Guildford Town Defences

In the civil parish of Guildford.
In the historic county of Surrey (Modern Authority of Surrey, 1974 county of Surrey).

The old defensible town ditch of Guildford ran, as the names indicate, from the Dominican Friary near the river along North Street (the North ditch) and round to South treet. (the South ditch). This connected with the Castle Ditch (now Castle Street.). It has been traced at the corner of Chertsey Street. and right across Trinity churchyard between these two lines. When the church was enlarged in 1888, and graves were removed in consequence, the ditch was traced, with much Mediaeval pottery in it. It is possible the oldest town was walled and of yet smaller dimensions. A very thick ancient clunch wall, with a well on its South side, showing that to be the inside, ran about 30yds South of the High Street, nearly parallel to it. It would have included St Mary's Church, and a small town around the Castle mount. If this was so, the High Street itself was originally a suburban extension, later included by the ditch. No traces of the town wall or ditch are now visible, and no excavations have revealed traces of the course of the town defences.

This site has been described as a;
Urban Defence.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Nothing visible remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SU9949

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 250289

• Web site links
  • http://www.guildford.gov.uk/GuildfordWeb/Leisure/Guildford+Museum/GuildfordSites/HistoryNotes/Medieval+Guildford.htm
• Books
  • Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p258
    Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report) p92-116
    Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) Medieval Towns in England and Wales (CBA research reports) pp57-71
    Clinch and Montgomerie, 1911, Malden, H.E. (ed), VCH Surrey Vol3 p547