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Godalming Navigation The 19th century politician and traveller William Cobbett described the Wey Valley between Godalming and Guildford as the 'prettiest four miles in all England' and this stretch of river is a perfect example of that natural beauty. |
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The Wyatt Almshouses (GR: SU982448) back onto the river just before Towers Bridge, and from the towpath you should be able to make out the elaborate coupled chimneys towering over the single storey building. The ten almshouses were the brainchild of Richard Wyatt (1554 - 1619) of Hall Place at nearby Shackleford. Wyatt was a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters, and a wealthy merchant and benefactor who secured part of his fortune through ownership of an ironworks at Dunsfold. His will left provision for funds to establish an ‘Oyspitall’ to be built on some portion of the ‘Prismarsh’ to provide lodging for ‘tenne poore menn’ of deserving character selected from Godalming and neighbouring settlements. Wyatt had left exact instructions which included some strict observances to be undertaken by the selection committee overseen by the Carpenters’ Company:
In the photograph above the Almshouses are pictured at bottom centre on the banks of the Wey, with Broadwater Lake to centre left and the North Downs on the horizon. Wyatt not only provided accommodation but also assigned the income from leases of properties he owned to a Trust to generate an annual income of £70, a generous amount at the time, to be equally apportioned between the occupants. A woman’s touch augmented the benevolence of the Wyatt family, for when his widow died 13 years later her will instructed that the ten men be provided with: “coate made of cloth with two letters that is to say R.W. for my said late husband’s name in the bosomes of everye of the said coates”, and provision was even made that these purple coats were to be replaced every three years. Margaret Wyatt had also instructed for a bible to be bought and for this “to remain in the Almes house of Goddalmayne forever.” Sadly the bible has long since disappeared from the little chapel at the almshouses. In more recent times Godalming Borough Council sought permission from the Carpenters’ Company to erect 32 additional one-bedroomed bungalows on the land around the perimeter of the site to provide accommodation for the needy. These were carefully designed to blend in with the much older buildings using the same locally quarried Bargate stone. At the same time the chapel was renovated and a resident, Miss Nell Gwynne, a direct descendent of the infamous lady of the same name from the reign of King Charles II provided the altar cloth in red. The 'social affordable' bungalows are leased by The Almshouse Trust under the Worshipful Company of Carpenters, which owns the original almshouses, to the council in an agreement which expires in 2055. Due to financial constraints the council has found that it is unable to meet its obligations in bringing the more modern buildings up to the Government's decent homes standard, this partly due to the higher costs associated with retaining the original character of the buildings. The council has agreed (2007) to transfer ownership of the homes to the trust on a trickle agreement whereby whenever a bungalow falls vacant the trust will purchase it. Unitarian Chapel A little upstream from the Wyatt Almshouses along Meadrow is the little chapel (GR: SU982447) that was home to the Unitarians in the 17th and 18th centuries. This religious community was the second oldest non-conformist group in the area after the Quakers with its presence here first documented in 1699. The chapel beyond the flagged path dates from 1789 has a baptismal pool beneath the floorboards of its long and airy aisle. The Unitarians had an unsettling influence on the traditional church groups for they not only discredited the beliefs in Original Sin, the Trinity, and that Jesus was the only son of God, but they also accepted women ministers from as early as 1834. An extremely tolerant group that uniquely at that time forbade flogging at Sunday School were progressive in that they had no fixed creed which allowed them to adapt to modern influences. A Picturesque Riverscape A large house that was once owned by George Marshall with gardens backing onto the Wey is now the Manor Inn (GR: SU984450) a public house hotel with good facilities for children and a popular restaurant. Pleasure boaters hiring craft from the nearby Farncombe Boat House can often be found moored here sneaking a final drink before returning home in the late afternoon. Marshall was a shareholder in the Navigations and used the waterways to transport wood for his substantial timber business.
