Guildford
See also Guildford, Western Australia and Guildford, British Columbia.
Guildford is the county town of Surrey, England, as well as being the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region. Being in a very sandy area, Guildford is probably named after a golden ford in the River Wey which existed in Saxon times.
History
Alfred Atheling, son of King Ethelred II, had been living in Normandy during the Danish invasion of Saxon England. After Canute died, in around 1040, he returned to England where he was met and entertained in Guildford by the Earl Godwine who handed him to Harold Harefoot's men who blinded and mutilated him, so that he died not long afterward.
There is a 12th century Norman castle, which was built as an overnight resting place as the southernmost point of the Windsor hunting park. It was visited on several occasions by King John and King Henry III. Today only the keep, restored in 2004, remains. The rest of the grounds are a pleasant public garden.
From the 14th century to the 18th century the town prospered with the wool trade.
Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass lived in Guildford.
Guildford was made a diocese in 1927, and Guildford Cathedral was consecrated in 1961.
On October 5, 1974, bombs planted by Provisional IRA terrorists went off in two Guildford pubs, killing five civilians. The pubs were apparently targeted because soldiers sometimes visited them, although pubs are obviously not a military target. The subsequently arrested suspects, to become known as the Guildford Four, were convicted and sentenced to prison. They claimed they had been tortured by the police and denied involvement in the bombing. They were released in 1989 when it was made clear that the conviction had been based on false evidence, so the four were in fact innocent.
Facilities
In the 21st century Guildford is a typical modern English town, with shopping malls (such as the Friary Centre, which is next to the bus station), an Odeon cinema, and with the standard national and international shops present. It also has the usual traffic problems of most British towns. There are two railway stations (Guildford main line station, near the Friary Centre, and London Road Guildford) which provide a convenient link to London Waterloo for commuters, and the main line station also connects to Portsmouth, Reading, Epsom and Gatwick airport. There is a small museum in the town centre and a nationally successful sports centre in Stoke park which is home to the Guildford Flames ice hockey team. The University of Surrey is situated to the north-west of the town centre, about ten minutes' walk from Guildford main line train station.
It is a market town with the market being held on Fridays and Saturdays. A farmers' market is usually held on the first
Tuesday of each month.
Politics
In 2002, Guildford's application to be granted the status of a city was unsuccessful, losing out to Preston, the only English town being formally recognised as a city as part of the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations.
Politically, Guildford is thought of as a traditional "Conservative" constituency. The first election of the 21st century returned a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament, Sue Doughty, though the 2003 Borough Council elections returned a majority council for theConservatives, replacing a Liberal Democrat-controlled council.
Leisure
Guildford has the which is a national prizewinning sports centre (pools, ice rink, bowls, athletics track as well as general halls); The Civic Hall, a council run auditorium used amongst other things for concerts (pop, classical and comedy) closed in January 2004 awaiting long-term replacement; The Electric Theatre, a theatre opened in 1997 to host performances by musicians and amateur drama groups; The River Wey, and the Guilfest music festival.
Guildford is also the home of the famous games company Lionhead Studios.
Miscellaneous
Ford Prefect from the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams pretends to be from Guildford, while in fact he was born near Betelgeuse.
