Lewis Carroll, the author of 'Alice in Wonderland', whose real name was the Rev Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, was a frequent visitor to Guildford. He installed his sisters in a house called The Chestnuts on Castle Hill in September 1868 and he always spent Christmas with them.  He brought child friends to stay there, photographed them and the children of Guildford friends in the garden, took part in amateur theatricals and went for long walks, on one of which the line of verse which was to become the last line in 'The Hunting of the Snark' came into his head.  Occasionally he preached in St Mary’s church.  As far as is known he was usually on holiday when in Guildford, and none of his imaginative writing was worked on there.  Nonetheless Guildford has a good claim to be, after Oxford, the place most associated with his adult life.  At least by the time the centenary of his birth was being celebrated in 1932 Guildford was conscious of the significance of the distinguished former occupant of The Chestnuts, and the profits of the celebrations in the town went towards the placing of a plaque on one of the gateposts in Castle Hill.  The occasion of the unveiling on 24 May 1933 was ceremonious and attended by several members of the Dodgson family.

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