Where Is This? No.140

Published on: 17 Dec, 2014
Updated on: 17 Dec, 2014

By David Rose

Eleven good replies to last week’s mysteries – and many, many more readers viewed the page.

The vintage picture showed a view from St Catherine’s Hill across Shalford Meadows to the Great Quarry and Warwick’s Bench.

Frank Phillipson emailed a vintage picture postcard view of St Catherine’s taken from Warwick’s Bench. Here it is, and therefore it looks in the opposite direction to last week’s image.

St Catherine’s from Warwick’s Bench in 1910.

The quirky photo showed the mosaic floor tile at the entrance to the Oxfam charity shop in Quarry Street. It was once an entrance to grocers Holden & Co. Click here to see last week’s post with all the replies at the foot of it and details about Holden’s.

Do you remember these dishes high up on a building in Guildford town centre?

Here is this week’s vintage mystery photo and a somewhat cropped image that shows ‘dishes’ of some kind. Do you recall these and what feature they were part of and at which building in the town centre they were at?

A gate featuring a cricketer. Where can it be found?

The quirky photo is a metal gate with an intricate design that I think is a cricketer (batsman) making a positive strike hoping for a boundary! Stumps are also featured in the design. It is on a busy road into Guildford, and the sporting connection might be a clue as to where it can be found.

If you know the answers and can perhaps add some details, please leave a reply in the box below. Replies and the answers, along with two more mystery images will be published at about the same time next week – yes, I will try to, even though Christmas festivities may have taken over somewhat!

Responses to Where Is This? No.140

John Lomas Reply

December 17, 2014 at 11:59 pm

Harvey’s roof garden, a cropped portion of the photo in Where Is This? No 91.

I mentioned then remembering some asymetric tippler fountains a sort of stainless bucket which gradually filled up then tipped over and emptied but nobody else mentioned them so am I misremembering?

Were they perhaps on another roof garden I visited? I know there was one at Lewis’s in Bristol it seems there was a fashion for them in the fifties.

The quirky picture is on Woodbridge Road opposite the County Cricket ground.

Does Guildford’s cricket week with a university game and a county championship game, usually one of the neighbouring counties, still continue?
Bernard Parke Reply

December 18, 2014 at 9:16 am

1) Formerly Harvey’s (House of Fraser, etc) roof garden

2) Sports ground, Woodbridge Road.
Caroline Reeves Reply

December 18, 2014 at 7:05 pm

The saucers are in the original Jellicoe garden on the roof of what is now the House of Fraser store. The garden was restored and replanted when the whole building was refurbished a few years ago.
The gate is part of the boundary treatment of the flats along Woodbridge Road, on the corner of Gardner Road, opposite the cricket ground. The decorative gate a railings were paid for with section 106 money from the development.
Ian Plowman Reply

December 21, 2014 at 11:48 am

Roof garden on top of House of Fraser then known as Army and Navy.

I remember as a small boy getting my feet wet after stepping off the stepping stones!!!
Chris Townsend Reply

December 21, 2014 at 6:45 pm

I do recall Harvey’s roof garden – it was featured in “Where Is This? No.91” last January, with some good comments, especially about the date of the photo:
https://guildford-dragon.com/2014/01/09/91/

The quirky gate belongs to the recent development of flats, Boundary View, on Woodbridge Road, opposite the cricket ground.

I like the “cricket balls” in the fencing, too. Not sure how they crossed the road without hitting railings or any traffic – maybe someone skied a couple, like the batsman in the design.
Sheila Atkinson Reply

December 22, 2014 at 10:33 am

I think the top photo was taken at Harvey’s roof garden. I had a Saturday job at Harvey’s in the late 1950s. During the summer months I served at the cafe on the roof garden, during the rest of the year I worked in the main restaurant as a helper to the waitresses and wine waitress. I have a few photos myself taken on the roof garden.

I am guessing the other photo of the gate was taken near Guildford cricket ground on Woodbridge Road. Tom Barnes was head groundsman at the cricket ground for many years. He also helped to design the grounds at Guildford Crematorium. Tom and his wife Doris lived in the house by the cricket grounds for many years.
David Atkinson Reply

December 22, 2014 at 1:05 pm

A gate featuring a cricketer is surely the one on the new-build flats on the Woodbridge Road, opposite the cricket club (which is more significant to me for the annual beer festival!).
brian holt Reply

December 22, 2014 at 8:22 pm

Picture 1: This is a slightly different view of Where is this number 91 on January 9, 2014. It is taken from the roof gardens of the old Harvey’s department store, and dates from 1958 designed by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe.

The store has been called Army & Navy and is now House of Fraser.

Picture 2: This gate is at the new flats opposite Woodbridge Road sports ground, and is between Gardner Road and Markenfield Road.
Margaret Cole Reply

December 22, 2014 at 11:10 pm

This was the roof garden of William Harvey’s of Guildford. Designed by Sir Geoffrey Jellico 1956/57, inspired by the Sputnik spacecraft flying above the Earth hence the swirling figures.

The cricket gate is in Woodbridge Road, between Markenfield and Gardner Roads, opposite the cricket ground.

Merry Christmas to you all and a big thanks for keeping me entertained, keep the pictures coming, cheers.
Doug and Bill Speedyforth Reply

December 23, 2014 at 5:13 pm

Picture 1 is Harvey’s roof garden.

picture 2 is on Woodbridge Road opposite the cricket ground. The figure in this piece of art is obviously starting an engine on a speedboat and not playing cricket!
Russell Morris Reply

December 25, 2014 at 9:19 am

The dishes are a feature of the roof garden above Harvey’s store, now House of Fraser.

The roof garden was designed by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe in 1958. It later became forgotten and neglected for many years.

However, when the store was redesigned by architect Gerry Lytle, and following some prompting by the Surrey Gardens Trust, the roof garden was reinstated in a smaller form and can be viewed from the store’s top floor restaurant. A description can be found at:
http://www.gardenvisit.com/garden/harveys_store_roofgarden-house_of_fraser
And also:
http://www.parksandgardens.org/places-and-people/site/4341?preview=1

The gate is at a housing development, by the Radian Group, in Woodbridge Road opposite Guildford Cricket Club.

It was made by Burrows Lea Forge. Its manufacture is described at:
http://a-blacksmith.co.uk/2012/08/20/the-batsman-gate-railing-guildford

It looks like the batsman has hit the ball with a force sufficient to bend the adjacent railings.
Susan Church Reply

December 27, 2014 at 7:48 pm

The dishes are part of water features included on Harvey’s roof garden.