Where Is This? No.97

Published on: 19 Feb, 2014
Updated on: 25 Feb, 2014

By David Rose

The baker’s shop seen in last week’s mystery vintage photo was in North Street, roughly opposite where the post office was once located; while the quirky photo shows the entrance to Stoke New Cemetery in Stoughton Road.

Lots of correct replies with some good comments, especially those about former Guildford bakers. To see last week’s post and all the replies with that extra information at the foot of it, click here.

A couple of readers mentioned Ayers the bakers. Click here to see a previous story and a reader’s letter about that firm, click here and then click here.

Since those articles were published I have been emailed by a relation of the Ayers family who has sent me a lovely photo of the family in the early 1900s. This I am holding back to possibly use in the book I am currently writing called Great War Towns – Guildford.

Guildford’s bakers had a tough time during the First World War, with the food shortages and need to use flour wisely. To the town’s dismay they had to stop production of hot cross buns at Easter 1916, 17 and 18. Of course, hot cross buns are now available all year round. They were an Eastertide treat back then!

Can you name this church on a hill not far from Guildford? This picture is courtesy of the Guildford Institute. (Fantastic collection of postcards!)

On to this week’s mystery vintage photo and a view of a church on a hill just outside Guildford. Do you recognise the church and the hill? Can you say roughly where the picture was taken from? It dates to the early 1900s and is one of the lovely picture postcards published by Percy Lloyd of Albury.

Do you know where this is?

The quirky photo is round the back of a certain pub that has changed its name twice in more recent years, but its original ‘explosive’ name lasted for a long time.

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

Responses to Where Is This? No.97

Bernard Parke Reply

February 20, 2014 at 9:45 am

1) St Catherine’s from the site what is now known as the Guildford Rowing Club

2) The pub in Sydenham Road next to the multi-storey car park.
John Lomas Reply

February 20, 2014 at 3:42 pm

That is St Martha’s, possibly photographed from the vicinity of the mill stream, south of Chilworth ponds, or near the smaller ponds in the field just north of Chilworth and Albury railway station.
Photo taken in the early afternoon in late winter or spring, that depends on when Surrey farmers preferred their sheep to lamb in those days.
Chaz Folkes Reply

February 21, 2014 at 10:22 am

The church is St Martha on the Hill. It looks as if the photograph was taken from the fields by Lockner Farm, just by the Dorking Road.

The wall and steps are at the back of the Keystone, which for many years was the Cannon.
Colin & Linda Jackson Reply

February 21, 2014 at 7:11 pm

We think the first photo was taken from the river opposite the rowing club and looking up to St Martha’s on the hill. As sheep once grazed there also there were cottages where the picnic tables now stand. The second photo is of the Canon on old Portsmouth Road.
Brian Holt Reply

February 21, 2014 at 8:32 pm

This is St Martha’s Chapel on the top of St Martha’s rounded hill.
The chapel there today was built in 1848, with no villages nearby and no access for traffic,it must have been used for the pilgrims walking to Canterbury.

There are two different places where the photo could have been taken: I think Dorking Road, Chilworth, near the Percy Arms.

But in Stanley Newman’s book Guildford Life Past And Present, there is the same photo with two cars in the picture taken in 1927 from Newlands Corner.

Photo number two is the back entrance of the Keystone pub in Bury street, formerly the Cannon, Portsmouth Road.
Mike Melbourne Reply

February 21, 2014 at 9:12 pm

The pub is the Keystone previously the Cannon Portsmouth Road. The photo was taken in Buryfields Guildford.

The church on the hill I believe is St Martha’s.
Ray Springer Reply

February 22, 2014 at 9:38 pm

Think the church on the hill is St Martha’s. It looks like a very old photo and probably taken from the Dorking Road around the location of the Percy Arms in Chilworth or thereabouts.
Still on the subject of pubs, the second picture is of the rear of the Keystone in Portsmouth Road, although the photo is from Bury Street.
The Keystone was for years known as the Cannon and was originally the tap house to the Cannon Brewery.
Chris Townsend Reply

February 23, 2014 at 5:21 pm

The church is St. Martha’s, possibly photographed from a field just west of Lockner Farm, Chilworth, between the A248 and the Tillingbourne.

The quirky photo shows the back of the Keystone, formerly the Cannon, on Bury Street.
Peter Holt Reply

February 24, 2014 at 12:12 pm

1 St Martha’s-On-The-Hill. Chilworth. I think the photo was taken from the south because of the shadows on the trees. Looking at the shadows and time of year I think it was late afternoon. The sun would be in the west. The shadow on the tree is quite long so I would put the time between 1600hrs and 1700hrs. The photo could have been taken from Halfpenny Lane or A248 and in the spring due to the lambs in the field.

2 Taken in Bury Street it is the rear of the former Cannon pub in Portsmouth Road. The Cannon Brewery was at 2 Bury Street. It was sold off in 1875 but the Cannon pub remained and passed to Friary Brewery. If I am right please could you e-mail me a pint of Friary Meux not a speedboat. Thank you.

[Ed: I have a full unopened bottle of Friary Audit Ale dating to about 1968 just before the brewery closed. As I can’t guarantee the quality of the contents for reasons of health and safety, I’m afraid I’ll have to hold on to it]
Doug and Bill Stanniforth Reply

February 24, 2014 at 4:57 pm

The old picture is of St Martha’s chapel probably taken from the banks of the Tillingbourne somwhere between Chilworth and Albury.

The quirky photo is the back entrance to the Keystone pub on the Portsmouth Road. This pub was formerly the Cannon.

We do note that the Tilly is not big enough for a speedboat and speedboats do not have cannons. Anything to get out of giving a prize!
Graham Ginard Reply

February 23, 2016 at 11:33 pm

The rear entrance is the Cannon pub, the publican was Alexander Roy Taylor.

I should know I married one of his three daughters, had our reception there and married in the church across the road.