A HISTORY OF SURREY 



chalk mantelpieces with straight-sided four-centred 

 heads and some good late 16th-century panelling of a 

 plain kind. The usher's wing retains its old beams, 

 moulded with a quarter roll and an ogee. In this 

 wing is a chained library, containing a considerable 

 number of volumes, but the fittings are all new. The 

 two wings last described are of three stories, the 

 ground floor being somewhat lower than that of the 

 south wing. The library wing is a rough-cast half- 

 timber structure with a stone front, and the back 

 wall is carried upon two heavy chamfered posts. The 



HIGH STREET, GUILDFORD 



ground floor of this wing, originally intended to be 

 open to the court, is now inclosed to form cloak- 

 rooms, &c. On the court side of the library are 

 two windows with ogee moulded jambs, heads, and 

 wooden mullions which were discovered under the 

 rough-cast during some recent repairs. The main front 

 on the street consists of the gabled ends of the east 

 and west wings and the wall connecting them, which 

 is gabled in the centre and is of Bargate stone. The 

 two side wings are buttressed and string-courses are 

 run across the elevation and serve as labels to the 



windows. In the middle of the wall is a doorway 

 to the court with a four-centred head and its original 

 door of oak in small panels with a fluted lunette. 

 Over the door is a carved stone panel with the royal 

 arms and the inscription : ' Schola Regia Gram- 

 maticalis Edwardi Sexti." Over this is the library 

 window of six mullioned and transomed lights with 

 a square label. The two side wings have had similar 

 windows, but not transomed, and of four lights, on four 

 stories. There are also two-light attic windows in the 

 three gables. The gables have brick-coped parapets 

 and small terra-cotta balls 

 upon iron spikes as finials. 



Besides the important build- 

 ings in the High Street just 

 described there are many 

 others of early 17th-century 

 date, and even earlier. Several 

 houses, however, were re- 

 fronted about 1700. No. 25 

 is an interesting example of 

 domestic architecture of the 

 early part of the 1 7th century, 

 remodelled at the end of the 

 century, only the staircase and 

 some panelling being left of 

 the original work. The street 

 front belonging to the later 

 date has been much damaged 

 by the insertion of a com- 

 paratively modern shop win- 

 dow, but above this is com- 

 plete. The two upper stories 

 are treated with a single order 

 of Doric pilasters set upon 

 pedestals mainly in plaster, 

 and with wood-framed mul- 

 lioned and transomed windows. 

 At the first-floor level is a 

 simple iron balcony. The 

 rear elevation is hung with 

 tiles made in imitation of 

 brickwork and set in mortar, 

 after a fashion not uncommon 

 in the south of England in 

 this period. On the ground 

 floor is a projecting bay, with 

 rounded corners, 6 decorated 

 with plaster-work. The front 

 room of the ground floor is 

 completely modernized and is 

 occupied by a shop. This 

 opens at the back into the 

 staircase, and beyond this is 

 a back room which is panelled 



with oak in small butted panels of the earlier work. 

 The ceiling is cut up by moulded and enriched ribs 

 of late 17th-century date. The mantelpiece has 

 been removed. The bay has wooden frames and 

 iron casements with leaded glass in square panes. 

 The staircase is of deal ; it is set in a square well and 

 is divided into three short flights with two half 

 landings between each floor. The newels are square, 

 surmounted by enriched urns, and have carved pen- 

 dants. The handrail is heavy, simply moulded, 

 and is without ramps. In place of balusters there 



See r.C.H. Surr. ii, 475. 

 552 



