Swindon in the Past Lane

Well, things have been pretty busy this week with the launch of The Friends of Lydiard Park petition - Swindon Borough Council: Lydiard House and Park at Risk.

Lydiard House and Park is a unique and hugely valued heritage asset used by thousands of Swindon people and visitors to the town. Swindon Borough Council is proposing to hand over the day to day management and control of Lydiard House and Park to an external commercial organisation which will seek to take profit from the site.

Swindon Borough Council say they are doing this to eliminate Lydiard's annual running cost. The Friends of Lydiard Park believe this can be done without handing over the town's 'crown jewels'.

We the undersigned oppose Swindon Borough Council's plans to hand over Lydiard House and Park to the commercial sector.

The first step was to reach 1,500 signatures, which would see the issue of Lydiard House and Park qualify for debate at a full Council Meeting. Then there was a snag ...

On December 1 came news that the head of legal services at SBC thought there may be a procedural problem as the petition referred to 'plans' rather than 'proposals' and might not qualify for a debate. However, later that day came good news and written confirmation that there will be a debate if and when the petition reached 1,500 signatures.

Following council comments in the local media on December 2 surrounding rumours of the building of an hotel, the Friends issued a new 'red line'.

We oppose

Any arrangement or outcome that results in the construction of, or planning application for, an hotel or any other substantial building, multi story or otherwise, on land within the Grade II listed Lydiard Park or its essential setting, as defined in the HLF documentation.

The online petition is being heavily promoted on social media and the signatures continue to add up. The 1,500 figure was quickly smashed and as of 6.30 am Friday, December 4 the number stands at 2,530.

Read the comments and sign the petition at Swindon Borough Council: Lydiard House and Park at Risk.

An update on the Friends of Lydiard Park petition - Lydiard House and Park at Risk.

The number of signatures now stand at 3,599 and over the weekend Mike Bowden posted some interesting facts and figures.

The Prinnels estate in West Swindon was built in the early 1990s on part of Wick Farm, owned by the St. John family at Lydiard Park until 1943. Built on fields called High Croft and Lower Wick, the area takes its name from the Prinnels, a ten acre field fronting Hay Lane.

It was therefore fitting that town planners turned their attention to the St. John family history when it came to naming the new roadways.

Villiers Close is named after several Villiers connections with the family, in particular Barbara St. John, the daughter of Sir John St. John and his wife Lucy Hungerford, who married Sir Edward Villiers.

Barbara lived through the reign of four monarchs and a Lord Protector. She had seen the union of the English & Scottish crowns and the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, the devastation of the Civil War, the beheading of Charles I, the institution of the Commonwealth and The Restoration Settlement. She died in her eighties in September 1672 and was buried in the north ambulatory near St Paul's Chapel in Westminster Abbey. But it is perhaps her granddaughter, also named Barbara, who is better known.

Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine and Duchess of Cleveland, born in 1640 is famous for her liaison with Charles II. Barbara was already married when she met Charles soon after his return from exile in 1660. Her reign as favourite mistress did not grant the king exclusivity and she gave birth to a number of children of whom Charles is said to have acknowledged five.

Their volatile relationship lasted over fifteen years during which time Barbara, reputedly Charles’ greediest mistress, was made presents of St. James Park and Green Park in London.

Grandison Close owes its name to the 14th century Sybil de Grandison and her husband William who owned the manor of Lydiard Tregoze. The name reappeared in the St. John family history when Oliver, second son of Nicholas St. John and his wife Elizabeth Blount, was created Viscount Grandison of Limerick on January 3, 1620/21.

John Wilmot, the notorious 2nd Earl of Rochester, lends his name to Wilmot Close. John was born in 1647, the son of Anne St. John and her second husband Henry Wilmot. Wilmot famously wrote about Charles II – God bless our good and gracious King/Whose promise none relies on/Who never said a foolish thing/Nor ever did a wise one. The licentious life of poet and playwright Wilmot was portrayed by Johnny Depp in the film The Libertine.

Hungerford Close takes its name from Lucy Hungerford, wife of Sir John St John. Lucy appears in the St. John polyptych in St Mary’s Church, Lydiard Tregoze. She is pictured with her husband, flanked by her six daughters and her son Sir John with his wife Anne Leighton. Three coffins are beneath the sarcophagus on which the couple kneel represent the children who died young. After her husband’s death in 1594 Lucy married a distant cousin, Sir Anthony Hungerford. She had a further three children by her second husband and died on June 4, 1598. A portrait of Lucy hangs in the Drawing Room in Lydiard House.

