Godfrey first settled in
Buxted in 1915, and then moved his practice from London in 1932 to live and have his offices in Lewes House, on
Lewes High Street. He was regarded as one of the outstanding
conservation architects of his generation, though his interventions are thorough and often unscholarly. He restored and adapted a number of important historic buildings and gardens, chiefly in
Sussex and the
Weald. They include the
Anne of Cleves House Museum in
Lewes, Sussex; The Garth, Lingfield in Surrey (1919), where he converted the Old Workhouse (1729) into a residential dwelling and designed the surrounding gardens;
Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex (1933), where his major reconstruction of the interior was in the view of
Nikolaus Pevsner executed 'exemplarily'; Charleston Manor, Sussex (1928);
Horselunges Manor,
Hellingly, Sussex;
Michelham Priory, Sussex; Plawhatch Hall and
Kidbrooke Park (today
Michael Hall School), both near East Grinstead, East Sussex; and Rymans at
Apuldram, West Sussex. In London, following war damage in
the Blitz, he restored
Chelsea Old Church (1953–55) and the historic
Temple Church (1947–57); also
Crosby Hall, London, reconstructed in Chelsea incorporating elements of the house of
Thomas More. Other notable buildings he restored include the Memorial Chapel at
Eton College;
Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire; Old Surrey Hall, Dormansland, Surrey; Goldings in
Hertford, Hertfordshire; and many churches, notably in Sussex. In the
Cotswolds, his commissions included adaptations to
Sudeley Castle and Little Barrow (largely a new work),
Donnington, both in
Gloucestershire, and
Burford Priory, in
Oxfordshire. ==Author==