Salvation Army Hall, Godalming

Godalming is an ancient town with mainly industrial origins, which were conducive to the spread of Nonconformism. Attendances at conventicles exceeded those at the parish church, St Peter and St Paul's, where the Anglo-Catholic views of the priest in the late 17th century did not represent the majority of inhabitants, who were "overwhelmingly Puritan in belief and practice". Numerous informal Nonconformist groups developed in and around Godalming at this time. One such group was Congregationalists, which had a sufficient following by 1730 they acquired land on Hart's Lane and built a chapel. The congregation "may be considered ... the lineal representative of the conventicle of the reign of…

The walls of the building are of Bargate stone rubble. There are brick dressings to the stonework and rusticated quoins, and the façade is of brick laid in the Flemish bond pattern and painted over. The three-bay façade faces Mint Street and is topped by a gabled pediment with an entablature. There are three bays to the side elevations as well. The entrance is centrally placed with one window (set into an architrave) on each side. The rear and side elevations have arched windows, unlike those at the front which are straight-headed. Inside, when inspected in the 1990s, a pulpit stood on the north wall between the windows, and there had been a gallery on the south wall which was replaced with…