Broadwater Virtual Tour and School History

Farncombe is mentioned in the eleventh century Domesday Survey. Godalming developed because of the success of the wool trade and its attendant industries, so Farncombe was developed for the houses of local merchants wishing to invest their profits in property. Broadwater House, owned by the Marshall family, was built on land which now forms the school playing fields. The house was finally demolished in the early 1960s and the only surviving buildings of the Estate are the workers’ cottages beside Broadwater Lake. The remainng grounds are now occupied by Godalming Leisure Centre, with its swimming pool, squash and tennis courts, and golf course, as well as by Guildford and Godalming Rugby Club.

The school is situated in extensive grounds in an attractive setting beside the lake of the same name, on the edge of the village of Farncombe, two miles from the centre of Godalming. The school has been part of Godalming life from its early days as “Meadrow School” which opened in the 1870s, and since its opening on the present site in 1959 as an extension to Meadrow. In 1966 the buildings were extended to house the whole school and in 1970 it became an 11-16 mixed comprehensive school.

Although Broadwater House and the Estate have disappeared, Broadwater School continues, through the provision of adult education, as the main centre for music in S.W. Surrey, extensive leisure facilities, links through the PTA, the Lions and Rotary Clubs, industry and commerce, to be the very centre of a vibrant local community.