Where Is This? No.171

Published on: 30 Jul, 2015
Updated on: 30 Jul, 2015

By David Rose

The row of shops in Stoughton Road at Bellfields was last week’s mystery vintage picture and the quirky one showed the Guildford coat of arms on the old fire station in Ladymead.

Both not too difficult to identify judging by the number of replies.

Linda Jackson made some interesting comments about the fruit and veg lorry that once did the rounds at Bellfields.

I can remember what I think was an old bus selling groceries that came through Stoughton in the 1960s. Can anyone add details about that?

There was also a flat-bed lorry selling fruit and veg that went around Westborough, many years ago.

Click here to see last week’s post and all the replies at the foot of it.

Just recently, Guildford Dragon editor Martin Giles was given an envelope by Ade Morley containing 35 four and a half inch by three and a half inch prints of Guildford taken about 50 years ago.

I was ecstatic when I flicked through them – plenty of material for this column in weeks to come!

Some of these images are kind of ‘quirky’ views of yesteryear – I hope they will keep you all amused. We shall wait and see.

We begin with one of them this week and a chapel that stood in the centre of Guildford. Do you remember it?

Where was this chapel in Guildford?

I think it was pulled down in about the mid-1980s. I remember that the owner of a pine furniture shop in Woodbridge Road had the pick of some fine wood paneling from the chapel that the demolition guys had thrown into a skip.

And this week’s quirky photo shows a brick-built structure that is near what was a former well-known army barracks and camp.

Do you know where this is? Apologies if I have featured it before!

It’s a bit tucked away, but some readers may be able to say where it is and even what it was used for.

Where is This? is now taking a two-week break. But please send in your replies to these images and they will be published in good time with the next pair of images.

If you are still keen to read up on some local history that’s not too far away, I will be continuing to write my weekly column for the Woking News & Mail, called Peeps Into The Past.

Its website also features recent back copies containing the Peeps page. Click on a particular edition, hover over and then click through the pages from the top or bottom right of each right-hand page and you’ll soon find my column.

Responses to Where Is This? No.171

Angela Gunning Reply

July 30, 2015 at 8:05 am

The chapel was in Martyr Road, next to nos. 7,8 & 9. Now there is a small block of flats there.
Dave Middleton Reply

July 30, 2015 at 5:26 pm

No idea really about the Elim Church, but I’ll take a wild guess at Chapel Street!

As for the quirky picture, that’s a Pill Box / Machine Gun Post, on Pig Alley, just off Little Street at Stoughton. Not sure if it’s WW2 vintage or later, but would’ve been placed there to cover one of the back entrances to the old Stoughton Barracks at the bottom of the sports field.
Ray Springer Reply

July 31, 2015 at 11:54 am

The Elim Church was in Martyr Road.
John Lomas Reply

August 1, 2015 at 11:03 am

Is that the old “Tin Chapel” on Martyr Road, originally Bethel and part of the Strict Baptist denomination which in the early 20th century moved over to The Bars. This answer has since been confirmed by a Google search which unearthed CT’s response to WiT #79.

The pill box, if that is what it is, must surely be in Stoughton, but I am at a loss as to it’s exact location. The gate post next to it looks similar to the ones round the Stoughton Road cemetery so is it possibly somewhere there perhaps with it’s purpose being to protect the railway line?
P Phillips Reply

August 3, 2015 at 4:15 pm

The chapel was in Martyr Road close to St. Joseph’s Catholic Church which was in Stoke Road.
Sue Lovetts Reply

August 4, 2015 at 9:14 am

It was in Martyr Road.
Doug and Bill Staniforth Reply

August 4, 2015 at 1:07 pm

We think the church was in Chertsey Street, the old Surrey Ad building is in the background.

The brick structure is at Stoughton Barracks, the tyre on the bike looks a bit worn.

Nice try guys. Never miss a business opportunity eh? You have obviously gone off speed boats so we have had to cancel the order for your prize.

https://guildford-dragon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/speed-boat-250×156.jpg

Never mind. Ed
John McDonald Reply

August 9, 2015 at 3:29 pm

I had a Saturday job helping on the bus selling groceries in Stoughton (particularly the Holy City).

I worked for “Colin” but can’t remember his surname. I believe his father and brother also had buses/lorries selling in other areas.

I also believe that they worked out of Gravetts Lane and had “upgraded” from horse and cart deliveries
Chris Townsend Reply

August 11, 2015 at 8:54 pm

The “tin church” was in Martyr Road, a couple of houses up the street from Biddles. (Is the tall building in the photo part of Biddles?)

From about 1884, the church was used by the Strict Baptists, until in 1910 they built and moved into the Bethel Chapel, in The Bars.

The old building was taken over by the Railway Mission in 1910, and continued as the Railway Mission Hall until the 1950s. The Elim (Pentecostal) Church then used it until about 1987.
Mark and Rachel Risbridger Reply

August 14, 2015 at 2:32 pm

This corrugated iron chapel was in Martyr Road on the left side as you approach the junction with Chertsey Street. Maisonettes have now been built on the plot of land where it stood.

The photo shows the old Biddles printing works building to the left behind the chapel. Behind the chapel to the right you can see the chimney of the Unigate Dairy building in The Bars (now offices).

Interestingly, the plot of land on which the chapel stood was originally purchased by past members of the church which now worships at Bethel Chapel in The Bars. This original iron chapel, also named Bethel, was opened in February 1880.

The chapel was sold to The Railway Mission when the congregation of Bethel Chapel moved to the present building in June 2010. At some point the iron building must have been sold on to the Elim church.
Bill Gregory Reply

January 1, 2016 at 12:02 pm

I believe this could be the site of the chapel at Vaughan House, used as a homeless hostel now?