Godalming Godalming slightly acid only freely draining sandy soil, whereas in the lower parts mentioned above it is slowly permeable loamy/clayey slightly acid but base-rich soil, which area includes the town centre itself. Surrey County Council, headquartered in Kingston, elected every four years, has two councillors from Godalming. Peter Martin, Deputy Leader of the county council and representative of Godalming South, Milford and Witley lives in Godalming. The town is divided into five wards; Binscombe, Central and Ockford, Charterhouse, Farncombe and Catteshall, and Holloway. Godalming has 10 representatives governing the Borough of Waverley, headquartered in Godalming: See Godalming Town Council website
Godalming Hundred recreate a local government unit based on the old hundred borders. The Hundred of Godalming was formed sometime after 825 when Wessex annexed the "south eastern provinces" of Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Essex. Godalming takes its name from the Old English "Godhelm Ingas" meaning "the clan of Godhelm". It is supposed that Godhelm was a Saxon chieftain who first colonised this dry land, bordered by swamps and a steep valley as he and his folk moved up the valley of the River Wey. Archæological evidence indicates that the Iron Age hill fort at Hascombe had been refortified by the Romano-Britons