Walter Close is named after Sir Walter St John, the son of Sir John and his wife Anne Leighton. Sir Walter was elected Member of Parliament for Wiltshire in 1656 and served as an MP for the county and Wootton Bassett until 1695.

Walter spent most of his time at the family home in Battersea where he endowed a school for 20 poor boys. A free school existed as early as 1670 in a house Sir Walter had provided and for which he paid £20 a year in upkeep. In 1700 he confirmed his commitment to the school when he bought 31 acres of land in the Parish of Camberwell near Peckham Rye Common costing £570. The income from these lands would fund the school. After a number of changes across 286 years, including an amalgamation with a neighbouring school, Sir Walter St. John’s eventually closed in 1986.

The beautiful Frances Winchcombe was the first wife of politician Sir Henry St John, arguably the most famous of the family. Neglected and abandoned, Frances lends her name to Winchmore Close. There are two portraits of Lady Frances in the Drawing Room at Lydiard House.

But probably the most familiar name of all is Lady Diana Spencer, an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales, who is commemorated in the Dressing Room at Lydiard House and in the naming of Spencer Close. Diana was a talented artist and her commissions included work for the Wedgwood potter. Sadly, she is better remembered for her affair with Topham Beauclerk and subsequent divorce from husband Frederick St. John.

Barbara St John - wife of Sir Edward Villiers

Barbara, Countess of Castlemaine

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

Lady Diana Spencer

If you want to see Lydiard House and the fascinating history of the St John family preserved, please think about signing the Friends of Lydiard Park petition - Lydiard House and Park at Risk.

In January 2012 Sophie Cummings, then Collections Manager at Lydiard House, kindly wrote the following blogpost for me.

With so many people suffering from coughs, colds, aches and pains, it seems sensible to turn to Lady Johanna’s Recipe Booke for advice.

The ‘Booke’, which I’ve mentioned a few times before, contains 167 double pages of handwritten recipes, shared between Johanna, her friends, family and staff during the 17th century.

Luckily, Johanna has a number of remedies for coughs, such as:

An opening syrope for a cough

Parsley Fennel & succory rootes march mallow & Hollyhock rootes made clean & the pith taken out each 2 ounces Agrimony Bittony maidenhair scabious Bonewort Lungwort Bawm Coltsfoot Hysope Arins each P: i: raisins stone halfe a pound figs & Liquorish a n a 4 ounces Anniseeds bruised halfe an ounce boyle thes in a Pottle of water til half be consumed make it into syrope with sugar

This is quite representative of Johanna’s recipes. Although a small percentage contain odd ingredients (like snails, snake skin, amber, lead, goose dung, etc) most combine plants, herbs and spices to make syrups, tonics, skin treatments, poultices, plasters and ‘glysters’. As you can see from her ‘Opening Syrope’, she uses seventeen herbs, combined with raisins and figs. The plants are more or less familiar. Most of us are familiar (and even grow) parsley, hollyhocks, fennel and scabious, coltsfoot and lungwort are far less common.

At the moment, we are investigating the plants and spices Johanna used. How many would have been cultivated in her garden, or would have grown wild in the woods, or been bought in London, or imported from abroad? If any of you has a spare half-hour in the library or to search online, I am on the look out for recipes for rosewater, particularly 17th/18th century recipes. Any help would be much appreciated.

Work continued throughout 2012 and in August the Swindon Sixth Sense Youth Theatre Group gave a performance in the Walled Garden of Johanna’s Miracle Garden, written by Mike Akers.

The Education Team at Lydiard Park then had plans to develop further events to stimulate interest and understanding of the incredibly significant Lady Johanna St John and her role in the historical development of biomedical science. Plans included a schools resource pack, family quiz trail and exhibition and in April 2013 a series of lectures took place in the magnificent Grand Hall at Lydiard House under the heading: Science and Superstition: Herbal Remedies and the History of Cures Lecture Series.

The whole project was supported by a Wellcome Trust Arts Award. For more about Lady Johanna and the work that took place in 2012/13 read Sophie’s account on the Wellcome Trust Wellcome History blog.

This was an exciting time at Lydiard House with volunteers engaged in all the various projects from plant investigation to transcribing Lady Johanna’s Booke.

Little more than two years after the exciting Lady Johanna project, and with the recession over according to Cllr Garry Perkins, who this week told the Swindon Advertiser about a major cash injection for Forward Swindon (He [Cllr Perkins] said: "Now the recession is over, Swindon town centre should really be moving into the future.") yet Lydiard House and Park is considered to be untenable without a major cash injection from someone else.

If you care about the future of Lydiard House and Park why not join the Friends of Lydiard Park and please sign the petition, now endorsed by more than 7,000 people.

