This second view of the back of the High Street, with Charterhouse School highly visible on the plateau above the town, was taken from a location to the right of the previous image. Cut into the hillside on the right is the scar of Hindhead Road (later Frith Hill Road), with the water tower above it.

The card's sender, a young Carthusian called Clement Gover^[1], described the scene to his mother: "This is a view taken from the other side of railway line [from Charterhouse]. You can see Charterhouse in the distance in left hand corner". The side of the hill below the school was densely wooded.

The dominant landmark in the centre is the parish church, with the distinctive octagonal roof of the Pepperpot closer to the camera. The Pepperpot's roof is topped with a clock tower on which rests a columned cupola with a dome on top. Look carefully to the left of the Pepperpot as the line of the buildings curving down into Church Street can be seen. There is a white building and on its right is a building with a shop sign at roof level. This was Robertson's Milliners and Drapers, best seen on The Market House, High Street, 1903-14.

The Pepperpot was still home to the Town Hall at this time, but moved into its new premises in 1908. In 1913 Godalming Corporation faced a dilemma as some of Godalming's inhabitants wished to demolish the former town hall because it was a danger to traffic. Others in the community petitioned to save it, reportedly because it carried the only public clock in the town^[2]. For a "white elephant" it has stood the test of time remarkably well^[3].

The second enlargement clearly reveals the letters PR on a building to the right of the Pepperpot; this was part of the sign for Craddock's the Printers (see The Market House, High Street, 1903-14). This main focus, though, is the rear of the timber-framed White Hart inn on the High Street. We can see the coach entrance from the High Street into the inn's yard. There are a number of other listed buildings on this part of the High Street.

References (coloured links are to transcripts or more information elsewhere on this web site):

^[1] Clement Gover (1891-1969) was educated at Charterhouse, then Pembroke College, Oxford. He subsequently became a Clerk in Holy Orders in the West Country.

^[2] "Portsmouth Evening News", 26 April 1913. Godalming's Town Hall.

^[3] "Surrey Advertiser", 1 March 1913. Described as such in a letter from Dr. Holland, published in the paper's third edition.