Brewing was a major industry in Guildford until recent times. Perhaps the excellent water supply, the high grade hops grown near Farnham, and Guildford’s prosperous corn market for barley may have contributed to this. Until the 18th century most alehouses brewed their own beer for sale. The Skurray family began brewing on a larger scale in the mid 1700s, their brewery on the north-east side of the Town Bridge being taken over by W. & E. Elkins in 1819, who ran it until 1847. Just across the river on what later became the site of the Farnham Road Buss Station, was Crooke’s ‘Guildford’ or ‘St Nicholas’ brewery, apparently founded early in the 18th century. It was sold to Hodgson’s of Kingston in 1921 and demolished shortly after the last war. In 1838 Thomas Taunton built the Castle Brewery on the Portsmouth Road and, curiously, his son built another just to the east in 1844 – the Cannon Brewery. Both these were combined in 1875 under Lascelles Tickner & Co., which went into liquidation in 1934. Richard Elkins had a small brewery in North Street, bought by Hodgsons in 1890. The Friary Brewery was set up by C H Master in about 1865 in a disused steam flour mill; the firm prospered and expanded, eventually becoming Friary Meux in 1956. 1969 saw the last of beer brewing in Guildford and the Friary Brewery was demolished in 1973.

There are few mineral resources in the Guildford area. Clay was fired for bricks at the Guildford Park Brickworks from later Victorian times; bricks for the new Cathedral were made there until it closed in about 1960. Chalk had been used as a building material in the Middle Ages but later it became more widely used in the form of lime, having been calcined or ‘burnt’ in a kiln. Lime was used as mortar for building but more importantly as a fertiliser from the 18th century. Chalk was an important cargo on the Wey Navigation and wagons that brought grain to market in Guildford would return with a load of chalk to burn in the farm’s own lime kilns. Much, however, was burned on the spot in the many chalk pits around the town. The trade died out in the later 19th century and many of the chalk quarries have now had houses built inside them.

In 1625 the East India Company set up gunpowder mills at Chilworth where the indefatigable Tillingbourne powered the massive stones of the incorporating mills. It became a vital source of powder for the Parliamentary forces during the Civil Wars. Afterwards the Navy became the major customer and a small colony of powder-makers grew up around the mills. In 1885 the firm became the Chilworth Gunpowder Company. There were accidental explosions throughout the mill’s history but the worst was in 1901 when six workmen were killed. By 1909 there were over 300 employees and the business was greatly expanded during the First World War. Afterwards however, the drop in demand for gunpowder and increased foreign competition led to the closure of the mills in 1920 and their sale two years later.

The Guildford Iron Foundry was set up near the Town Mills in about 1794 by E. Filmer who with partner, Williams, made castings for patent mangles, irons, stoves and a host of agricultural implements. All the castings for the Portsmouth railway line were made by them and their iron work is to be found in many buildings in Guildford. The foundry reached its peak of prosperity from 1854-1883, under the firm of Filmer & Mason. In 1868 the firm expanded by setting up the Church Acre iron works in Leapale Lane which they ran until 1880. Among the dozens of items produced were water wheels, used to power fixed farm machinery or to pump water for private estates as at Clandon Park. By the turn of the century, when the foundry was owned by Dickinson & Burne it had become less competitive with the foundries of the industrial north. The Church Acre iron works was closed in 1927 and the Millmead foundry was finally knocked down in 1941. The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre has stood on the site since 1965.

A gas works was established in 1822 on the west bank of the river, later being moved across to east side. The High Street and many town centre premises were lit by gas.

The opening of the railway from London to Guildford was the single most important cause of the rapid expansion of the town in the Victorian period. The London and South Western Railway had reached Woking from its Nine Elms terminus in 1838 and plans were soon made to continue the line to Guildford. The station was originally planned to be east of the river, which would have required a viaduct over the High Street to continue south. Fortunately a site to the west was selected and the station opened on 5th May 1945. The line was continued to Godalming via a tunnel cut through St. Catherine’s Hill, but it was not until 1859, after much confusion and dispute, that the line reached Portsmouth directly.

The Farnham branch and the South Eastern Railway’s Reading to Reigate line in 1849 and the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway’s Horsham line in 1965 made Guildford the railway centre of West Surrey. The new breed of ‘commuter’ or ‘daily breader’ was catered for specifically by the New Guildford Line in 1885. The station was then completely rebuilt, although the inconvenience of the layout was much criticised then and subsequently. A large ‘motive power depot’ was constructed with a large turntable and engine sheds, and the railway itself became a major employer in the town.

Joseph Billing built his new printing works in Walnut Tree Close in 1856. The firm prospered, particularly from the printing of bibles for the British and Foreign Bible Society, and the works were extended by stages up until the First World War. In 1926 a new factory was built on land further along Walnut Tree Close and this was enlarged in 1962 when the old works were abandoned and let as warehouses. Billings finally went out of business in 1982.

John Dennis opened a cycle shop at 94 High Street in 1895. Expanding into the motor vehicle business, the firm built a works in Onslow Street in 1901, known as Rodborough Buildings, and a much larger factory was begun at Woodbridge in 1908. Dennis’s became famous for commercial and municipal vehicles and production of motor cars ceased in 1913. Thousands of army lorries were produced in the First World War, and hundreds of Churchill tanks in the Second. The firm looked after its workers and houses for them were built near the works. The gradual decline in the fortunes of the company after the last war culminated in a takeover by Hestair in 1972.

Drummonds, the lathe-makers, set up at Rydes Hill in about 1898, and their 4” lathe proved very popular, especially among model engineers. Like Dennis’s, Drummonds prospered during the First World War, but the firm had eventually to close in 1981. Guildford has had, in fact, comparatively little manufacturing industry but that which it had has suffered badly in the recession of the late 1970s and ‘80s. Service industries, particularly shops and financial institutions are the major employers.

Guildford Museum, Castle Arch, Guildford, Surrey

(01483) 444750

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