What better subject for a 'nearly' Christmas post than tales of ghostly happenings in Lydiard House. Like any self respecting ancient property Lydiard House boasts a spectral presence or two. But like a thing of beauty, could the Lydiard House phantoms be just an imaginative figment in the eye of the beholder.

There have been the occasional sighting of a 17th century gentleman roaming the grounds and giving directions to lost visitors, supposedly Sir John St John, first baronet, who died in 1648. Sir John is depicted in portraits in the house and in St Mary's Church he can be seen recumbent on the magnificent Bedstead Monument and portrayed in the St John polyptych he commissioned in memory to his parents.

Now I'm not saying that Sir John wasn't a thoroughly nice man, but my feelings are that he would be more likely to point a musket at visitors wandering about his estate rather than give them a guided tour.

In 1996 Margaret North contributed an article to The Friends of Lydiard Tregoz annual report recalling her time living at the Rectory on Hay Lane when her father Rev William Henry Willetts was Rector at St Mary's. In February 1940 Lady Bolingbroke lay close to death in the crumbling mansion. Margaret was a young student nurse training at the Victoria Hospital, Swindon and visiting her parents when Lady Bolingbroke's condition deteriorated.

"I was at home for a few days and Doctor Oakley Brown who was the Bolingbroke's doctor, called at the Rectory to see if I would spend a night at the mansion as Lady Bolingbroke had had a stroke. I agreed to do so and went to see Lady Bolingbroke with Doctor Oakley Brown. He told Lord Bolingbroke and Mr Hiscock that I would be there all night and as I was young and would need feeding in the night. I did what I could for Lady Bolingbroke, at midnight Lord Bolingbroke came to tell me some supper was ready. I joined the two men in the sitting room. The house was lit by oil lamps and candles and some how the conversation got around to hauntings and queer happenings. I was so scared I did not know how to get up from the table and return to Lady Bolingbroke's room. At last I forced myself to get up and walk up the eerie staircase. Half way up the staircase was a model of a knight in armour and I was supposed to see a hand covered in blood on the wall quite near him, where a murdered man fell and his hand struck the wall. From that day the imprint of the blood stained hand is supposed to be seen. My heart was beating with fear by the time I reached Lady Bolingbroke's room, I closed the door behind me and remained in that room until morning. Lady Bolingbroke died during the following day. I do not think Lord Bolingbroke and Mr Hiscock realised how frightened I really was."

By the 1950s the house and parkland had been purchased by Swindon Corporation and the St John family long departed - or had they?

Joyce Vincent formerly Gough , the daughter of the first caretaker at Lydiard House recalled how - "On another occasion, my sister and I were taking a small party of ten around a tour of the house. It was a late summer's evening and the light was just beginning to fade. Two members of the party were Americans, one was most inquisitive and had to open every door and drawer that he saw, particularly in the library. In the meantime my mother had come in through the back way, with two other people who wanted to join the party. As the nosy American opened the next door in the library, what should he see but the unexpected figure of my mother framed in the doorway, with her snowy white hair and clothed in a pale grey dress! His hands flew up into the air, he gave forth an almighty yell, then collapsed in a heap on the floor, in a deep faint. To add insult to injury, our terrier dog did not take kindly to anyone dancing or running or falling about and proceeded to bite the poor fellow on the rear. I often wonder if this cured him of his nosiness."

But stories of a ghostly presence continued and Joyce adds - "I did not ever see the ghost - but my mother did on many occasions, but only my mother. She said he was very small, dressed in what appeared to be a dark brown cloak. She saw him entering the gun room, sometimes half way up the back staircase in the room that was our kitchen. She said he always seemed to be mischievous."

Beware, visitors to Lydiard Park today - especially nosy Americans!

Sir John St John, 1st Bt

The Rectory - photo courtesy of Roger Ogle

Lady Mary Bolingbroke

An important message from the Friends of Lydiard Park.

We'd like to invite all our supporters who live in and around Swindon to a public meeting on Tuesday 12th January 2016 at 7pm to discuss the future of Lydiard House and Park. The venue will be Lydiard Park Academy, Grange Park Way, Swindon SN5 6HN. Speakers will be from The Friends and councillors from both the Conservative and Labour groups. We look forward to meeting many of you and hearing what you have to say.

Visit the Friends facebook page and share these details with your friends and family.

And don't forget to sign and share the petition Lydiard House and Park At Risk.

In 1837 the St John family was one of the major land and property owners in the parish of Lydiard Tregoze. Along with Lydiard House set in over 200 acres of parkland and various properties in Hook the family owned twelve dairy farms. The farms ranged in size from the twelve acre Hardyman's Farm to 290 acres at Windmill Leaze, the home farm situated at Hook Street on the edge of the parkland.

