Gomshall
Gomshall maps (2 available)
Gomshall books (21 available)
- 4 photos on Gomshall appear in 3 Frith books - View photos of Gomshall
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Gomshall and Surrey
Gomshall memories
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You can also read memories of nearby places in Surrey below.
Surrey memories
Lightning strike
Since this photo was taken the top of the large tree in the background has been hit by lightning. Around four or five feet of bare wood sticks out at the top of the tree. I don’t know when this happened.
A memory of Abinger contributed by Edward Ewan
Living in the Squre Shere
Photograph No. 1. I was born in July l940 – Virginia Le Roux. The house on the left of the picture was where I lived until I was nearly 13 with my parents. The long narrow upstairs window was my bedroom. My mother’s mother and brother also lived in the house. My uncle - John Grover had a shop to the left of the porch, where he sold fresh fish, fruit and vegetables, some of which he grew himself. During the war people would come from Dorking and Guildford to buy fresh fish. The fish came from Harlow’s of Grimsby in wooden boxes, when the empty boxes were returned to Grimsby, ...read more here
A memory of Shere contributed by Virginia Pawlyn
born and raised there
I was born in Shere in 1942 to the youngest child of George and Margaret Bryant. The Bryants were a well-known Shere family, my father being the eldest of nine children born and raised in the village. I had a very happy childhood in the village, attended the village school as did my older brother and sister and several cousins. I remember the Shere bonfire nights which were very enjoyable. I left the village in the sixties and now live in Adelaide, South Australia. My elder sister still lives in in Shere with her husband who was until retirement one of the local postmen. I have only happy memories of my birth place. I was baptised and also had my confirmation ...read more here
A memory of Shere contributed by Rosemary Delia
childhood
i was born in guildford in 1986 and my parents had just taken over abinger post office and stores this is the house in the middle of the photo with all the ivy (that wasnt there in my time) the window above the shop was my parents room the spare room and the lounge are the rooms to the left. i loved living here and have many great memories of going to abinger village school, fishing in the stream, playing on the green and in the ruffs going to the abinger arms(probably the 1st pub i ever went to) and the tea rooms at the clock house now apparently i have heard that these tea rooms have moved to my old ...read more here
A memory of Abinger Hammer contributed by paul jeacock
Extracts From Gomshall & Surrey books
Little girls pose for the cameraman on the ford at the Tillingbourne. ‘Gomeselle’ was mentioned in Domesday, at which time a mill already existed at the site. Gomshall tanneries were known world-wide, but were taken over and closed in 1988.
An extract from from"Surrey Photographic Memories".
Gomshall is also on
the Tillingbourne, and
its single-storey water
mill is uncommon in
these parts. The fact
that it once doubled
up as the local post
office is also unusual.
Beautifully restored,
it is now a restaurant.
The mill pond has
been filled in, and is
now a play area for the
children of families
who are dining there.
An extract from from"Villages of Surrey Photographic Memories".
The Tilling Bourne quietly adds its own liquid note to this peaceful scene as its flows past The Compasses, one of two pubs in this small village on the main Guildford to Dorking road. It was built in 1830, and was originally a beer shop before becoming an inn in the 19th century.
An extract from from"Surrey Revisited Photographic Memories".
The sign on the chimney
breast reveals that the
Compasses was once
owned by the Surrey
Public House Trust - a firm
that owned a number of
hostelries and hotels in
the county. It merged with
Forte Holdings Ltd in 1970
to become Trusthouses
Forte. The sign shows a pair
of compasses, linked to
the carpentry profession.
However, it is not known
why this particular pub
bears the name.
An extract from from"Villages of Surrey Photographic Memories".
Other local churches, claimed to be ‘old and steady’, are Shere,
Leigh, Mickleham, Abinger, Wotten and Betchworth: they have
stood for centuries. St Barnabas’s on Ranmore sits 700 feet above
Dorking on Ranmore Common. Sir Gilbert Scott designed it in 1859
as the estate church for George Cubitt, the first Lord Ashcombe.
In the churchyard lie the founder of Denbies Estate, and his three
grandsons, Henry, Alick and William, who lost their lives in the First
World War.
St Joseph’s Catholic Church, designed by Frederick Arthur
Walters, was erected in 1895 in Falkland Grove, off Coldharbour
Lane.
An extract from from"Dorking Town and City Memories".





