George Abbot, the son of a humble cloth worker rose, by way of Balliol college, Oxford, Bishop of the successive dioceses of Lichfield, Coventry and London to become Archbishop of Canterbury in 1611.

In 1619 he founded the Hospital of the Blessed Trinity on the High Street of Guildford. The hospital was founded for the care of elderly Guildfordians and is still used for that purpose today.

Above the oak door of the hosptal are the coat of arms of Abbot and the See of Canterbury. In one of the towers above the gatway is the room in which James Duke of Monmouth slept on the way to being taken to London for his execution in 1685.