Main image: The ‘Surrey Scholar’ created by Alan Sly to represent education in Guildford.

by Alex Rose

From the Surrey Scholar to the Sutherland Circle, let’s discover more about what’s around us every day. Guildford, known for its picturesque town centre, is rich in charming scenes and unassuming treasures. Among these are a number of carefully crafted art pieces, each of which has a story of its own.

Perhaps the most well-known of these is the grand statue of George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, erected in April of 1993 at the top of the high street. It was sculpted by local artist Faith Winter, who studied at the Guildford School of Art, and unveiled by Robert Runcie, the then Archbishop of Canterbury. Born in Guildford, 1562, Abbot attended the Royal Grammar School and went on to teach at Oxford University. He was three times Vice-Chancellor of the university and took a leading role in translating the authorised version of the New Testament. Guildford continues to honour Abbot with a hospital, a pub, a secondary school and the towering statue. His tomb can be visited at
Holy Trinity Church.

Another recognisable sculpture of Guildford Town Centre rests at the bottom of the high street. The ‘Surrey Scholar’ depicts a young man holding a number of books and raising his mortarboard hat in a lively running position. It was commissioned for the Golden Jubilee by the University of Surrey, also coinciding with the University’s 35th anniversary. It had the brief of a ‘dynamic’ feel and was raised in 2009, a feat of engineering, as the Scholar balances on one toe on a sloping site. The 11-foot high, bronze sculpture was created by Alan Sly to represent education in Guildford. Interestingly, Alan Sly also sculpted the eye-catching ‘Surrey Stag’ outside the University – designed to represent its logo.

When we take a moment to notice the talent around us and appreciate our local environment, we may be surprised at what we find.

Erected in 2017 and distinctly recognisable, anyone who frequents Sutherland Memorial Park must be familiar with the ‘Sutherland Circle’. This creative steel art piece aims to explore themes of nature; each leaf-shaped structure is ornately decorated with individual natural scenes, including a bird flying over a child in a flower meadow or a robin surrounded by falling autumnal leaves. The structures surround a small cylindrical column with a plaque. It was created by artist Steve Tomlinson in close collaboration with a local school.

‘The Bargeman’, an intriguing sculpture located on Town Wharf, was commissioned by the Guildford Borough Council to celebrate the millennium. Facing the canal, a working
man made of steel coils wears a flat cap and coat and stands in a position to throw a length of looped rope. It was created in 2001 by Andy Quirk and Robert Kranenborg at Utopia Forge and designed to reflect the time when the Wey was a working river.

The Wey itself is a waterway of almost 20 miles connecting Godalming and Surrey with the Thames at Weybridge. The river Wey Navigation was created between 1651 and 1653 to offer Guildford merchants a convenient highway to London. It is one of the oldest river navigations in the country, and today the National Trust manages it as a leisure waterway.

So, it is safe to say that the bargeman represents an important aspect of historical life in Guildford and celebrates the gateway of local trade.

The newest significant public art piece in Guildford is the war memorial at the castle grounds (erected in 2018 and created by David Annand) honouring the lives of the eighteen residents of the town who have died in service since the end of World War 2. The bronze memorial depicts a young man in military uniform holding a plaque engraved with the names of those who died. The figure is surrounded by three arcs, which represent the three services and echo the Norman Architecture of Guildford Castle.

Public art in Guildford, however, doesn’t end there; a number of other pieces can be found throughout Guildford. Lewis Carroll’s impressive influence can certainly be sensed throughout the town for example, with ‘Alice through the looking glass’ and ‘Alice and the White Rabbit’ exemplifying local art. Outside the Odeon cinema, you may well have seen the only wooden sculpture on this list, ‘Rising Stars’, by Steve Geliot, perhaps a cheerful tribute to the stars on the big screen. Other art pieces include the extract from a Walter de la Mare poem on the side of the Parkway Premier Inn, the dancing figures sculpture on the wall of the youth centre at Haydon Place, many interesting statues on the grounds of Surrey University, and, more locally, the green man sculpture on the side of the Burpham Aldi, paying respect to the Green Man pub which stood in the location previously.

Clearly, many creative and captivating gems surround us whilst we go about our daily lives. When we take a moment to notice the talent around us and appreciate our local environment, we may be surprised at what we find.