Guildford Snippets Do You Know? No.20

Published on: 16 Sep, 2018
Updated on: 16 Sep, 2018

By Nick Bale Guildford Town Guides

Next weekend, Guildford will be celebrating the River Wey, which for centuries was a key commercial feature of the town.

The Wey River Festival will be held at Dapdune Wharf from 11am on Saturday, September 22 until 10pm.

The National Trust, who manage the waterway, has organised lots of activities: boats and boat trips, food and other stalls, bouncy castle, music and much more. One of the highlights will be an illuminated pageant of boats at dusk. For details, see National Trust River Wey and Godalming Navigation website.

The ferry crossing of the Godalming Navigation at the foot of St Catherine’s Hill.

My question this week is therefore about the River Wey Navigations and its locks. Walking south from Millmead lock, the towpath skirts the base of St Catherine’s Hill before it reaches St Catherine’s Lock, which is in an isolated spot surrounded by open fields. Lock keepers have traditionally lived in a cottage next to a lock.

My question this week is where is the cottage for St Catherine’s Lock?

a. Was it somewhere else on the canal, not specifically at St Catherine’s Lock?

b. Was it one of the cottages in Ferry Lane just below St Catherine’s Hill?

c. Was it one of the cottages facing St Mary’s Church in Shalford?

You can find out more about the River Wey and its history on Sunday, September 23 on the guided walk starting at Tunsgate Arch at 2.30pm.

Please note that walk route follows the towpath only as far as Ferry Lane, where it turns right up the steep hill before returning to the town centre. If you want a longer country walk along the tow path, the National Trust offers various trails including a three hour walk from Dapdune Wharf to St Catherine’s Hill and back (go to the Walking and Canoe Trails page of NT River Wey and Godalming Navigations website).

Guildford’s Royal Grammar School was the fifth most visited place in the borough during Heritage Open Days in 2017.

The answer to last week’s question was that the fifth most visited place in Guildford last year on Heritage Open Days, was the Royal Grammar School with well over 400 visitors. St Mary’s Church was next with just under 400 visitors.

Visit www.guildfordwalks.org.uk for further information.

Responses to Guildford Snippets Do You Know? No.20

John Lomas Reply

September 16, 2018 at 10:44 pm

The Ordnance Survey shows that St Catherine’s Lock Cottage is at the southern end of the lock navigation reach where the sluice gate is, taking the natural river to the east towards Shalford.
This is about 50m north of the railway bridge carrying the line towards Shalford and Dorking.
Aubrey Leahy Reply

September 21, 2018 at 11:59 pm

Fairly certain was B. Cost a penny and the building behind the ferryman was a cafe.
George Trask Reply

October 6, 2018 at 2:40 pm

Those were the days! Not having much money as kids back in the late 1940s early 50s we would spend sunny days at St Catherine’s running down the sandy slope and into the water for a swim.

The ferry was operated by the café owner. When I was about 16 years old me and my mates would make ourselves available to ferry people across and the owner let us keep what we made.

The café had a tea garden and also a small kiosk by the entrance. I can’t remember if it was every year, but they had a water festival which started at Leroy’s Boathouse and a procession of boats would head up to St Catherine’s where there was a floating pontoon on which we had to box other boys blindfolded. Of course we used to end up in the river.

There was also the dreaded greasy pole. No one ever beat that.

I no longer live in Guildford but have been told that it’s no longer swimmable due to the crayfish. Those were really happy days.