Godstone
Godstone maps (2 available)
Map of Surrey
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Godstone books (21 available)
- 5 photos on Godstone appear in 4 Frith books - View photos of Godstone
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Godstone and Surrey
Godstone memories
Read and share memories of Godstone and Surrey inspired by Frith photos
My Godstone
I lived in Godstone from 1947-1975 when I moved to Dorset. In those days I was Wendy Knight. At one time my father worked at the bakers, Broad's it was called, it was two doors down from the shop on the green, his brother Sidney had R G Knight's the butcher, R G being their father. I spent a lot of time down the stables, first at Barretts, then Stangrave Hall. We also had great times at Leigh mill stream or Diana's fountain as we knew. Lots of memories came flooding back when I found this site. Like skating on the Bay pond or playing down the bog, looking for newts in the hilly fields in very smelly ponds. My father-in-law ...read more here
Contributed by wendy coombe
My childhood in Godstone 1944 - 1959
I was born in Eastbourne Road, in a house opposite the sand pits and the common. My name was Wendy Mitchell. With my sisters and brother I would spend hours picking bluebells and primroses and climbing trees there. At the bottom of our garden across a small field was Leigh woods which had a stream running through it. We would cross the stream via a fallen tree and we would play in the stream on hot summer days and collect chestnuts there later in the year. I'm sure that it is probably there and that the same things are done by children today.
I walked up Church Lane to school each day and sometimes after school I would walk down ...read more here
Contributed by wendy soall
Living in Godstone 54 -74
I was born in Godstone in Ivy Mill Close, just the other side of the Green. I walked to the primary school along the Bay Path. My Gran lived in St Mary's Almhouses right opposite the school and I would go there for lunch. The chapel attached to the almhouses is beautiful. I was married in St Nicholas' Church adjacent to the almhouses. The village has now changed a lot. I remember going to Sylvie Barnard's shop for my sweets on the way to school and to Ken the butchers opposite the pond on the green. Addison's the bakers had lovely cakes. My Mum worked in the post office for many years and I would go there after school and stamp ...read more here
Contributed by Joy Hearn
Surrey memories
My Godstone
I lived in Godstone from 1947-1975 when I moved to Dorset. In those days I was Wendy Knight. At one time my father worked at the bakers, Broad's it was called, it was two doors down from the shop on the green, his brother Sidney had R G Knight's the butcher, R G being their father. I spent a lot of time down the stables, first at Barretts, then Stangrave Hall. We also had great times at Leigh mill stream or Diana's fountain as we knew. Lots of memories came flooding back when I found this site. Like skating on the Bay pond or playing down the bog, looking for newts in the hilly fields in very smelly ponds. My father-in-law ...read more here
A memory of Godstone contributed by wendy coombe
Extracts From Godstone & Surrey books
A superb view epitomising the rural nature of Surrey before the First World War. Ivy Mill, on the left, with the pond embankment behind, was mentioned in Domesday and was always an important corn-milling site. Ivy House on the right dates from 1698.
An extract from from"Surrey Photographic Memories".
The early 18th-century Bell Inn on the Eastbourne Road was one of several important staging inns in this village when Cobbett came here in 1822 and lauded it as being beautiful. Four hundred years ago, Godstone was at the centre of the leather trade and the manufacture of gunpowder, while to the south there were important iron-works.
An extract from from"Surrey Revisited Photographic Memories".
Rooks Nest was the home of Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-78), leader of the Gothic revival
in architecture, a style that befitted small country churches as well as major metropolitan
landmarks. He carried out hundreds of church restorations as well as designing public
buildings, including St Pancras Station Hotel in London. His grandson, Sir Giles Gilbert
Scott, designed the K6 - Britain’s famous red telephone box.
An extract from from"Villages of Surrey Photographic Memories".
Until the M25 and M23
by-passed Godstone, it
had become seriously
blighted by traffic on the
Eastbourne road, the A22
and east-west traffic on
the A25, which peaked
in the 1960s and 1970s.
It is still busy, of course,
but much more
endurable, and the
village has regained
much of its quality of life.
This tranquil scene, with
a cricket match in full
swing on the village
green, looks towards the
south side of the green;
the A22 is on the far left
beyond the trees.
An extract from from"Surrey Living Memories".
The Corner Shop and
Station Parade Post Office
still provides an invaluable
service to residents and
passers-by, but an extension
has been built on to the end
wall for Saab who also trade
from the garage premises
shown here. George Jones
commenced running The
Corner Shop in 1966 with his
wife, Pat.
An extract from from"Coulsdon, Chipstead and Woodmansterne Photographic Memories".