The pretty stretch of river running from Trowers Bridge (GR: SU983449) built in 1789 and down to the sluices near Tiltham’s Farm epitomises the idyllic surroundings usually associated with rural riverscapes. During the summer, if your timing is right, you’re likely to encounter the narrowboat Iona squeezing silently beneath the bridge, or at the winding point by the Unstead Sluices (GR: SU990453) where the boat is manually turned around, providing the horse used to tow the boat with a welcome break. The sluices, although now a modern structure, include part of the original 1960s workings, and carry water over into a section of the bypassed river proper providing flood control.
The track over Trower’s Bridge was one of the drives servicing the influential Unstead Park (GR: SU992442) nestling high on the hill a mile or so distant, and now a private hospital. The Thames Water Unstead sewage works (GR: SU995455) some way beyond here to the east takes waste from Godalming and Farncombe in a pipeline passing beneath the river by the Unstead sluices. This is also the site of Godalming Wetland Nature Reserve where the water company is a corporate member of local Wildlife Trusts and works with the local Unstead Bird and Wildlife Group to ensure the upkeep of this important habitat for wild birds. The nature reserve has restricted access to the wildlife group although there is a carpark providing open access to walks and birdwatching in the area. It is just downstream from Trower’s Bridge that you will stumble across a very serene and picturesque stretch of the river, and it is here on the east bank, on the opposite side of the river to the towpath, that there is the first of three Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) called collectively the Wey Valley Meadows (GR: SU988450). All three sites have been notified for their unimproved meadows that support rich plant communities and several locally important species. The sites also support areas of woodland that are vital to breeding birds. The next to be reached (GR: SU996463) downstream is again on the opposite side to the towpath on the bend of the river beyond Unstead Lock. The third (GR: SU997476) again on the opposite bank to the towpath is on the meadow between the lockkeeper’s cottage by the weir and St Catherine’s Lock. This site is accessible via a public footpath reached by crossing at the lock.
The World War II pillbox (GR: SU989455) just down from the weir and set back from the towpath is on National Trust Land. This area, referred to locally as Colonel’s Ground, was acquired by the Trust to prevent modern developments encroaching on to the sensitive habitats of the river. The next bridge downstream from the weir is Unstead Bridge (GR: SU991456). This is not the site of the 13th century bridge built as one of many in the valley by the Waverley Abbey Cistercian monks, who were based on the Wey near Farnham, as this is located to the east (GR: SU993454) along the track where it passes over the very original course of the river, which itself was bypassed to preserve this ancient structure. Confused? Don’t be. The first of three bridges is the one you see above the Navigation and was built when the cut was excavated and rebuilt in 1899 after it had been declared unsafe. Walking along the track eastwards you will come to the second bridge after 300 yards (270 m) which crosses what is now the course of the River Wey proper. Another 30 feet (9 m) further on is the mediaeval bridge. Unstead Lock On a straight cut the Godalming Navigation slices past a series of tortuous meanders alongside Unstead Lock (GR: SU993460) - rise of 6ft 6in (1.98m) which dates back to 1764. Prior to the 1830s Unsted without the ‘a’ was the common spelling. The original bricks of the lock were covered in concrete during refurbishment in the 1990s and which lead to considerable criticism of the National Trust at the time. The Lock is 17.8 miles (28.6 km) from the Thames. There was once a corn mill sited next to the lock on the towpath side, and although Unstead Mill vanished long ago beneath the factory that now occupies the site with the mill race now filled in, the long tail-race remains witness to its existence. This race runs alongside the towpath by the main Navigation cut for over 300 yards (270 m) and today serves as a pleasant backwater for private houses that back down to it. There were originally two horse bridges here, although only one remains on the towpath today (GR: SU993464). The miller had control of sluices to control water flow. The sluices immediately upstream of the lock gates provide flood control with surplus water escaping along a cut to join the natural course of the Wey just across the water meadows. The mill ground corn until 1906 after which it became a flock mill, and then factories producing various goods. In the early 20th century tolls were collected here for the Navigation trustees from lock users, with the mill taking a 50% commission for their trouble. Move on to the next stretch of the Godalming Navigation: © Wey River 2005 - 2008 |
