Where Is This? No.127

Published on: 18 Sep, 2014
Updated on: 18 Sep, 2014

By David Rose

Once again, some fantastic replies to last week’s mysteries.

The steam train was indeed pictured at Bramley and Wonersh station when the line closed in 1965 due to the infamous ‘Beeching cuts’.

Click here to see last week’s post and all the replies at the foot of it – some very interesting extra details supplied by the railway buffs (and ex-signalman Peter Holt), plus others too.

The quirky photo, as many correctly identified, is Semaphore House, the former Admiralty signalling station on Pewley Hill. Lots of extra details about that added as comments as well. Noting Margaret Coles’s comment – glad my books are being read and enjoyed.

Right, straight on to this week. The vintage photo was given to me by a bottle collecting friend, Brian Burns who lives in West Sussex. He brought it along to our Surrey Bottle Collectors’ Club annual show on Sunday, September 14, held at Chessington College – a must for collectors and fanatics of such things!

Where is this and can you say what the incident was that had just happened?

The photo shows a section of road on the outskirts of Guildford and a very well known incident that took place there in 1959.

This is a very interesting press photo (not the Surrey ad) and I think it was taken soon after the said incident happened.

My friend’s in-laws once lived in a house seen in the phot0 – marked with an X. You might just be able to see that.

But do you know where this is and what had just occurred?

Recognise this?

Here’s this week’s quirky photo and another kind of bell tower. Our speedboat hopefuls, the chuckle brothers from Pedal Pushers, should know!

If you know the answers and can perhaps add some extra facts, please leave a reply in the box below. They will be published at about this time next week along with two more mystery images.

Responses to Where Is This? No.127

Alan Cooper Reply

September 18, 2014 at 1:01 am

Top photo after fatal crash involving Mike Hawthorn
Mary Bedforth Reply

September 18, 2014 at 10:27 am

1. Sadly the death of Mike Hawthorn, aged 30, on the A3 in a car crash. He was very handsome and dashing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Hawthorn#Death

2. The Parsons’ almshouses, Stoke Road. The cupolas and lanterns on the old Guildford buildings are beautiful works of art.

http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1190015

PS How many lives have the A3 bypass and the sections entering and leaving Guildford claimed over the years?
Judy Oliver Reply

September 18, 2014 at 3:49 pm

The vintage photo is Stag Hill I think, with Onslow Village on the left. I have no idea what happened there in 1959!

The quirky photo is the hospital of William Parsons – known locally as Stoke Hospital, in Stoke Road. These are almshouses, accommodation for 13 people. It was built by William Parson in 1796, originally for eight ladies, and was extended in the 1960s.
John Lomas Reply

September 18, 2014 at 5:34 pm

Photo 1
The monochrome photo is the scene of Mike Hawthorn’s fatal crash, on the A3.

The circle of bushes/hedging is just about where the central reservation widens today
There have been many tales as to the reason for it, I would recommend http://www.mike-hawthorn.org.uk/home.php for anyone looking for more info.

The photo reveals a couple of things I hadn’t remembered, the road opposite Coombs garage Beechcroft Drive and the circle of hedging/bushes where the footpath passes under the by-pass, the path and ring stll seem to show on the OS map but Google satellite view seems to indicate that only the southern half of the ring is still there.

Does the footpath still exist or has it been diverted because of the Sports Park?

Photo 2
The modern picture of an old bell tower is on what was the Parson’s Almshouses, still used as housing for elderly people I believe.

There is a quaint quote about the almshouses in the Victoria County History. “The building, in Stoke Road, is of brick, with a turret and clock in the centre, and is not unpleasing”.

Is that what they call damning with faint praise?
James McColl Reply

September 18, 2014 at 6:20 pm

The aerial view is of the A3 and A31 junction. High View Road can be seen to the left of the A3.

The incident was probably the death, in 1958, of famous racing driver, Mike Hawthorn, whose family owned Tourist Trophy garage in Farnham.

Mike was driving a 3.8 litre Mk1 Jaguar and was said to be racing with friend, Rob Walker, when the car span off the road with fatal consequences for Hawthorn.
Norman Hamshere Reply

September 18, 2014 at 9:11 pm

Photograph shows Guildford by-pass leading up to the A31 Hog’s Back, with Coombs Garage in centre. If this was January 1959 it must be the site of the fatal crash involving world motor racing champion Mike Hawthorn.

Travelling towards London at an estimated speed of 80 mph his 3.4 litre Jaguar skidded on the wet road hit a lorry travelling in the opposite direction and drove headlong into a tree.

