Where Is This? No.245

Published on: 2 Feb, 2017
Updated on: 2 Feb, 2017

By David Rose

Correct answers were received to last week’s vintage picture. It showed a view from Millmead towards the lock with a glimpse of Yvonne Arnaud Theatre to the left.

There were some good details noted about the buildings seen to the right, some now gone. And several readers recalled that one of the buildings was where stray dogs were housed.

I have never heard about that before – so thanks.

All I can add is that when we used to dig for old bottles on the former Edwardian tip at Slyfield, we were warned by older folk who came by that somewhere in that vicinity was where they once buried the dead dogs that the council had collected.

I’m now having thoughts that were the dogs once housed in the building at Millmead and eventually not claimed put down there???

Moving swiftly on, no-one identified the location of silver jubilee plaque featured as last week’s quirky photo, or even anything about it.

It can be found on the retaining wall of the gyratory system, opposite the wooden treadwheel crane beside the river at what was once the Town Wharf. So, it remains a bit of a mystery.

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

Here are this week’s mysteries.

Most likely taken during the 1968 floods – but where? Click to enlarge in a new window.

I guess this view was taken during the September 1968 floods. I do not know the exact location, but the large sign and the gas holders in the background must be clues.

Do you know where this is and what the building once was? Click to enlarge in a new window.

The quirky picture is of a coat of arms in the town centre on a building that is now a store, but once had a very different set of employees and guests!

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

Responses to Where Is This? No.245

George Trask Reply

February 3, 2017 at 5:02 pm

If you crossed the river from Millmead via the iron foot bridge and then over the lock I believe that the building on the right was used to house stray dogs.

This would have been opposite a bit of waste ground used by the Guildford Greyhounds cycle speedway team who raced push bikes and very popular in the 1950s.

Further on was another building at the left at the bottom of Rosemay Alley which as kids we were told was a morgue!

[Ed: The building you mention that was in Quarry Street by Rosemary Alley was indeed a mortuary.]
Mike Williams Reply

February 3, 2017 at 5:46 pm

The second picture this week is ‘arresting’ as it was the Victorian police station in North Street and now occupied by Laura Ashley.

It backs on to the Guildhall and the story goes that prisoners were taken from the cells to the court in the Guildhall through the garden between with little chance of escaping. There was a good deal of fuss when it opened as the central heating extended to the cells!

The view across the flooded river seems to be of the Bedford Road area from the opposite bank, but the lady is standing on a sloping road so it can’t be Bridge Street.

I seem to remember the first Bridge House had a Shell petrol station and underground car parking, so could this have been the access road?

Hugh Wyllie’s shop in Bridge Street mentioned on the sign was where Tesco Express is today.
John Lomas Reply

February 3, 2017 at 8:17 pm

The quirky picture is Laura Ashley on North Street, previously the magistrates’ court building.

The old picture is taken from either the car park at the rear of Bridge House or the ramp off Bridge Street between Bridge House and the river.

The 1:2500 old map from 1963 seems to show a wall between the two locations and the back of the car, suggests probably the latter.

The 69-74 map shows the multi story car park and the sports centre which replaced the gas works which suggests the later date is the survey date.

The houses in the background would be on Bedford Road.
Charles Graham Reply

February 4, 2017 at 4:07 pm

I think the location of the flood picture is the basement car park of the old Bridge House where I worked from 1972 to 1985. There was a filling station and car showroom above the car park.
Dave Middleton Reply

February 4, 2017 at 4:35 pm

The flood scene has got me pretty stumped (again), but I’ll take a punt (no pun intended) and go for somewhere around the back of Bedford Road, viewed from Bridge Street maybe?

The coat of arms is on the former, purpose built and rather grand, Guildford Borough Police Station, which is now occupied by Laura Ashley on North Street.
John Foster Reply

February 5, 2017 at 10:11 am

Passing the stray dogs kennels on my way to and from Quarry House School in the 1930s was the worst part as often the dogs would be howling and whining, which was most unpleasant. Among the children it was said they killed them (no euphemisms in those days) by feeding them poisoned meals.
Margaret Jackson Reply

February 5, 2017 at 7:58 pm

On last week’s quirky photo. Originally this plaque referred to the wind vane on top of the building now used by the ACM but formerly an older people’s centre on the Town Wharf.

The wind vane vanished, was it stolen or taken for repair?

The plaque remains, explaining that St Blaize is patron of wool workers, and St Dunstan the archbishop at the time of Guildford’s mint.

Also that the wind vane was a gift from The Guildford Society and the Worshipful Company of Woolmen.

I wonder why the wind vane has not been replaced or else the plaque removed?
John Lomas Reply

February 7, 2017 at 11:28 am

Additional information on the old picture: the car boot visible appears to be an Austin County model either an A40 Somerset or A70 Hereford.
Chris Townsend Reply

February 7, 2017 at 7:37 pm

My guess is that the floods photo was taken from the old Bedford Road car park, before the Sports Centre was built.

The coat of arms is on the former Guildford Borough Police Station on North Street, opened in 1893, now converted to a Laura Ashley shop.

Prisoners from the cells were once led along an underground passageway to the courts held in the Guildhall. (That damp patch needs fixing.)
Brian Holt Reply

February 8, 2017 at 8:25 pm

Hugh Wyllie furniture shop was in Bridge Street where Tesco Express shop is now. Next to the shop on the right was a arch where a car or small van could drive through into the narrow track which is still there behind the Casino nightclub.

There was a lot of storage units there and some stalls for North Street market were kept there.

My brother suggested it may be from the end of the arch that the picture was taken, because the houses must be Bedford Road with the gas holders behind, as there were no houses in Laundry Road.

Hugh Wyllie later moved to Ripley where they had a shop.

The second picture is the top of the old police station North Street, now Laura Ashley Ltd shop, who sell garments and home furnishings.
Margaret Cole Reply

February 8, 2017 at 8:37 pm

Hugh Wyllie was once 11 Bridge Street, a shop that dealt on the never never. So I imagine this is their store rooms somewhere behind in Bedford Road. Not too sure, I can see the gasometer brhind so somewhere in
that region, who knows?

Second picture a little easier, North Street. Laura Ashley was once the old police station which lead to the cells where prisoners were kept and brought up to the court room for trial.