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Godalming Town

The Titanic connection

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A VISITOR'S GUIDE

Godalming Museum records the history of a quiet country town with many traces of a rich industrial past, notably in cloth making and knitting. It was also the first town in the world to have a public electricity supply.

Its numerous inns and ale houses provided hospitality for travellers on the London to Portsmouth road.

Among many distinguished people associated with the town are General James Oglethorpe, Gertrude Jekyll, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Sir Winston Churchill and the Titanic hero, Jack Phillips, all of whom are celebrated in this Museum.

			The local history galleries are on the first floor where the development has been sympathetic to the original features of the building.
		Ceiling hung banners guide you around the displays which cover local interest topics ranging from archaeology to war time, work and play to the Silver Jubilee.
			The museum gardens were conceived as a cottage garden in the Surrey style created by Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens, using her ideas of planting and his of design.

General James Oglethorpe, who lived in Godalming, founded the colony of Georgia in the USA in 1732 with 120 settlers, including many ex-convicts.

JEKYLL AND LUTYENS

Gertrude Jekyll had a profound influence on garden design. Sir Edwin Lutyens is generally regarded as one the great British architects of the 20^th Century.

WINSTON CHURCHILL

Sir Winston Churchill, Britain's Prime Minister in World War II, spent the summer of 1916 at Hoe Farm, Hascombe. It was here that he began to paint.

CRAFTSMANSHIP AND CLOCKS

The Millennium Window celebrates 2000 years of Godalming's history. Clocks made by the Stedman family including the old town clock (1814) are in working order.

FACTS AND FIGURES

Information about the Museum's Collections is available in the Resources Room and the adjacent Library, open daily in the afternoon, is a valuable source of local records.

TITANIC HERO

Jack Phillips, Chief Telegraphist, continued to send out SOS messages for several hours after the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in 1912. He went down with the ship.

AT WORK AND WAR

A stocking frame illustrates the town's dependence in the past on cloth making and knitting. Other local industries are featured as are the two World Wars.

THE BUILDING

A bakery for over 370 years, the building was adapted as a museum in 1987 and re-developed in 1998 with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. It is actually two Wealden timber framed houses. One was built about 1400 and the other around 1500, with a brick facade and parapet added in the 18^th Century. The original lime and horse hair plaster covering a wattle wall can still be seen. 

THE GARDEN

The garden at the back of the Museum is created in the style of Gertrude Jekyll following her principles of planting, colour grouping and design - and her influential partnership with Lutyens is celebrated in the Summer house and seat, which are replicas of
his designs.

AT YOUR SERVICE

The Volunteer Museum Staff will be pleased to answer your questions - and to serve you with a cup of tea or coffee in the Manning Gallery while you enjoy the exhibitions.

In the Shop you will find a comprehensive range of publications about the Godalming area, complemented by an attractive selection of quality fancy goods, toys and souvenirs .

We hope you have enjoyed your visit and will call again.

Admission is free but donations are greatly welcomed.