Where Is This? No.92

Published on: 14 Jan, 2014
Updated on: 14 Jan, 2014

By David Rose

Plenty of good replies to last week’s mystery pictures. The vintage view being from the roof garden of Harvey’s department store (now House of Fraser), dating to about the end of the 1950s or early 1960s.

The ‘quirky’ photo showed a sign still in situ from a long gone business – Marion Jacks’ corsetiere shop. Among others, David Smith’s comment gives some good details. Click here to read last week’s post and all the interesting replies at the foot of it. You’ll also read readers’ memories of that roof garden cafe too.

All I can add is that Harvey’s roof garden was a novel feature. I recall going there in the late 1960s. I remember the large goldfish in the ponds and the bright summer bedding of marigolds and salvias. I was told it was closed to the public after someone threw either a table or a chair off the side one day. After that it was not re-opened until the store was much rebuilt in the early 1990s. The roof top area is open again, once more affording some great views across the town. But today’s plants and shrubs are more pastel in colour. Can anyone offer a date when it was initially closed?

Of Marion Jacks, an aunt of mine worked there until she joined the Women’s Royal Navy Service (WRNS) in the Second World War. As a send off, the management gave her a generous amount of quality undergarments. These she told me were much appreciated during the time she did her bit for the war effort. She was a waitress serving Royal Navy officers at a commandeered hotel on Brighton seafront!

Which village is this?

On to this week’s pair of images. We go out to the villages once again and a picture postcard from the 1900s that I copied from the large collection at the Guildford Institute. I don’t think this view has changed much, but the A283 is a lot busier these days. Today, the building furthest away from where the photographer was standing is a Royal British Legion club. Do you know which village this is?

Where can this be found?

Here’s the ‘quirky’ photo. Do you know where this is in Guildford town centre? And do you know where an identical pair of Freiburg / Guildford coats of arms can be found in Guildford?

I don’t know the answer to this, but can a similar feature be seen in our ‘twin-town’ of Freiburg?

If you know the answers, please leave a reply in the box below. The answers, along with the next pair of images, will be published next Tuesday.

Responses to Where Is This? No.92

John Lomas Reply

January 15, 2014 at 12:31 pm

That is Witley, looking north.

About 350 yds to the east is the dam between the two Witley ponds.
Ray Springer Reply

January 15, 2014 at 4:24 pm

The village is Witley.

The coats of arms are in the floor under the arch in Tunsgate.
David and Ann Bailey Reply

January 16, 2014 at 11:32 am

The village is Witley.

The two coats of arms are under Tunsgate and the second pair are in the Cathederal.

Within the coats of arms in Freiburg outside the town hall Guildford is one of a number of towns that Freiburg is twined with.
Mary Bedforth Reply

January 16, 2014 at 8:41 pm

British Legion Witley. A red poppy on top of the arch over the entrance. The scene is little changed. This is the Google street view today.
http://goo.gl/maps/av9tq

The two coats of arms for Guildford and its twin Freiburg are set in the paving under the Tunsgate Arch. You used to be able to drive down Tunsgate under the arch and into the High Street! Those were the days.

Question Is there a Guildford coat of arms in Freiburg? Answer Yes.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/panr/4519021528/

Isn’t Google clever!
raineee wornham Reply

January 20, 2014 at 2:57 pm

The village is Witley and the coat of arms can be found in Tunsgate.
Brian Holt Reply

January 20, 2014 at 4:37 pm

This village on the A283 is Witley looking towards Milford.
On the right just pass the British Legion Club is the White Horse Pub.

Second picture is Tunsgate Arch, the central pillars of the arch were moved eight feet apart at the end of 1936 to give road access.The road no longer runs under the archway, which is now set with a large mosaic in its floor commemorating the twinning of Guildford with Freiburg in Germany.
Chris Townsend Reply

January 21, 2014 at 2:23 pm

The mystery village is Witley, and the houses are on Petworth Road, just south of the church and the White Hart. The village club – Fosters 1883 Club – was originally called the Witley Institute and included a library. It was built in 1883 by local benefactor John Harrison Foster, a brother of the artist Myles Birket Foster.

The coats of arms are set in the pavement under Tunsgate arch. Freiburg has a number of ‘twin-towns’. Info’ and images of coats of arms (including Guildford’s) set into pavements are here:

http://www.freiburg.de/pb/,Len/208768.html
http://www.freiburg-schwarzwald.de/littenweiler/strassenpflaster.htm
Brian Holt Reply

January 21, 2014 at 2:30 pm

There is also another mosaic in the floor in the reception area at the Guildford Borough Council offices that commemorates the twinning of Guildford with Freiburg in Germany.