Country society was a close knit community further strengthened by marriage. Families had intermarried across the generations, as is evident from a glance at the surnames on the Victorian census returns for the parishes of Lydiard Tregoze and Lydiard Millicent.

The Kinchin family farmed at Windmill Leaze from the early 1800s until the end of the century. In 1851 William Kinchin, farmer at Windmill Leaze, married Catherine Plummer, the daughter of Richard and Mary Plummer, Lord Bolingbroke's tenants at East Leaze Farm, Lydiard Millicent. They preserved Plummer in the naming of their sons William John Plummer Kinchin and Thomas Richard Plummer Kinchin.

Windmill Leaze Farm provided Lydiard House with milk, butter, cheese, meat and eggs and Lord Bolingbroke and his houseguests also used the land for shooting parties. The farm is believed to have once been a hunting lodge and was so named because of the views it commanded over nearby Windmill Hill.

Jonas Clarke, father and son farmed at Wick Farm on the other side of the parkland, adjacent to the Rectory, from c.1839 to 1881. Farm accounts dated 1869 reveal that during the month of June, Wick Farm produced an average of three cheeses a day, over 90 in total during that month.

In October of the same year Jonas Clarke junior notes he has 110 cheeses in the cheese room weighing over three tons. The Wick Farm accounts record that Jonas Clarke sold pigs and sheep to John Blackford, a butcher in Swindon.

One of the largest farming families in 19th century Lydiard Tregoze was the Ody family. Able to trace their ancestry in the parish back to the 17th century, the Victorian dynasty began with Noah and Sarah Ody and their family of seven sons and six daughters.

With his large family of sons, Noah worked three farms, Hays Knoll in Purton and Purleys and Flaxlands in Lydiard Tregoze. At the time of the 1841 census Noah can be found at Hays Knoll while his sons George 25, Noah 22 and William 19 are in Lydiard Tregoze with their 17 year old sister Sarah and younger brother Walter, aged 10.

Noah died in 1851 and is buried in the churchyard at St. Mary's with his wife Sarah and their daughter Ann.

By 1871 two of Noah's sons are established in the Lydiard Tregoze farming community. George, who took over Purleys on the death of his father, is now at Wickfield Farm, part of the neighbouring Meux estate. Walter is at Lord Bolingbroke's Flaxlands Farm while brothers Thomas and William are farming in Purton and John and Noah in Brinkworth.

The church was central to rural life and St Mary's contains many references to the tenant farmers. The large boxed pew on the north aisle is where the Midghall tenant Cornelius Bradford and his family worshipped while the stained glass west window was erected in memory of John King, tenant at Blagrove Farm.

The church registers record the major events in the life of the parish, the baptisms, marriages and burials. Letitia, Thomas, Elizabeth, John, Richard and George, six of Walter and Elizabeth Ody's children, were christened at the 13th century font between 1864-1874.

Among the burials in the churchyard are the graves of Richard and Ann Sly, tenants at Padbrook Farm and Abraham Humphries from Marsh Farm.

The tenant farmers were figures of local authority and each family took their responsibilities seriously. As parish ratepayers they attended Vestry meetings, the local governing body of the day, and served as parish officers.

Members of the Kinchin family fulfilled the various parish offices many times over. William Kinchin was elected Churchwarden, Overseer of the Poor and Waywarden between 1875 and 1886 while his son Thomas was churchwarden in the late 1880s.

Walter Ody served as Churchwarden a total of nine times between 1876-1887 and as Overseer of the Poor in 1875. He was also appointed additional Waywarden in 1883 when the parish was considered too large for one person to serve. During the following ten years he was re-elected a further six times.

Charles Day, tenant at Great Chaddington Farm and Henry Reynolds from Flaxlands both served as parish constables in 1846 responsible for keeping law and order in the quiet North Wiltshire backwater.

Walter Ody died aged 64 in 1897 and William Kinchin in 1898 aged 74. When Henry Mildmay St John, 5th Viscount Bolingbroke died the following year he left a neglected estate in disrepair.

Parts of the estate were sold in the 1920s and in 1930 Lady Bolingbroke took the decision to sell off over 1800 acres in what the North Wilts Herald described as 'one of the largest sales held in Swindon for many years.'

Today most of the Lydiard estate farmland lies beneath the 1980s West Swindon housing development, but some of the last owners were the descendants of those Victorian tenant farmers who doffed their caps and paid their dues to the St John family at Lydiard Park.

Windmill Leaze Farm, better known today as Park Farm. Photograph courtesy of the Rumming family.

