specifically forbids public gatherings on the night of December 21. In the 11th Century a new parish church was built on recently drained land by the river in Godalming town. The oldest part of the Church of S.S. Peter & Paul – the Anglo-Saxon chapel – still survives today and in it can be seen an ancient stone (c.820AD) decorated with pagan carvings which is thought to have been brought down from the original 7th Century chapel at Tuesley on the hill. Christian era Godalming Hundred continues to be one of the most densely wooded parts of England and until the Middle Ages was largely covered by the Forest of Essera – a northern lobe of the ancient and vast Forest of Andred. People survived through pig farming and the making of charcoal. During the reign of Alfred the Great a defensive burgh was built at nearby Eashing to defend the area against the Vikings in around 885. By 1086 the population of the entire hundred is thought to have been only about 600 people. Under the West Saxon local government model Godalming Hundred would have had a Hundred Reeve and a Hundred Court or moot. This moot'' is known to have met at the site of the present day Pepperpot in the centre of Godalming. King Alfred's Will In the will of the West Saxon king Alfred the Great (written c.899), it is recorded that Godalming and neighbouring Guildford are given to his nephew Æthelwold, the surviving son (and heir) of Alfred's older brother and predecessor Athelred I. It is unlikely that Æthelwold ever took possession of Godalming because immediately after Alfred died he rose in revolt in Dorset against Alfred's successor, Edward, before fleeing to the Danelaw and dying in 902. Domesday In 1086 the Domesday Book states that Godalming was owned by the King and had been a royal demesne prior to the Norman Conquest. In particular of the Hundred the Domesday book states; Godalming - Is recorded as being owned by King William I and previously owned by King Edward the Confessor. At the time of the survey it had three mills and two slaves. The Anglo-Saxon lord before 1066 was called Wulfmer "who held it for the king" and he was replaced by Ranulf Flambard by William the Conqueror. The large village was valuable with meadow and woodland for 100 pigs. During the reign of