph Workers Association.
The Association also contributed to the memorial.

• Godalming's War Memorial
  A memorial of a different kind was constructed almost opposite on the Lammas Lands, next to the church boundary and the bandstand (although the bandstand did not, of course, exist at the time). The cross in the churchyard was erected in 1921 and the years 1914 and 1918 are inscribed at the base of the cross. They are also engraved on the side facing the parish church. However, the names recorded on the black marble plaque on the wall below it were not added until the 1990s.

  
  

  The inscription on the marble reads:
  "In memory of the people of this town who gave their lives in the War 1939 - 1945".

  Since the above photo was taken new plaques, to record the WW1 and a Korean War casualties, have been placed on the wall.
  The lower of the two plaques, in memory of those who fell in the First War, has been removed.
  
  See Godalming's War Memorial.
  
  

• The Pound.
  Also next to the church boundary, and with another wall bounding Borough Road, is an animal pound where livestock would have been kept overnight, or until their owner collected his or her animals. This was not the original pound and it is not clear if this was area was ever used for animals.

An engraved stone in the wall announces that
"This stone marks the Godalming Rectory Manor Pound,
presented to the Borough by the Rev. M. J. Simmonds, Lord of the Manor, 1933".

The original pound was marked on several Ordnance Survey maps up to 1913, after which the Phillips Memorial was built on the site. The 1933 map clearly shows the replacement pound and its stone as they are both marked. Mark John Simmonds was the owner of Church House in addition to being Lord of the Manor of Godalming Rectory Manor.