Guildford Lodge (c1870)

The land for Guildford Lodge was initially bought in about 1870 by the local Methodist congregation to build a new chapel. Unfortunately, the building work was abandoned after it was discovered that their lease prevented them from building a public building on the site. The partially finished building was completed as a large 7 bedroom private house called Guildford Lodge, by John Young. Young was an architect and may have designed the final form of the building.

John died in 1910 and the family sold the house about the same year. By the 1920s it belonged to Lt. Col. William Kenneth Eustace Jameson, who would go on to serve in the First World War with the Royal Field Artillery, fighting in Egypt and Palestine for about 4 years.

It was bought by Brentwood Council in 1927 for use as council offices, since the town hall was too small and in 1930 was converted into the town library - although it was only used for this purpose for 4 years. It seems to have been back in private hands in the 1950s when it belonged to the Laver family. The building was demolished before 1989 and replaced with flats.