Thomas Kinchin, tenant at Windmill Leaze Farm

The Clarke family grave

Marsh Farm

Abraham Humphries, tenant at Marsh Farm

If you want to preserve the history of Lydiard Tregoze you may like to join the Friends of Lydiard Park and sign the petition.

Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke, leading member of the 18th century Tory party, must be spinning in his grave as Swindon Borough Council prepares to carve up his ancestral home at Lydiard Park...

The portrait of Henry Bolingbroke by Jonathan Richards the Elder hangs in the dining room at Lydiard House where he was born in 1678, the only surviving child of Henry St John and his first wife Lady Mary Rich. His mother died within weeks of his birth upon which the infant Henry was moved from Lydiard to Battersea Manor where he was raised by his puritanical grandparents Sir Walter and Lady Johanna St. John.

Henry, statesman, writer and libertine was undoubtedly the most brilliant and probably one of the most notorious members of the St. John family. He served as Queen Anne’s Secretary At War from 1704-1708 and Secretary of State from 1710-1714 and numbered satirist Jonathan Swift and the poet Alexander Pope among a wide, eclectic group of friends.

Instrumental in negotiating the Treaty of Utrecht, which helped to end the War of the Spanish Succession Henry was created Viscount Bolingbroke, a huge disappointment as he was hoping for the earldom.

In 1714, with the Queen desperately ill and fading fast, Henry rapidly allied himself with the Jacobites and the Queen’s Catholic half brother James, the Old Pretender. Henry plotted with the Pretender while taking the oath of allegiance to the Hanovarian successor. However, the new King George, hammered the final nail in Henry’s political coffin, informing Henry that his services were no longer required. Henry walked to the Cockpit accompanied by the Duke of Shrewsbury and Lord Cowper to watch the sealing of his papers. It was, quite obviously, all over. On March 27, 1715, Henry set sail for exile in France.

A Bill of Attainder was served upon Henry that same year charging him with privately negotiating a dishonourable and destructive peace with France while a Secretary of State for Queen Anne. Deprived of his title, his estates and his wealth, Henry was considered by many as a traitor twice over.

Henry married twice, firstly to Frances Winchcombe whom he deserted and secondly to Marie Claire de Marci whom he adored. He eventually returned to England and his childhood home at Battersea. He died on December 12, 1751 and was buried with his second wife in the parish church of St Mary's, Battersea.

Henry's younger cousin John Fitzgerald Villiers, 5th Viscount Grandison, was born at Dromana House in County Waterford in 1684, the son of Brig Gen Edward Villiers and wealthy Irish heiress Katherine Fitzerald. The two lookalikes were third cousins, tracing their ancestry back to Sir John St John and his wife Lucy Hungerford. In this portrait painted in 1743 by Allan Ramsay John could be sharing the same jacket as well as the same face as Henry.

John got off to a good start following his succession to the Grandison title and the Fitzgerald land. He transformed the Dromana estate, planting thousands of trees, building new stables and engaging in a modest bit of DIY on Dromana House. His greatest achievement was probably the construction of Villierstown village to accommodate the workers in his newly instituted linen industry. He built 24 houses, a schoolhouse, church, police barracks and a quay on the river.

But 'Good Earl John' found it difficult to live within his means - a common St John failing he would have appeared to inherited along with his features.

An account of the Villers-Stuart archive held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland describes John as having a 'pride of ancestry' - shades of Henry 5th Viscount Bolingbroke here - and that his 'somewhat limited intelligence caused him to be ripped off by unscrupulous agents who flattered and deferred to him' when he was forced to sell some £50,000 worth of land.

John served briefly as MP for Old Sarum May-December 1705. In 1721 he was made Privy Counsellor for Ireland when his title was upgraded to an earldom and in 1733 he was Governor of Waterford. He married Frances Carey and they had five children. John died on May 14, 1766 and was buried at Youghal, County Cork.

Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke

John Fitzgerald Villiers, 5th Viscount Grandison

In today's edition of the Swindon Advertiser, Cllr David Renard, Leader of Swindon Borough Council, reassures the people of Swindon that Lydiard House and Park will not be sold.

However, what the Council is proposing to do is to lease out parts of the estate and they have previously admitted they cannot guarantee unrestricted, free access will continue; this is because, so say, they do not yet know what ideas prospective private partners might come up with.

So what could be on the cards for this historic property, bought for the people of Swindon by a far sighted, philanthropic local authority in the middle of WWII - how challenging were the financial constraints then, one has to ask?

Meanwhile the people of Swindon have come up with a whole shed load of ideas that could generate a sustainable income and preserve the heritage of this Grade I listed Palladian mansion (set in a Grade II listed parkland) and the history of the fascinating St John family.