Quirky photo looks like the Stoke Road alms houses but surely we’ve had this one before?
Colin Reardon Reply

September 19, 2014 at 9:04 pm

A3 just south of Stag Hill Motors. Mike Hawthorn had just died in the crash.
Vic Moseley Reply

September 20, 2014 at 11:36 am

I believe this on the A3 Stag Hill, Guildford on the 22nd January 1959 and was the scene of the tragic road accident that killed 1958 F1 World Champion Mike Hawthorn
Roger Chew Reply

September 20, 2014 at 9:23 pm

Where Mike Hawthorne was killed on the A3?
Margaret Cole Reply

September 21, 2014 at 9:05 am

This is the section of the A3 of the Guildford By-pass that Mike Hawthorn met his death in January 1959 en route from Farnham to London. He hit a bollard in centre of road and crashed into a tree near Onslow Village. He was most probably doing 80mph and the impact was fatal. He’d done an apprenticeship at Dennis Bros. and was a Formula 1 winner in 1958 a sad loss all round.

The handsome looking building is Stoke Hospital on the corner of Onslow Road, built in 1796 by the Parson Brothers for the poor women of the parish. The parsons were wealthy drapers of Guildford. Today it is still a residential home for the elderly, comprising 13 flats.
Ray Springer Reply

September 21, 2014 at 6:37 pm

This is where the accident on the Guildford bypass in 1959 when Mike Hawthorn was killed – I remember that day well.

The quirky picture is of the Stoke Hospital, no longer a hospital, in Stoke Road.
Terry Stevenson Reply

September 21, 2014 at 11:49 pm

1) A3 Guildford bypass – Manor Way / High View Road / Beechcroft Drive

2) Stoke Hospital, Stoke Road, Guildford
Chaz Folkes Reply

September 22, 2014 at 4:09 pm

The incident is the fatal car crash that killed racing driver Mike Hawthorn on the A3. The top of Onslow Village is to the left of the photograph.

The second shot is of Stoke Hospital on the Stoke Road.
Brian Holt Reply

September 22, 2014 at 5:40 pm

(1) Mike Hawthorn’s fatal accident 22nd January 1959.
John Michael Hawthorn (10th April 1929-22nd January 1959) was a racing driver born in Mexborough, West Riding of Yorkshire. Educated at Ardingly College, West Sussex, he made his racing debut in 1950, Hawthorn become the UK’S first Formula One World Champion driver when he won the Formula One Championship in 1958, and immediately announced his retirement, having been profoundly affected by the death of his team-mate and friend Peter Collins two months earlier in the German Grand Prix, Hawthorn died in a road accident Six months later.
Reporting Officer PC Tony Keefe reports that at 12.05 hours attended the scene of a road traffic accident on the A3 Guildford by-pass. The exact location was 400 yards the Guildford side of Coombs Garage. There were two vehicles involved.
A Jaguer 3.4 Litre salon car index VDU 881, I was informed that the vehicle had not been moved.
It was stationary on the left hand side of the road facing uphill towards Coombs’ Garage.
The vehicle was badly damaged with the whole front half torn and twisted, it was lying in a hedge with front across a broken tree trunk. The car was on the edge of a steep bank with the back of the vehicle on the ground and leaning away from the road.
A Bedford open truck index JTP 523 stationary approximately one hundred yards the Portsmouth side of the vehicle, it was close to the nearside road edge. The driver from Leigh Park, Havant was not injured.The offside rear tyre was cut and the wing torn and pushed up.
At the time of the accident the weather was clear it had been raining earlier in the day and the road surface was still wet, the traffic was light.
At the inquest there was a question regarding the Jaguar car, it was the 2.4 model with the rear wheel track being narrower than the front, this particular vehicle had wheel spacers fitted between the back wheels and the hubs making the track wider.
Peter Bullen Reply

September 22, 2014 at 5:47 pm

I think the photo is of the old A3 by-pass near the junction with Manor Way and High View Road where world motor racing champion, Mike Hawthorn, was killed.
Doug and Bill Stanniforth Reply

September 23, 2014 at 2:27 pm

It’s the by-pass where Mike Hawthorn had just crashed, clearly demonstrating how unsafe driving is: he should have used a speedboat. Coombe‘s [tut tut spelling! Ed] Garage can be seen by the High View turning.

The quirky photo is Stoke Hospital (another repeat, just like the TV).

Repeats eh? Don’t cha hate ’em. It’s like when some people go on and on and on… about with the same old thing, knowing they will get the same old answer. Ed 🙂
Brian Holt Reply

September 23, 2014 at 8:25 pm

Photo 2: Stoke Hospital, Stoke Road. Brothers William and Henry Parsons were wealthy Guildford drapers and when they retired they decided to pay for a home. Called a hospital, it opened in 1796.
Chris Townsend Reply

September 24, 2014 at 7:57 am

The road scene is of the Guildford By-pass shortly after Mike Hawthorn’s fatal crash. Beechcroft Drive is the turning to the right, with Manor Way opposite it and High View Road turning off that, behind Coombs’ Garage.

Parke’s People No.5 gives more info’.
Terry Stevenson Reply

September 24, 2014 at 9:39 am

In relation to Photo, 1 I forgot to mention the incident in 1959. Mike Hawthorn’s fatal accident.

Fast around a track but not on Guildford’s roads. Let that be a lesson to us all.
Ian Plowman Reply

September 24, 2014 at 9:50 pm

Photo 1

Mike Hawthorn crash on the A3

Photo looking south along A3 shows High View Road & Coombs Garage