St Martin's Walk and 145-153 and 155-157 High Street

Image: © Ian Capper Taken: 11 Aug 2017

St Martin's Walk, the High Street frontage of which is on the left of the photo, was completed in 1991. 155-157 High Street, the 3 storey stuccoed building on the right of the photo, along with 159-161 High Street, the largely matching brick building, part of which can be seen to its right, were late 18th/early 19th Century houses and are grade II listed - see www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1028869. Old photos would suggest there was once a third matching building in this group. This is because the building in the centre of the photo, 145-153 High Street, would appear to have once been a smaller building in two ways. The left hand section (with 6 windows at first floor level), currently housing The Original Factory Shop, was until closure in 2008, the Dorking branch of Woolworths. Francis Frith photos from c.1937 www.francisfrith.com/dorking/dorking-high-street-1937_87851 and c.1955 www.francisfrith.com/dorking/dorking-high-street-c1955_d45049 show it as a single storey building, whilst ones from c.1960 www.francisfrith.com/dorking/dorking-high-street-c1960_d45247 and c.1965 www.francisfrith.com/dorking/dorking-high-street-c1965_d45169 shows it with the first storey added. However in all these what is now the right hand section (with 4 windows at first floor level) appears to be a 3 storey building, similar to 155-161 High Street, suggesting that this was subsequently demolished and replaced with an extension of the Woolworths building. A join can be seen in the first floor brickwork between the 6th and 7th window, which is consistent with it being a later addition. The top of the spire of St Martin's Church can be seen behind.

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