Visit the Friends of Lydiard Park petition

Swindon Borough Council has been criticised over an inadequate public consultation programme, not just at Lydiard Park but also regarding proposals for the new museum and art gallery - is it just a coincidence that the Adver's quote for today, printed opposite Cllr Renard's column, comes from author Ray Badbury: "I never ask anyone else's opinion. They don't count."

Lydiard House will be closed during January, February and March 2016. Intensive cleaning and care of the collections will take place during this period and the house will re-open with a new exhibition in time for the Easter holidays.

During the winter months the Friends of Lydiard Park, in partnership with Lydiard House, will be holding a series of free talks and tours called Behind Closed Doors.

Lydiard House has a fantastic collection of portraits and paintings, and I will be introducing you to some of the fascinating Ladies of Lydiard during a guided portrait tour on Saturday January 23 at 2.30 pm and again on Wednesday February 24 at 7 pm.

The remodelled Palladian mansion dates from the middle of the 18th century and incorporates features from a much older Tudor building, but a dwelling has existed in the parkland for much, much longer than this.

So who was the first lady to live at Lydiard Park? Well it wasn't Edith Stourton, born in around 1375 who became the second wife of John Beauchamp, 3rd Baron Beauchamp. John succeeded to the title of Lord Beauchamp of Bletsoe following the death of his father Roger in 1406 and inherited estates in Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire along with the manor of Lydiard Tregoze in Wiltshire.

John died in 1412 leaving Edith with two small children. Their son and heir, also named John, died in 1420 aged just 10 years old. His 11 year old sister, Margaret, became Baronnes Beauchamp of Bletsoe and inherited her father's estates. In 1425, aged about 16, she became the bride of Oliver St John, ten years her senior. Widowed in 1437 Margaret married John Beaufort in about 1442, by whom she had one daughter, Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII.

Edith married second husband Robert Shottesbrooke and died in nearby Faringdon on June 13, 1441.

Could Sybil Pateshule have been the first lady to take up her duties as chatelaine at Lydiard? Sybil was the wife of Roger Beauchamp, 1st Lord Bletsoe, who was Keeper of Devizes Castle in 1340, fought in the French Wars in 1346 and was Captain of Calais in 1372.

The Manor of Lydiard Tregoz was confirmed to Roger and Sybil in 1348/49 and the couple resided at both Bletsoe and Lydiard. But was Sybil the first lady to balance the household budget at Lydiard?

In 1270 Henry III gave Robert Tregoz a royal licence to impark a nearby woodland in order to create a deer park in the manor of Lydiard Tregoz.

Perhaps his wife Juliana De Cantilupe watched from a window as Robert and his chums set off in pursuit of a side of venison for dinner. What did the property look like then? Was it a medieval manor house or a more modest hunting lodge?

The first lady at Lydiard might even have been a well to do Romano-British woman whose name has long since been lost. A foundation course of stonework belonging to a Roman building was discovered during archaeological excavations in 2003 made in the area of the car park below the church, ahead of the extensive Lydiard Park Project restoration work. The construction of the course work used material believed to be from a more grand Roman building. Did a Roman villa complete with frescoes, mosaics and under floor heating once stand on the site of Lydiard House?

But while the identity of the first Lydiard lady is up for debate, that of the last lady to live at the mansion house is well known.

Joyce Ingram lived in a suite of room in Lydiard House for almost 25 years, firstly with her caretaker husband Norman, and then from 1975 taking over the job of caretaker herself. In 1989 Joyce talked to the Swindon Advertiser about her impending retirement, her love of Lydiard House and her relationship with the ghost of Sir John St John.

Joyce said: "It's strange really but I never feel alone or frightened here. I always think Sir John is looking after me."

Joyce worked a 42 and a half hour week back in the day (when admission to the House was free.) From 8.30 am to 6.15 pm, Joyce welcomed members of the public, sold souvenirs and kept the state rooms spick and span.

Joyce retired on May 26, 1991. Sarah Finch Crisp, Keeper at Lydiard House, wrote in the Friends of Lydiard Tregoz Report of that year; "Her love for Lydiard and for the people who visit it has always been paramount, and her commitment to the Museum's service, never in doubt."

Lady Mary, 5th Viscountess Bolingbroke died in 1940 and in 1943 the trustees of her will sold the mansion house and parkland to Cllr Francis Akers who held it on behalf of the Swindon Corporation until funds could be found to buy it for the people of Swindon. In 1966 Vernon, 6th Viscount Bolingbroke, by then living in Hampshire, offered thirty one portraits to Swindon Corporation and the Ladies of Lydiard returned home, along with their esteemed Lordships.

