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- source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
- source: Family History Library Catalog
- source: Family History Library Catalog
- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
Godalming is an historic market town, civil parish and the administrative centre of the Borough of Waverley in Surrey, England. It is located south southwest of Guildford, traversing the banks of the River Wey in a hilly, heavily wooded part of western Surrey.
In 2011, the UK census population figure for Godalming was 21,804.
Farncomb (or Farncombe)
A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Farncomb from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:
- "FARNCOMB, a tything and a chapelry in Godalming parish, Surrey. The tything lies on the Guildford and New Portsmouth railway, 1 mile NNE of Godalming; and has a post office under Godalming. The chapelry was constituted in 1849. Rated property: £2,886. Population: 2,084. Houses: 445. The property is much subdivided. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Winchester. Value: £300. Patron: the Bishop of Winchester. The church is modern; and there is a Wesleyan chapel."
and from Wikipedia
- "Farncombe, historically Fernecome, is a village and peripheral settlement of Godalming in Waverley, Surrey, England and is approximately 0.8 miles (1.3 km) northeast of the Godalming centre, separated by common land known as the Lammas Lands. The village of Compton lies 1.8 miles (3 km) to the northwest and Bramley 2 miles (3 km) to the east; whilst Charterhouse School is to the west. Loseley Park, in the hamlet of Littleton, lies 1 mile (1.6 km) to the north of the village."
History
- a condensation of this section of the article in Wikipedia
In the year 1300, the town was granted the right to hold a weekly market and an annual fair. Its major industry at the time was the production of woollen cloth. This enterprise contributed to Godalming’s prosperity over the next few centuries, until a sudden decline in the 17th century. At that point, the people applied their skills to the latest knitting and weaving technologies and began producing stockings in a variety of materials, and later applying themselves to leatherwork.
A willingness to adapt from one industry to another meant that Godalming continued to thrive. For example, papermaking was adopted in the 17th century, and paper was still manufactured there in the 20th century. The quarrying of Bargate stone also provided an important source of income, as did passing trade - Godalming was a popular stopping point for stagecoaches and the Mail coach between Portsmouth and London. In 1764, trade received an additional boost when early canalisation of the river took place, linking the town to Guildford, and from there to the River Thames and London on the Wey and Godalming Navigations.
So successful was Godalming that in the early 19th century it was considerably larger than Guildford, and by 1851 the population had passed 6,500. It was connected to London by railway in 1849, and to Portsmouth in 1859. It was made a municipal borough in 1835, the year the term was introduced.
Godalming came to world attention in September 1881, when it became the first town in the world to have installed a public electricity supply, which made electricity available to consumers. It was powered by a waterwheel, located at Westbrook Mill, on the river Wey.
Charterhouse, one of England's most significant public schools, has been located at Godalming since 1872. Formerly it had been situated in Charterhouse Square in London since its founding in 1611.
For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Godalming.
Surrey Research Tips
Government
Administrative boundaries of the county of Surrey (Surrey History Centre. The centre has a website with a number of useful indexes--titheholders in various parishes, deaths at the county gaol, etc.)
- In 1889 the County of London was created, and the areas of the modern London boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth were removed from Surrey. The records of these areas are held either by the London Metropolitan Archives or by the local boroughs, but the Surrey History Centre holds pre-1889 Quarter Sessions records for this area.
- Also in 1889, Croydon was made into a county borough exempt from county administration. Croydon became a London borough in 1965, and most Croydon records are held by the Croydon Local Studies Library and Archives.
- In 1965 more of Surrey was lost to London, with the creation of the London boroughs of Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and an expanded Croydon. For these areas, records are held by the local boroughs (either in their archives or local studies libraries) or the Surrey History Centre. The London Metropolitan Archives may also have some material.
- In 1965 Staines and Sunbury were transferred from Middlesex to Surrey. In 1974 these areas became the new District of Spelthorne. Most records relating to the former Middlesex area are held by the London Metropolitan Archives.
- In February 2020 FindMyPast announced it had added a substantial number of baptisms, marriages and burials to its database for Surrey. FindMyPast is a pay website.
Registration Districts
- Registration Districts in Surrey from their introduction in 1837 to the present. By drilling down through the links you can follow any parish through the registration districts to which it was attached.
GENUKI provisions
The website GENUKI provides a very comprehensive list of reference sources for the County of Surrey. It includes:
- Archives and Libraries
- Church record availability for both Surrey and the former Surrey part of Greater London
- 19th century descriptions of the ecclesiastical parishes
- Lists of cemeteries
- Local family history societies
- A list of historic maps online
History
- The Victoria History of the County of Surrey is a series of three volumes available online through British History Online. The volumes were written over the past hundred or so years by a number of authors and cover various sections of Surrey. A list of the volumes and what each contains can be found under the source Victoria History of the County of Surrey. Both volumes 3 and 4 contain areas which are part of Greater London and parts of modern Surrey.
Maps
- The National Library of Scotland has a website which provides maps taken from the Ordnance Survey England & Wales One-Inch to the Mile series of 1892-1908 as well as equivalent maps for Scotland itself. The immediate presentation is a "help" screen and a place selection screen prompting the entry of a location down to town, village or parish level. These screens can be removed by a click of the "X". The map is very clear and shows parish and county boundaries and many large buildings and estates that existed at the turn of the 20th century. Magnification can be adjusted and an "overlay feature" allows inspection of the area today along with that of 1900. The specific map from the series can be viewed as a whole ("View this map") and this allows the inspection of the map legend (found in the left hand bottom corner. Becoming familiar with the various facilities of these maps is well worth the trouble.
- Victoria County History chapter on Godalming
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