St Mary's Church, Guildford

(about 1824)]] A stone Anglo-Saxon church built in about 1040 AD the tower of which still stands today, St Mary's Church is believed to stand on the same site as Guildford's first church which was probably a small timber structure built in about 600 AD. St Mary's Church tower, which is built of rough flint, is the oldest surviving piece of architecture in Guildford In about 1120 the canons of Merton Priory acquired St Mary's and rebuilt the church giving it the cross-shaped plan present today. In the 1140s the St John's chapel was added to the south of the church. Much of the present building dates from the 1180s. The chancel had an apse until it was demolished in 1825. In the 14th century…

In 1825 the chancel was shortened to allow for the adjacent Quarry Street to be widened. In 1862 St Mary's was restored by Thomas Goodchild (died 1885) when the stonework was renewed and the gallery removed. Goodchild's restoration did not eliminate the 11th- and 12th-century fabric of the ancient parish church. The whole of the exterior of the walling (excepting that of the tower and the east wall, which is of chalk) has been encased with flint, and all the buttresses are Victorian except one. The west window of the north aisle is by the Royal Bavarian Art Institute for Stained Glass and dates from about 1850. The baptismal font is Victorian and has a square bowl of clunch with scalloped…