If you would like to attend any of the Behind Closed Doors talks or join one of my portrait tours, please contact Charlotte Thwaites on 01793 465277 or email her at CThwaites@swindon.gov.uk. The talks and tours are free, but places are limited and you need to book.

Margaret Beauchamp

Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII

A page from the Beaufort Beauchamp Book of Hours, now held by the British Library but once belonged to Margaret Beauchamp and then her daughter Margaret Beaufort

Joyce pictured with the portrait of Barbara, Countess of Castlemaine by Peter Lely returned to Lydiard House in 1982

Joyce pictured in 1989

Sir John St John 1st Baronet - Joyce's ghostly companion

I wrote this article during the Christmas 2012 celebrations at Lydiard House and Park. Lydiard House was beautifully dressed for Christmas, busy and full of visitors.

This year I visited the day before Christmas Eve. With no Christmas programme the House was quiet and during my visit an electrician suddenly appeared unannounced and plunged the State Rooms into darkness. Now if I were a glass half empty type of person I could view this as prophetic, but I think the fortunes of Lydiard House and Park could easily be turned around without leasing it to a private partner.

If, like me, you want to see Lydiard House busy again, its future and that of the park safe, secure and accessible to the people of Swindon, please sign the Friends of Lydiard Park petition and attend the public meeting on January 12. Meanwhile why not come to one of the talks and tours in the Behind Closed Doors event? For further details about the petition, meeting and events please visit the Friends of Lydiard Park website.

Following persistent heavy rain throughout the previous day, Lydiard Park wasn't looking its best on Saturday. But as I walked along narrow Hay Lane, once open to traffic but now the province of dog walkers and cyclists, a sudden movement in the parkland caught my attention.

In the blink of an eye they were there and then gone; three deer, leaping through the trees just yards away from a modern housing estate.

Ancient Bradon Forest, a vast expanse of woodland, waste ground, moor and common, once extended across Purton and into the parishes of Cricklade, Ashton Keynes, Charlton, Lydiard Millicent and Lydiard Tregoze. Writing in The Story of Purton published in 1919 Mrs Story-Maskelyne suggested that ancient oaks, then still surviving on Blagrove Farm, probably marked an outlying part of a black grove of the old forest.

Records reveal that in 1135 Bradon Forest was a Royal forest and by 1228 enclosed an area of some 46 square miles. In the mid 13th century the Tregoz family at Lydiard House obtained a Royal licence to enclose woodland to create a private deer park and Henry III made them a gift of 11 deer to get the enterprise established.

During excavation work undertaken by Wessex Archaeology in 2008 evidence was discovered of a medieval park pale constructed near the present park boundary with Lydiard Park Academy. The ditch and bank topped by a wooden park pale allowed deer to enter the park but prevented them from escaping.

For a fleeting moment the glimpse of those three wild and wonderful animals transported me back more than 700 years to the park's medieval history.

Up at the house Christmas celebrations were in full swing where the St Mary's Ukulele Ladies were entertaining visitors with some Victorian Carols.

Two watercolours of Lydiard House interiors by Canadian war artist George Campbell Tinning, recently purchased by Swindon Borough Council for Lydiard House with grants from The Art Fund and the Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund, were also on display. The two paintings of the main entrance hall and the dining room (pictured here in the library) were commissioned to accompany an article written by Aldous Huxley and published in the Lincoln Mercury Times in 1951

Visit the house all dressed up for Christmas in traditional greenery and handmade decorations. Normal museum entry charges apply. Open Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 4pm.

Lydiard House is closed to the public from December 24 to March 18. The House reopens on Saturday, March 19.

Read all the latest news about events at Lydiard House and Park in the January edition of the Link magazine available online now.

Here is a taster ...

Public Meeting

The Friends of Lydiard Park have organised a public meeting on Tuesday January 12, 2016 at 7pm.

The venue is Lydiard Park Academy, Grange Park Way, Swindon SN5 6HN. Speakers will be from The Friends and councillors from both the Conservative and Labour groups. Please try to make the time to attend.

We look forward to meeting many of you and hearing what YOU have to say.

Behind Closed Doors events at Lydiard House beginning January 23. Don't forget to book!

Sat 23rd Jan 2.30pm

The Ladies of Lydiard - An entertaining tour with local historian Frances Bevan revealing the secrets and talents of Lydiard Ladies through the centuries.

Wed 3rd Feb 2.30pm

Wigs, Ruffs and Robes - Discover hidden stories behind the portraits of sumptuously dressed aristocrats with Lydiard House educationalist Nancy Heath.

