Surrey
Surrey has a population of approximately 1.1 million people. Its largest town is Guildford, with a population of 77,057 (2011 census); Woking is second with 62,796. They are followed by Ewell with 39,994 people and Camberley with 30,155. Towns of between 25,000 and 30,000 inhabitants are Ashford, Epsom, Farnham, Staines and Redhill. Guildford is the historic county town, although the county administration was moved to Newington in 1791 and to Kingston upon Thames in 1893. The county council's headquarters have been outside the county's boundaries since 1 April 1965, when Kingston and other areas were included within Greater London by the London Government Act 1963.
List of places of worship in the Borough of Guildford
The present borough of Guildford is dominated by the town of Guildford itself. The ancient county town of Surrey is situated at the point where the River Wey cuts through the North Downs. Several transport routes also converge at this point, such as the Harrow Way (an ancient trackway), the old London–Portsmouth Road and various railway lines. The town has been important for centuries. It was an ancient borough, the site of a Dominican friary (demolished) and a castle (extant), and a royal charter and a market were first recorded in the 13th century. Alongside these, there were three ancient parish churches—all of which survive. St Mary's retains its 11th-century tower and was extended in the 12th and 13th centuries. Holy Trinity and St Nicholas' have both been rebuilt but still have some 13th-century features. The latter also has a private chapel, the Loseley Chapel, commemorating occupants of the nearby Loseley Park manor house. The town expanded over time, especially from the 19th century when the railways arrived, and the neighbouring village of Stoke (with its 14th-century church, St John the Evangelist's) became part of the urban area. Particularly in the Victorian era, many more Anglican churches were provided as the population grew: Christ Church (1868), St Saviour (1899), Emmanuel (1904), and one each in the suburban villages of Burpham (St Luke's, 1859) and Merrow (St John the Evangelist's, a 12th-century church completely rebuilt in 1842). As Guildford grew still further in the 20th century, churches were opened in the Onslow Village, Westborough and Wood Street Village areas and on the Park Barn and Bellfields housing estates. A second church in Burpham was one of several inexpensive buildings designed for Anglican congregations in Surrey by David Evelyn Nye in the 1960s. "Bright, cheerful and well suited to modern needs", they were operationally flexible and architecturally distinctive. Within the borough, the churches at Wood Street and Bellfields were also designed by Nye.
Guildford town is surrounded by ancient villages, both in the countryside and on the main road and rail routes into it. Although ribbon development has turned some into low-density suburbs, many retain their centuries-old parish churches. For example, East and West Horsley and East and West Clandon form "a suburban chain from Guildford to Leatherhead", but the Clandons have well-preserved Norman and 13th-century churches, and the Horsleys' churches have a Saxon tower and 11th- and 12th-century fabric respectively. Southeast of here, but more isolated and very popular with tourists, the cluster of villages around the River Tillingbourne at the west end of the Vale of Holmesdale supports a range of Anglican churches. The landmark St Martha's Church, a ruined 12th-century church rebuilt in 1848, stands on St Martha's Hill north of Chilworth. St James's Church at Shere, "second to none in Surrey for beauty and antiquarian interest", is principally 11th- and 12th-century, and Albury's original parish church in Albury Park may predate the Norman conquest of England. The centre of population moved, though, and a new church was built in 1842. Holmbury St Mary and Peaslake both have 19th-century churches as well: formerly chapels of ease to Shere, the architecturally impressive buildings date from 1879 and 1889 respectively. Nearby, a 19th-century barn in the even more isolated hamlet of Farley Green was converted into a church after being presented to the parish of Albury. Elsewhere in the borough, medieval churches (restored to various degrees in the Victorian era) survive in the villages of Compton, Effingham, Ockham, Pirbright, Puttenham, Ripley, Seale, Send, Shalford, Wanborough, Wisley and Worplesdon. Ash and Tongham, now part of the Blackwater Valley conurbation, also retain their old parish churches.
Roman Catholic worship was outlawed for many years until the end of the 18th century, although some owners of country estates covertly kept the faith. The Guildford Catholic Mission began in 1857 when the priest from St Edward's Church, Sutton Park began to celebrate Mass above a shop. In 1860 St Joseph's Church was built; it was replaced by a larger church on a different site in 1984. The west of Guildford is served by St Mary's Catholic Church, which dates from 1964 but whose origins lie in a Mass centre opened at Rydes Hill Preparatory School, a Catholic private school. The suburbs of Burpham and Merrow gained Catholic churches of their own in 1960 and 1973 respectively, although Burpham's closed in 2003 and St Pius X's Church at Merrow now serves both areas. The Church of the Holy Angels (1934) serves the Ash area, and the "nicely composed and well detailed" Church of Our Lady of Sorrows opened in Effingham in 1913. A small church served Catholics in the Gomshall area from the 1960s until 2007, although it remains in religious use as a Coptic Orthodox church. Most of the money was raised locally—especially by means of regular bingo games in nearby Shere, resulting in its nickname of "Bingo Chapel".
Protestant Nonconformism was strong in the area in the 19th century, and many chapels associated with Nonconformist denominations survive—although not all remain in religious use. An Independent chapel was built in 1802 in the centre of Guildford; it later became associated with the Congregational movement, and after a large new Congregational church opened in 1863 it became a Sunday school before being converted into a restaurant. Guildford Congregational Church on North Street was demolished and replaced by the present United Reformed Church building nearby in 1965. A Congregational chapel was founded in Gomshall in 1825 and is still used by the United Reformed Church. Elsewhere, there were Congregational chapels or mission halls at Compton (1876), Normandy (Willey Green) (1825), Holmbury St Mary (Felday Chapel; 1825), Pirbright (1868) and Rydes Hill (1862). All have closed, but the 1822 chapel at Worplesdon remains in use as a United Reformed Church and in 1985 the former telephone exchange at Normandy was converted into a chapel to replace the building at Willey Green. Westborough and Bellfields in Guildford also have United Reformed congregations, the latter as part of St Peter's Shared Church which is also used by Anglicans.