Refectory

Godalming

The Refectory is found in the village of Milford, which has a population of approximately four thousand residents. It is situated to the south west of Godalming, and boasts everything an English village needs, including an idyllic environment and buckets of community spirit.

The town of Godalming is situated among some of the finest countryside in southern England, surrounded by beautiful wooded hills scattered with tranquil villages. It dates from Saxon times with records dating back to 899.

Godalming

Saxon Times

The Saxon settlement of Godalming, the name meaning "of the family or clan of Godhelm", was first recorded in the will of King Alfred the Great of Wessex, who died in AD 899. Godhelm and his people had undoubtedly selected this ideal site some two hundred years before Alfred's time yet even today, some twelve hundred years later, the inhabitants of the town are called "Godhelmians".

William the Conqueror's Doomsday Book of 1086 records a thriving community with three watermills. Later the number of mills in the area increased to eight and they played an important part in the industrial growth and prosperity of the town.

Through the centuries the area developed as a centre for the manufacture of woollen cloth, and soon rose in prosperity. The industry reached its peak during the reign of Elizabeth I, and on 25th January 1575, the Queen granted the town borough status. The Arms of Godalming, granted in 1896, incorporate the woolsack.

In addition to the wool trade, with the advent of toll roads Godalming adapted itself quickly into an important staging post, which put the town on a direct Capital to Coast route.

By way of emphasising its prosperity, in 1881 Godalming became the first town in the world to have a public electricity supply.

Peter the Great

In 1698, Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, lodged at the Kings Arms in Godalming.

According to records of the feast, he and his entourage had rather a lot to eat and drink. Landlord James Moon’s delight at having a royal guest soon turned to horror when he realised the Czar had absolutely no intention of paying for their keep, or indeed for the damage from their wild party. Moon’s nightmare was finally over when the Czar’s party moved on to stay with diarist John Evelyn in Deptford, where they stayed for 3 months at his expense and where they also did immeasurable damage, eating and drinking him out of house and home. Evelyn’s bailiff is recorded as describing them as ‘right nasty people’.

General James Oglethorpe

General James Oglethorpe, who lived in Godalming, founded the colony of Georgia in the USA in 1732 with 120 settlers, including many ex-convicts. Fearing that slaves might escape and join their Spanish neighbours and enemies, and turn against them, he arranged for slavery to be banned in Georgia.

The banning of slavery of course reduced the work force available to Georgians, and this was felt to be a constraint on Georgia's early economic growth. Many settlers thus began to oppose Oglethorpe, regarding him as a misguided and "perpetual dictator." Many new settlers soon set their eyes on South Carolina as a less restrictive and, they hoped, a more profitable place to settle. In 1750, after Oglethorpe had left the colony, the ban was lifted.

Jack Phillips

"Jack" Phillips, wireless operator on the ill-fated Titanic, who died at his post aboard the ship on the night she sank, was also born locally.

On the ill-fated day when the Titanic sunk, Phillips had been interrupted in air by the radio operator of the Caliornian warning him the Titanic was surrounded by ice, to which he replied, "Shut up! I am busy, I am working Cape Race!" (sending a backlog of personal messages from passengers through to Cape Race). That particular warning of ice never got reported to the bridge, though it is true that similar warning messages earlier that day had been delivered to the captain and a lookout had been posted.

As the Titanic was sinking, Phillips worked tirelessly to send wireless messages to other ships to enlist their assistance with the rescue of the Titanic's passengers and crew, and he went down with the ship, refusing to leave his post.

Witley and Milford Commons

Witley and Milford Commons, adjacent to the busy A3, are designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a European Special Protection Area, and are an important wildlife habitat of heathland and scrub with woodland fringes. Bronze Age burial mounds and iron workings dating to the 16th and 17th centuries are also found here. During both World Wars the Commons were used as army camps and at its peak housed 20,000 soldiers, which included Canadian and Polish troops.

Milford Common is the area lying to the north of the now truncated Webb and Gasden Lane. An old baseball ground used by Canadian troops stationed in the WWII camps on the common can just be discerned close to Webb Road and not far from the access to Witley Centre car park. Milford Cemetery is located in the northeastern corner of the common.

Secretts

Close to Milford House on the Portsmouth Road is a thriving horticultural business. Founded by Frederick Augustus Secrett, the business of the same name was launched in 1908 in Kew, London where a market garden was developed on 20 acres of land purchased for £1,000 using a loan provided by his father. As the business expanded so it needed to move to larger farms, and after several relocations Secretts was established in 1937 at Hurst Farm, Milford where it has prospered ever since. Secrett was a highly respected horticulturalist who won several Royal Horticultural Society Gold Medals and worked as an advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture during the war years.

Two years later the family's fields of flowers were ploughed over to provide much needed acreage for the growing of food crops to support the war effort. The Secrett family had been growing tulips and daffodils alongside food crops since 1915, a luxury crop that was not to be reintroduced until 1950 when wartime restrictions were eased allowing the farm to reintroduce its flower production. The farm was now cultivating fields covering 300 acres and a half-acre greenhouse was built for the production of salad crops and cut flowers.

Mousehill Green, Milford, in 1927

Mike Taylor writes:

 

This picture is of Mousehill Green, Milford. I remember it from 1953 onwards, but this picture obviously predates that.
The green was often used for fairgrounds. The shop by the road was the Delicatessen, now a craft shop I think, not sure though

 

The Refectory as home to the Rosemead Herd

The Refectory in Milford has a particularly varied history. The building has been used for a range of purposes - in the 1930’s, for instance, the site was home to a famous herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle.

The Rosemead Herd of Aberdeen Angus Cattle was established in 1936 by Percy Stovold, already a successful cattle breeder, who realised the Aberdeen Angus potential on Surrey's light land.

His father seriously questioned the viability and suitability of the Aberdeen Angus, so having purchased a herd in Perth, Scotland, young Percy had to hide them for two years

in what is now the Refectory.

To his father’s consternation and amazement, in 1938 the herd toured the English shows, winning many of them, including the Royal Show. The herd grew during the decades to become one of the largest herds in the country, and is still going strong to this day, though thankfully is now quartered elsewhere.

The Refectory as an antique shop

The site of The Refectory was also once inhabited by antique dealer Charles Sneyers and during his occupation was stocked full of fine old English furniture and, his personal favourite, early clocks. Here it is in 1955