page_title: List of places of worship in the Borough of Guildford
section_title: Overview of the borough and its places of worship
hierarchical_section_title: List of places of worship in the Borough of Guildford / Overview of the borough and its places of worship
caption_attribution_description: West Horsley Methodist Church, The Street, West Horsley, Borough of Guildford, Surrey, England.
context_page_description: As of 2020, the Borough of Guildford has more than 100 current and former places of worship. Of those standing, 83 are in use by various Christian denominations and Jews, 21 have been converted to secular uses. Guildford is one of 11 local government districts in the English county of Surrey—a significantly net-reduced county following reforms of 1889 and 1965 immediately south of London which features the Surrey Hills AONB, market towns, ancient villages, green spaces and 20th-century suburbs. The ancient and important town of Guildford, which gives the borough its name, is also the county town.
  The latest census show that the majority of residents are Christian. The Church of England – the country's Established Church – has the most churches. The Catholic Church, Methodists, Baptists and the United Reformed Church have congregations, some of which share buildings with other denominations. Quakers have convened in Guildford since the 17th century; the Congregational movement had a large following in the area; and Brethren have a few surviving meeting places around Guildford town.
context_section_description: Guildford is the second largest local government district in the county of Surrey, and the most populous: there were approximately 134,400 residents in 2007 and 137,183 at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2011.  The borough covers about 104 square miles (270 km²) of land in the centre and west of the county.  The market town of Guildford accounts for about half the population, and there is one other large urban centre: the towns of Ash and Tongham and their surrounding estates have about 18,000 residents.  The rest of the borough is largely rural, characterised by Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty associated with the North Downs interspersed with ancient, affluent villages.
  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 b
caption: West Horsley Methodist Church is one of many 19th-century Nonconformist chapels in the borough.
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