Where Is This? No. 42

Published on: 28 Jan, 2013
Updated on: 28 Jan, 2013

By David Rose

The regular readers were not distracted by the snowy conditions in last week’s mystery photo and easily recognised it as the entrance to Guildford railway station.

I guess the railway enthusiasts among them, gricers Norman Hamshere and Dave Peters, got it immediately.

Doug and Bill Staniforth have admitted to me that they used the internet and Google Earth to hone in on rooftops in the Guildford area to work out that the mystery clock is on the Old Guildfordians’ pavilion at the Burchatts Farm end of Stoke Park. Very ingenious, and well within the rules of this fun contest. Guess it beats getting in a car and driving around for a considerable length of time to try and find a particular location – which I know some people have resorted to doing. Good on you though.

Doug is still after some sort of prize – as in the style of those that used be given away in TV game shows back in the 1970s and 80s. Moving on from the speedboat or caravan, he’s now asking for a cut-glass decanter. Sorry, don’t have one in stock, but I might be able to arrange for someone with a cut-glass accent to give you a call trying to sell you a pension plan or solar panels!

To see last week’s post and all those who replied at the foot of it, click here.

Any idea where this is and who occupies the building now?

This week’s mystery photo is once again from the fantastic archive at the Guildford Institute in Ward Street. I came across this one when choosing material for my talk entitled Guildford’s Lost Shops, that’s part of my tutor classes in March. (Only a few places left by the way, if you were thinking of booking).

It is Guildford High Street, and the picture dates to about 1922. But where exactly?

A mystery sun dial actually, but where?

Time is running out for the pictures of mystery clocks, photographed by Alistair Fulton. There’s not many left! This one is, of course, a sun dial. Do you recognise where it is? A very famous building.

If you know the answers please leave a reply in the box below. All replies will be posted at about the same time next week, along with a new post with the answers to this week’s photo and mystery date, and the next pair of images.

Responses to Where Is This? No. 42

Bernard Parke Reply

January 29, 2013 at 7:53 am

1) Thomas Cook. In the forties it used to be WH Smith, on the corner of Quarry Street

2) Abbot’s Hospital
Matt Smith Reply

January 29, 2013 at 8:05 am

Sundial looks like Abbot’s Hospital and the building is Thomas Cook at the bottom of High Street.
Ray Springer Reply

January 29, 2013 at 9:42 am

The picture is the building on the corner of High Street and Quarry Street and is now occupied by Thomas Cook.
The clock (sundial) is on Abbotts Hospital High Street wall between the two towers.
Barbara Winkworth Reply

January 29, 2013 at 11:36 am

The building is on the uphill side of Quarry Street and is now a travel agents, Cooks, I think. It’s a lovely half timbered building.
The clock is in the quadrangle of Abbott’s Hospital, facing the entrance.
John Schluter Reply

January 29, 2013 at 1:23 pm

The shop is now the Thomas Cook Travel Agency on the corner of Quarry Street and The High Street and the sun dial is on Abbot’s Hospital at the top of The High Street
Pat Ashworth Reply

January 29, 2013 at 3:06 pm

Was it on the corner of Quarry Street and occupied by Thomas Cook in the 1990s and may possibly still be occupied by them but it is several years since I have walked by there?
Pat Ashworth Reply

January 29, 2013 at 3:09 pm

The location of the mystery sun dial must surely be the George Abbot Almshouses or perhaps the Grammar School.
David & Ann Bailey Reply

January 29, 2013 at 6:12 pm

The shop is on the corner of the High Street and Quarry Street and is now Thomas Cook Travel Agent

The sun-dial is on Abbot’s Hospital.
Caroline Reeves Reply

January 29, 2013 at 9:21 pm

The building is now a travel company shop and is on the corner of Quarry Street. I think the sundial might be on Abbot’s Hospital.
Tracy James Reply

January 30, 2013 at 12:15 am

Dan and I think it is now occupied by Thomas Cook…
Graham Harrison Reply

January 31, 2013 at 4:33 pm

Hi, top photo is the building on the corner of High Street and Quarry Street.Thomas Cook rent the plot now I believe. Abbotts hospital for the bottom photo.
Norman Hamshere Reply

February 1, 2013 at 9:35 am

The number 104 over the doorway should place this shop on the corner of Quarry Street.During my schooldays–1940’s– it was a WHSmith bookshop.
Brian Holt Reply

February 3, 2013 at 4:58 pm

The shop is on the corner of High Street and Quarry Street. In the late 1940’s it was W.H.Smith Ltd. They sold papers on the ground floor, and books on first floor. I remember that paper boys left their bicycles on the pavement in Quarry Street against the shop walls.

The sun dial is high up above the entrance to Abbot’s Hospital, in the High Street.
Chris Townsend Reply

February 3, 2013 at 6:38 pm

George Perridge’s shop was on the corner of High Street(no.104) and Quarry Street. Before that, Angell and Son, outfitter’s, had been there for many years. It’s now Thomas Cook travel agent’s (no.46), but I remember it as W.H. Smith’s (as it was from 1929, following Perridge’s.) It had a news-stand at the front of the shop, stationery etc. on the ground floor, and a treasure-trove of books on two floors. Those were the days when you could buy a metal nib for a dip-pen, or have a fountain-pen repaired!

The sun-dial is on Abbot’s Hospital. There’s no clock to be seen from the High Street, but go through the gateway and there’s one on the opposite
side of the courtyard.
John Lomas Reply

February 3, 2013 at 9:14 pm

I think that is the corner of Quarry Street and High Street and the Clock looks to me like Abbots Hospital.
Doug Staniforth Reply

February 5, 2013 at 10:24 am

It’s the corner of High St and Quarry St, Thomas Cook now occcupy it. The sundial is Abbots Hospital.
I hear book tokens are making a comeback.