On the left of the picture is the newly built Wesleyan Church, built beside the River Wey. The church was erected in memory of Mr. Hugh Price Hughes who had built a new house at Haslemere not long beforehand. On 27 March 1903 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle opened a fund raising bazaar in "the public hall" in Godalming. Conan Doyle remarked that "he did not agree with the system of keeping religion in water-tight compartments, each having no connection with the other. All were working for the amelioration of mankind, and he had profound respect for all, and would gladly help them"^[1].

To the left of the bridge over the river (on the far side) is The Bridge House and to the right the spire of the Congregational Church is visible above the trees.

The view is similar today, although not quite the same. The small spire on the top of the church roof was removed quite a long time ago and the Wesleyans and Congregationalists joined forces in 1977 to become Godalming United Church (Methodist and United Reformed), using the Wesleyan church building. Some of the roadside walls have gone (the one behind the lamp post on the left is where the fire station is today) and there is now a pavement in front of the church. The Bridge has been rebuilt and renamed Bridge House. Bridge Road and the Town Bridge have been widened slightly, although the slight kink in the road is still there. And, of course, there was then no pavement on the left hand side of the road in 1903.

In 1911 a surgeon called Arthur Joshua Newman and his wife, son and a servant resided in a 10 roomed house bordering the Lammas Lands on Bridge Road (presumably Lea House)^[2]. He was the Medical Officer and Public Vaccinator for the Farncombe District and also Certifying Factory Surgeon^[3]. An antique dealer, Hugh St Barbe Wickham, was next door with his brother Ralph Stratford Wickham. Mrs Jane Bridger, a 71 year old widow, lived with three of her adult children and a lodger. The final household on this side of the road was that of Arthur Edward Messenger, a musician/pianist^[2].

References:

^[1] "Western Daily Press", Friday 27 March 1903.

^[2] Information from the 1911 census which is available on Find My Past. No house names were provided in 1911 but Dr. Newman, who died 24th Oct 1933, was of Lea House when he died. Hugh Wickham moved to Witley but died at Headley Down on 3 Nov 1927. Mr. Messenger moved to 5 Church Street where he ran a confectionary shop but died on the Isle of Wight in 1946. Mrs. Bridger passed away in 1924.

^[3] "Kelly's Directory of Surrey", 1913.