The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul is a parish church of the Church of England in Godalming, Surrey. The parish is mostly urban and excludes rural outskirts, it includes another church, St Mark's, in which the joint clergy provide less formal and family services. The present building, the oldest in the town, was built in the twelfth century, replacing an earlier Anglo-Saxon church. Two medieval chapels are integrated into the present building. Its core is made from the local sandstone, Bargate stone from the nearby Greensand Ridge, which is found close to the town. Also found around the church is the old Lammas, or 'common', land. The church is set on the town centre thoroughfare, Church Street, in the urban part of the market town that doubles as a commuter and retirement town and is a Grade I-listed building. Social history Origins A church has stood on this site since at least the mid-ninth century. It features several carved stones, which are dated between 820 and 840. A few Anglo Saxon remnants survive in the present structure, which was largely rebuilt in the twelfth century. In 1086, the Domesday Book recorded that Ranulf Flambard, justiciar of William Rufus, held Godalming church. The lammas, or common land, complemented a substantial glebe, the funds from which allowed for a grand and spacious structure to be built. The church in the European wars of religion and English Civil War Godalming, at the end of King Charles the First's reign, was a Calvinistic stronghold. The vicar at that time, known as Dr. Andrews, was ejected from his living in 1640, and the town welcomed the Calvinistic preacher, Thomas Edwards. As he travelled the 30 miles from London, via the Portsmouth Road, three or four times a week, he would preach to people at certain points along the road. Some of the land around the church and the town belonged to Salisbury Cathedral, and due to the diversity of important clergymen who owned the land, in the seventeenth century 'Godalming' became a byword for piety. A proverb of the time says: He that shall say well, do well, and think well in mind, Shall as soon come to heaven, as they that dwell at Godalming. Rectory The rectory, which was considered a manor, was not owned by the church. Therefore, its lay owner appointed a vicar in 1066 named Ulmaer, who held it