guildford from the river Surrey London River Wey Gyldeford South East
Guildford is the county town of Surrey, England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region. It is situated some 43 km (27 miles) southwest of London on the A3 trunk road linking the capital to Portsmouth. The town has Saxon roots, and likely owes its location to the existence of a gap in the North Downs where the River Wey is forded by the Harrow Way. The town grew enough in importance by 978 to be the Royal Mint. With the building of the Wey Navigation and Basingstoke Canal Guildford was in the centre of a network of waterways that aided its prosperity. The Guildford pub bombing by the Provisional IRA in 1974 killed five people including four off-duty soldiers from the local barracks. The subsequently arrested suspects became known as the Guildford Four. It is believed that Guildford was founded by Saxon settlers shortly after Roman authority had been removed from Britain (which was ). The site was likely chosen because the Harrow Way (an ancient trackway that continues along Hog's Back) crosses the River Wey at this point, via a ford. This probably gives rise to the second half of Guildford's name. The root of the first part is gold rather than society or meeting place. The Saxon name would have been Gyldeford, meaning golden ford. It has been suggested that the gold may refer to golden flowers by the ford, or the golden sand, but this is not certain. There is an old coaching Inn on the Epsom Road previously called the 'Sanford Arms', which almost certainly derives from 'Sand Ford', so this adds weight to the suggestion that 'Guildford' is a corruption of 'Gold Ford', referring to the very distinctive golden sand showing on the banks of the River Wey where it cuts through the sandy outcrop just south of the town.
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Photo credit: © 19th era / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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