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 Friends Meeting House cause where a Friends meeting house (still in use) was opened in 1676. Patching inherited Binscombe Manor in the late 1650s and held regular Quaker meetings at a barn on the estate. A Quaker burial ground was established next to it in 1659. Fox himself preached at Binscombe, as did other early Quaker leaders. Describing a journey into Surrey in 1655, Fox wrote "we passed on [from Reigate] to Thomas Patching's, of Binscombe in Godalming, where we had a meeting, to which several Friends came from London". Patching was arrested in 1660 for failing to pay parish tithes, and died