Guildford

Guildford is a big town located in Surrey, England, 27 miles (43 km) southwest of London on the A3 trunk road midway between the capital and Portsmouth. The town has a population of around 80,000 and is the seat of Guildford's larger district, which in 2015 had an estimated 146,100 inhabitants. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the building of the Wey Navigation and the Basingstoke Canal linked Guildford to a network of waterways that helped its growth. Guildford is now officially becoming the south-western tip of the Greater London Built-up Area, as described by the National Statistics Office, due to recent development running north from Guildford and linking to the Woking area.

Education

The campus of the University of Surrey is in Guildford. In 1966, the Battersea College of Technology (previously called Battersea Polytechnic Institute) moved to town to obtain a Royal Charter to award its own degrees and to change its name to its current title. The town houses the inaugural campus of the University of Law and the Guildford School of Acting. Many Guildford institutions include the Guildford College of Further and Higher Education (which also occupies the site of the former Guildford School of Art), Academy of Contemporary Music and the Italia Conti Arts Centre.