Here is the latest in series of profiles of Godhelmians of the past: Godalming's Great and Not-So-Good.

We live in an old town with a rich and fascinating history, a history shaped by the individuals who lived through it and helped make Godalming the town it is today.

This series tells the stories of some of our better-known residents.

Want to add to the list? Is there someone from the town whose achievements you think we should celebrate - or deplore? Let us know by email or via our Facebook page. On a dark November night just like this, a little over 200 years ago, a double murder was committed in Godalming. Two men stood trial for it: two men were hanged on a gallows erected on the Lammas Lands. The victims were George Chennell, 62, a shoemaker, and his 61-year old housekeeper, Elizabeth Wilson. The scene of the crimes was a house at 68 High Street, the site now partially occupied by Waterstone's bookshop. The victims' bodies were found at around 7.30 on the morning of Tuesday, November 11th 1817. Contemporary reports describe how Mrs Wilson was found "lying on the floor of the kitchen with her throat cut in a shocking manner and her head broken" and Mr Chennell was found upstairs, "on his bed in the chamber facing the street, with fractured skull and cut throat". Even more shocking to the modern reader, one of the men arrested and charged with the terrible murder was George Chennell's son, also called George. The locals were probably not so surprised at the time though, as George junior was known to have "dissolute habits" and frequently argued with his father, and threatened both him and the housekeeper. The other man charged was William Chalcraft, a cart driver who worked for Mr Chennell senior. The pair were carted off to the jail and languished there until August 12th the following year, when they appeared at the Guildford Assizes. A contemporary report of the court case describes George Chennell as about 37 years of age, about 5ft 10in tall and strongly built. He wore a piece of black velvet round his neck, a yellow waistcoat with dark stripes, and a frock coat. William Chalcraft appeared to be about 50 years old. The trial caused a sensation in Godalming, which was deserted for much of its duration as the locals travelled to Guildford to watch the case unfold. A report of the trial said at the time: "At a very early hour of the morning the street in front of the Court House, Guildford, was crowded and it is figuratively stated that scarcely 100 inhabitants were left in Godalming." The court heard that the late Mr Chennell was a respectable tradesman, working as a shoemaker and leather seller, and also kept a small farm. He was described as old, quiet and unoffensive, and possessed of some wealth. Elizabeth Wilson, his housekeeper, lived in the house with him. Chennell junior lived in lodgings elsewhere in the town, but was said to visit for meals. Witnesses give evidence.

Evidence was given by several townsfolk about the circumstances surrounding the murders.

Charlotte Hales, the landlady of the Little George pub next door, and William Henry Coston, a baker and neighbour on the other side, said they had heard nothing unusual during the night of the murder, although the partition walls, on both sides, were very thin.

Other witnesses described to the court how the bodies had been discovered.

Surgeon William Parson said he considered that Mr Chennell's throat must have been cut, after he had suffered several blows from the hammer.

John Keen, son of the Keeper of the House of Correction at Guildford, said he had visited the house on the morning of the murders and found a hammer marked with blood.

Godalming Constable Isaac Woods produced the hammer, and a knife stained with blood.

The court was told that Mr Chennell's till had been broken open and he was found with some of the money from the till in his pockets. A search of Chennell junior's lodgings revealed two £1 notes spattered with blood and 14 shillings in a tin.

Various witnesses, including the landlord of The Three Lions, gave evidence that Chennell junior was short of cash in the days leading up to the murders.

The court was also told that on the night of the murder Chennell junior had been drinking in The Richmond Arms, leaving at 10 past nine and heading for his father's home.

One unfortunate woman was caught up in the whole scheme: Sarah Hurst said she had met Chalcraft earlier that day and he had asked her to meet him in the High Street later. He told her to stand in front of Mr Chennell's house and keep watch.

He and Chennell junior went into the house while she walked up and down outside. She said she heard a "screech" before Chalcraft came out and said: "We have done for them both". He had blood on the sleeves of his frock coat, she said.

The following day he had offered her £4 to keep quiet about what she had witnessed.

The evidence was sufficient to convict the pair, the jury returning its verdict in about two minutes. The sentence: death by hanging, their bodies to be given to medical science for dissection.

The execution.

At 9am on August 14th, 1818 the bell rang out at the Prison House in Guildford and the prisoners were brought out with irons on their feet, with the rope with which they were to be hanged tied around them. Chennell was dressed in a black jockey coat, striped waistcoat and grey pantaloons; Chalcraft was wearing a new smock frock.The pair were placed on a cart, either side of the Rev Mr West: placed in the back were the steps they would be ascending to the gallows. In the front was the executioner, carrying a drawn sword, with two prison officers either side of him. Huge crowds lined the route of their journey back to Godalming, many of them labourers in straw hats and smocks. The procession arrived at the gallows, which had been erected on the Lammas Lands (then known as Common Meadows) at about 11am. When the cart stopped under the gallows the Rev Mr Mann, of Horsemonger Lane Gaol, asked the condemned men if they wanted to confess: both declined. Rev Mann ascended the platform and said a prayer, "at which Chalcraft became very agitated, and his fellow prisoner somewhat moved" according to a contemporary report. The platform was duly pulled away and the gallows did its work. The bodies hung for an hour before being cut down and given to two Godalming surgeons. But before the surgeons carried them away, the bodies were put into a wagon and carried slowly and silently back into Godalming, followed by police and prison officers and throngs of townsfolk. On reaching the late Mr Chennell's house the procession stopped and the bodies were carried in and laid on the kitchen floor. They were left on the spot for the remainder of the day, where thousands of local people pressed in to view them. Mr Chennell senior and Mrs Wilson were both buried at the parish church of St Peter and St Paul. The beam from the gallows was later used as a rafter in the spire, and was exposed during restoration work.

A rubbing of the inscription hangs in the ringing chamber, a gruesome reminder of the last public hanging carried out in Surrey.