Petersfield High Street North

Part of front cover designed by Edward Grainger for Petersfield Monographs No. 2 entitled ‘High Street Petersfield’.

Visits

Godalming 10 August 2021

On a pleasant sunny day our group of sixteen members were given a guided tour of Godalming by our Chairman, Nick Swan. A historic market town, civil parish and administrative centre of the Borough of Waverley in Surrey, it is four miles south west of Guildford.

Nick told, in much detail, of the early Saxon settlements in the area leading onto the Norman times with events such as hangings and the story of the rabbit woman from nearby Farncombe. She fooled medical experts by producing live rabbits in front of them; it was of course a scam.

It was at one time a coaching road from London to Portsmouth, having many hostelries. A tale was told of Peter the Great staying in one and not paying his bill!

Mallory of Everest fame came from Godalming. The story is told that when his frozen body was found in 1999, a picture he had of his wife and his camera were missing. He had promised his wife that if he reached the summit he would leave it there, leading to the idea that maybe he and Irvine had achieved this in 1924 before Hillary and Tensing in 1953.

We also saw a building dedicated to Noyce who was a backup member in 1953 but did not ascend to the summit. He was educated at Charterhouse and became head boy, then later a master.

The visit ended with a delightful meal in an Italian restaurant.

Godalming
 
Left: group in Godalming; right: Godalming station – very similar to Petersfield in design

How To Join

Contact us for an application form. Membership costs £15 per person or £20 per couple. This includes eight meetings per year with a speaker and five optional meetings of the Society’s Archaeological Group. You will also receive a copy of the Society’s twice-yearly bulletin.

Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery

Petersfield Museum

Visit Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery to see some of the archival work PAHS has undertaken.

Petersfield Musical Festival

"Petersfield

Petersfield Musical Festival has entertained the town with choral music for over 100 years.

Petersfield Physic Garden

fritillaryThe Physic Garden is open daily except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s day. Check the website for times. Entrance is free.

People of Petersfield Heath

People of the Heath Visit People of the Heath for more on the excavation of the Petersfield Heath barrows.