Where Is This? No.62

Published on: 18 Jun, 2013
Updated on: 18 Jun, 2013

By David Rose

The building seen under construction is last week’s mystery old photo was indeed J. Sainsbury’s in Guildford High Street.

Click here to see last week’s post and all the replies at the foot of it that give some useful details, including the comments from Chris Townsend who supplied the photo.

The piece of public art can be found near the Royal Surrey County Hospital.

Can you name the two prominent structures in this aerial view?

This week’s mystery vintage photo is another aerial view. I have cropped it to show two structures in particular. Can you name them?

Going on the date of construction of one of them and the closure of another, plus a clue of a puff of smoke that can be seen, I think this photo can therefore be dated as between about 1960 and July 1967. I’m sure someone will have more accurate dates!

Where do these wolves roam?

And as for the piece of mystery public art / statue – where can these fine animals be found?

If you know the answers to this week’s, and perhaps have some comments to make, 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 vintage photo and sculpture / statue picture, and the next pair of images.

And finally, an advance notice of a couple of local history events I am hosting as part of the Westborough and Park Barn Community Fun Day on Saturday, June 29. I will be giving my illustrated talk Wartime Bombs on Guildford at 2.30pm at the Park Barn Centre off Park Barn Drive. Straight after the talk, join me on a guided walk from the centre and back that goes across Broadstreet Common and up to Pinks Hill. We’ll be looking at the site where a military aircraft crashed in 1952 and tracing the history of a Roman villa and farmstead that was on the common. Both events are free. More details will be appearing on this website, but there are details already on another website of mine: http://www.joiningin.org.uk/

Responses to Where Is This? No.62

John Lomas Reply

June 19, 2013 at 12:41 am

The engine shed (round house) is obvious between the Farnham Road bridge and the tunnel.
I think the large rectangular building was called Burymead House on Portsmouth Rd, I think that was the Seeboard offices.
Bernard Parke Reply

June 19, 2013 at 5:13 am

1) The engine sheds

2) the general electricty centre buiilding that once stood in the Portsmouth Road

30 The University
Julia Funnell Reply

June 19, 2013 at 8:35 am

The two structures are:

The engine shed at Guildford station. The Farnham Road car park is now on this site.

The offices of National Grid(?) now demolished. Boards at the site claim to promise a new office development “Guildford Plaza” though I believe the planning permission for this has lapsed.

The empty land between the two structures in this picture must now contain Mount Court and Bishops Court; the two towering blocks of flats between Portsmouth Road and Mount Pleasant.

The sculpture is at the University of Surrey and is called “All the Gang are Here” and is by Carol Orwin.
Carol Norris Reply

June 19, 2013 at 2:42 pm

Photo 1: the large building in the centre is the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) built on the site of my father’s former company, Guildford Glass and Metal Works. In the foreground is my former home, Westbury House, Bury Street.

Mr Ayers drove a Rolls Royce which we called the “Bread Rolls”.

I also remember the “back room/cafe” being used for various functions including one of the early antique markets in, I suppose, the late 1950s or early 1960s.
Ray Springer Reply

June 19, 2013 at 2:58 pm

The two structures in the photo are the engine shed and turntable at Guildford railway station and the CEGB office block at the bottom of Portsmouth Road. Both structures now demolished.

The public art statues of the wolves are in University of Surrey grounds. It is still there.
Peter Bullen Reply

June 19, 2013 at 5:46 pm

Most people will have recognised the old loco sheds and turntable at Guildford Station but the huge office block in the foreground was a bit of a puzzle because of the angle of the shot.

It was Burymead House in Portsmouth Road which was built on the site of the old Guildford Glass and Metal Works and housed a department of the Central Electricity Generating Board. No doubt David Rose deliberately cropped off St. Nicolas’ Church to make difficult for us!
Raineee Wornham Reply

June 19, 2013 at 5:48 pm

The wolves are at the University of Surrey!
David & Ann Bailey Reply

June 20, 2013 at 6:36 pm

The buildings on the left of the photo are the railway engine sheds by Guildford station. Today a car park is on the site.

The large building in the front is the Electricity Board offices that used to be at the bottom of the Portsmouth Road.

The wolves roam at the University of Surrey.
Doug Staniforth Reply

June 21, 2013 at 3:35 pm

The railway structure is the roundhouse which is now a car park, the other building is the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) which was demolished approx 20 years ago. The site now boasts a sign bearing the words “Guildford Plaza – a new landmark office development.”

I hope it’s worth waiting for. The sign has been there longer than the CEGB building!

The wolves are in Stoke Park or somewhere else. [As indeed is everything. Ed]
Paul Robinson Reply

June 22, 2013 at 11:54 pm

1) Guildford MPD (Motive Power Depot) – Railway Engine Sheds

2) Central Electricity Generating Board Offices
Peter Holt aka The Clitherow Kid Reply

June 23, 2013 at 3:09 pm

The office building is the old Central Electricity Generating Board. At the top is the railway engine shed. Just to the right of the shed can be seen Guildford South Signal Box. I worked there until it closed in early 1966.

The puff of smoke is from a train at Platform 4. This is where some of the trains to Horsham used to leave from. The line closed in June 1965, so the photo must pre-date that. I have some old 8mm cine film that I used to film the inside of the old Guildford signal boxes. Do any readers know if and where I could have them transferred on to DVD?

I believe the wolves are at the university.
- Caroline Reeves Reply
  
  June 26, 2013 at 10:05 am
  
  I think the Snappy Snaps shop in Swan Lane can convert 8mm to DVD. http://www.snappysnaps.co.uk/stores/guildford
Chris Townsend Reply

June 23, 2013 at 8:54 pm

At top left is the foot of Farnham Road and the junction with Guildford Park Road. Near that are the old engine sheds and turntable. The big office block was the C.E.G.B.’s Burymead House, between Portsmouth Road and Bury Street.

The Weyside Commercial Hotel, at the foot of the Mount and Portsmouth Road, had yet to be demolished. Wycliffe Buildings are to the left of the offices, and the corner of Condor Court is just visible. Westbury House and its gardens, and Lovejoy’s Almshouses, are at the lower right.

The sculpture of wolves called, “All the Gang Are Here”, is at the University of Surrey.
Brian Holt Reply

June 23, 2013 at 9:39 pm

The building at the bottom of the photo, was the Central Electricity Generating Board offices, at the bottom of Portsmouth Road.

The other building is the old engine shed, and station, with a steam train leaving Platform 4.

I will let The Clitherow Kid explain, he being a ex-railway man.