Fascinating Exhibition Of WWI Witley Camp Now On At Godalming Museum

Published on: 22 Jan, 2015
Updated on: 26 Jan, 2015

Anyone interested in the First World War and the impact it had on this part of Surrey will surely make a beeline to Godalming Museum that has a fascinating exhibition on the army camp at Witley, at which thousands of troops passed through.

Witley Camp was a sprawling site of wooden huts on the commons either side of the Portsmouth Road, now the A3, just south of the Milford junction.

John Janaway is the curator of a fascinating exhibition about Witley Camp during the First World War now on display at Godalming Museum.

Today the area is mostly covered with trees, but at the start of the First World War it was an area of open heathland.

The military took over the area and opened the first part of the camp in 1914. At any one time up to 30,000 men were stationed there, undertaking basic training before going off to war.

Many of these were Canadians, who had come over to fight the ‘war to end all wars’. In their spare time they were allowed out of the camp and regularly came to Guildford to drink and socialise in the town’s pubs.

The exhibition’s curator is John Janaway, a local historian and archaeologist, and formerly the head of the Surrey Local Studies Library, that was based at Guildford Library, prior to the opening of the Surrey History Centre at Woking.

John has collected a wealth of information about Witley Camp and the day-to-day life there of those soldiers who passed through it.

One of the display panels telling the story of Witley Camp.

The exhibition contains many photographs, expertly mounted on panels along with detailed captions of life at the camp.

There were also British soldiers stationed at Witley Camp, including the famous war poet Wilfred Owen, who was killed days before the Armistice in November 1918.

Today there are hardly any signs that the camp ever existed. Natural England looks after the commons where the huts once stood. And John, with a team of fellow historians and those interested in the camp (including David Rose of The Guildford Dragon NEWS), have been given permission to search the site for artefacts left behind.

Some of the items found within the vast area that was once Witley Camp.

The exhibition also features some of these artefacts – from ceramic mugs, toothbrushes, cap badges, buttons, bottles and pots, and even a fragment of a harmonica!

But perhaps one of the most interesting items on display is a rubber ice hockey puck. John’s research has revealed that a team of Canadians played a match against a works team from Dennis Bros in Guildford on Broadwater Lake when it froze over one winter during the war.

Godalming Museum, 109a High Street GU7 1AQ, is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm, and the exhibition runs until March 7.

On Saturday mornings on January 31, February 7 and 21, from 10am to 12.30pm, John will be in attendance at the exhibition and will be pleased to talk to visitors and answer questions. His research is ongoing and welcomes anyone who can add any additional information, or who may have photos or picture postcards of Witley Camp.

On Wednesday, February 4, at 7.30pm, John will be giving a talk at Godalming Museum on the daily life of British and Canadian soldiers at Witley Camp, based on the items he and others have found there. Tickets at £4 are available from the museum, or to order yours call the museum on 01483 426510.

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