borough covers about of land in the centre and west of the county. The market town of Guildford accounts for about half the population, and there is one other large urban centre: the towns of Ash and Tongham and their surrounding estates have about 18,000 residents. The rest of the borough is largely rural, characterised by Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty associated with the North Downs interspersed with ancient, affluent villages. The present borough of Guildford is dominated by the town of Guildford itself. The ancient county town of Surrey is situated at the point where the River Wey cuts through the North Downs. Several transport routes also converge at this point, such as the Harrow Way (an ancient trackway), the old London–Portsmouth Road and various railway lines. The town has been important for centuries. It was an ancient borough, the site of a Dominican friary (demolished) and a castle (extant), and a royal charter and a market were first recorded in the 13th century. Alongside these, there were three ancient parish churches—all of which survive. St Mary's retains its 11th-century tower and was extended in the 12th and 13th centuries. Holy Trinity and St Nicholas' have both been rebuilt but still have some 13th-century features. The latter also has a private chapel, the Loseley Chapel, commemorating occupants of the nearby Loseley Park manor house. The town expanded over time, especially from the 19th century when the railways arrived, and the neighbouring village of Stoke (with its 14th-century church, St John the Evangelist's) became part of the urban area. Particularly in the Victorian era, many more Anglican churches were provided as the population grew: Christ Church (1868), St Saviour (1899), Emmanuel (1904), and one each in the suburban villages of Burpham (St Luke's, 1859) and Merrow (St John the Evangelist's, a 12th-century church completely rebuilt in 1842). As Guildford grew still further in the 20th century, churches were opened in the Onslow Village, Westborough and Wood Street Village areas and on the Park Barn and Bellfields housing estates. A second church in Burpham was one of several inexpensive buildings designed for Anglican congregations in Surrey by David Evelyn Nye in the 1960s. "Bright, cheerful and well suited to modern needs", they were operationally flexible and architecturally distinctive. Within the borough, the churches at Wood Street and Bellfields were also designed by Nye. Guildford town is surrounded by ancient villages, both