The High Street has changed little, in some respects, since 1910. To the left of the photograph is No 77 which looks very similar to the way it did then. Even the usage has remained the same as what is now NatWest Bank was then the County & Westminster Bank Limited. D. Caudwell F.R.G.S. was the bank's manager in 1913¹. Next door, at 76 High Street, was a double fronted ironmonger's shop run by George Jones¹. There are watering cans hanging above the window of the further shop front and a display of metal garden furniture is on the pavement. The building was demolished in the 1960s.²

Two men are standing outside Woods Bros., a Pianoforte Warehouse at 75 High Street¹. Their business name and what they did is clearly visible on the wall above the first floor windows. Albert Mewett ran a saddler's next door (no74)¹. There are railings outside No73 and the webmistress is unsure if this was a private house. There is a sign on the wall of the next shop, but it isn't clear what it is advertising. However, Frederick William Paine had a hosiery business at No 72¹ and at No 71 was the tobacconist and hairdresser Miss Annie Jury¹. The White Hart was at No 70 High Street¹ and you can just see where the upper floor of this beautiful old building juts out over the pavement.

The shop behind the Pepperpot or Pepperbox, now a restaurant, was advertising a Summer Sale. The Old Market Hall, as it was known then, was not in use.

The right hand side of the picture is dominated by Burgesses Stores on the corner of Moss Lane and the High Street. A few years later the shop was advertised as:

Borough Stores, 35 High street & wholesale grocer, Moss lane (Charles Burgess, proprietor), wholesale & retail provision merchant, grocer, tea dealer, wine, spirit & beer bottler, butcher, fishmonger & poulterer. A comprehensive retail price list free on application; orders of ten shillings & upwards sent carriage paid within a radius of 30 miles. [also listed were the addresses of branches in Farncombe, Hindhead, Haslemere, Shottermill, Liphook and Woking]¹

If you look at the roof level a few doors down on the right hand side you will see the letters A and H which belonged to the old Angel Hotel. And the lights are of note, too. Although the shop lights are probably gas, Godalming was the first town to have a public and private electricity supply.


Also see, in another section of this website:
Godalming, Surrey : A Personal View
Godalming, Surrey : Murder, Trial & Execution, 1817-18