So very Surrey

Great names of the past are recalled in three magnificent properties

PERHAPS best known to COUNTRY LIFE readers as the setting for the early collaborations between the architect Edwin Lutyens and the plantswoman and garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, the ancient town of Godalming, six miles south of Guildford in south-west Surrey, lies in a great valley of green meadows, with the River Wey meandering through and wooded hills rising all around, on the spurs of which the outlying parts of the town are scattered.

At some point in the 11th century, the manor of Godalming was divided into two. The principal part was the King’s Manor, which was held by the Bishops of Salisbury from 1221 until the Dissolution and sold by Elizabeth I in the early 1500s to George More of Loseley Park, whose direct descendants still own the estate. The second part, including the hamlet of Tuesley, was known as the Rectory Manor, which was granted to Salisbury Cathedral by Henry I in the early 12th century, and remained with the Dean and Chapter until the mid 19th century. Leased by the Cotillion family for much of that time, the manor was transferred in 1846 to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who began to break up and sell off the estate in the early 1860s.

Currently for sale through the Guildford office of Knight Frank (01483 617916) at a guide price of £4.95 million, the present Tuesley Manor dates from the 15th century, and, according to Historic England, was re-clad and extended in the 16th, late 17th and 19th centuries. Discreetly located off Tuesley Lane, 1½ miles south of Godalming and six miles from Guildford, the house has been further extended and upgraded by the present owners, who bought it in 2002.