Sat 13th Feb 2.30pm

Keeping Up Appearances - Frances Yeo, Curator of Lydiard House, shows how the Lydiard collection is cared for and demonstrates ways you can look after your own treasured possessions and furnishings.

Sat 20th Feb 2.30 pm

Grand Designs - Architect Michael Gray explains how the St John family tried to assert and maintain their aristocratic status by commissioning art, architecture and landscape at Lydiard Park 1615 - 1748.

Wed 24th Feb 7pm

The Ladies of Lydiard - An entertaining tour with local historian Frances Bevan revealing the secrets and talents of Lydiard ladies through the centuries.

Wed 16th March 7pm

Uncovering History - Jane Rutherford talks about ancient wall paintings and her fascinating conservation work in St Mary's Church, Lydiard Tregoze. Donations for St Mary's Conservation Appeal are welcomed.

Events are free (donations welcomed) but places are limited.

To book your place please call Charlotte Thwaites on 01793 465277 or email cthwaites@swindon.gov.uk.

Walled Garden

Volunteer ranger Mike tells visitors about the 18th century state of the art ice house

Royal Wootton Bassett Field of Remembrance - Walled Garden

Margaret Beaufort - the King's Mother

Barbara, Countess of Castlemaine

Swindon Heritage Strategy

Lady Bolingbroke taking tea on the front lawn

A room with a view

The State Bedroom

An interesting view of Lydiard House behind the Palladian facade

Lydiard House and Park at Risk - please sign the petition.

Keep up to date with events surrounding the future of Lydiard House and Park by visiting the Friends of Lydiard Park website and the Swindon Heritage website.

To the family historian who has found a skeleton in the cupboard or a shady character from the past, spare a thought for Canon St. John.

When Sir Henry St. John, 5th Viscount Bolingbroke died in 1899, Canon St. John was first in line to inherit three titles and the country estate of Lydiard Park, or so he thought.

The Reverend St. John made his claim as the grandson of the 3rd Viscount Bolingbroke, Sir George Richard St. John and his wife Baroness Hompesch.

However, after the funeral at St. Mary's Church, the family solicitor, H Bevir made a surprise announcement, as reported in the Advertiser.

"The late Viscount married late in life and leaves a widow and son, the Hon. Vernon Henry St. John who succeeds to the title as Viscount Bolingbroke. The announcements made in some quarters that Canon St. John is heir, have been made from want of knowledge of the true circumstances.”

Sir Henry St. John led a life shrouded in secrecy and deception. He claimed to have married a Belgian woman by the name of Ellen Medex in 1869 yet there appears to be no official record of this marriage, later declared void. The couple had one surviving child, a daughter named Ellen although Sir Henry declared that two sons born in 1882 and 1885 were also those of Miss Medex.

By the 1880s Sir Henry was spending little time at his Lydiard estate. The house was in poor repair and he preferred to live in Bath. Hardly surprising as by now he had entered into a liaison with Bessie Howard, nearly 40 years his junior and the granddaughter of his gamekeeper.

Mary Emily Elizabeth Howard was born in 1859 in Lydiard Millicent to Robert and Susannah Howard. Robert was the son of the village blacksmith Thomas Howard and Susannah was the daughter of gamekeeper Robert Hiscocks, born at Brook, on the Lydiard Park estate.

Apparently Bessie entered the Lydiard Park establishment as housekeeper but soon embarked upon a much more intimate relationship with Sir Henry.

The couple eventually married this day, on January 5, 1893 at the Registry Office in Bath and a son, Vernon Henry was born three years later, their only legitimate child. The two sons Henry had claimed were Ellen Medex's were in fact Bessie's.

After Henry's death, Bessie, now no longer sworn to secrecy, returned to Lydiard Park and assumed the duties and privileges of her recently acknowledged status as Lady Mary Bolingbroke.

However all this was obviously news to the Canon and his legal team continued to fight his cause until Vernon's succession was confirmed in 1926.

With the Palladian country house in a state of dilapidation and the estate mortgaged up to the hilt, it could be said that the Canon had a lucky escape!

Financial constraints forced Lady Bolingbroke to sell off most of the Lydiard estate in 1930. The Advertiser described the auction of 57 lots as "one of the largest sales held in Swindon for many years."

Lady Bolingbroke died in 1940. By now Lydiard House was in such a poor state of repair that Vernon moved into Brook Cottage, the former gamekeepers cottage where his grandmother Susannah Hiscocks was born. Swindon Corporation bought Lydiard Park in 1943.

When Vernon died in 1974 the titles passed to Kenneth Oliver Musgrave St. John, the great grandson of Canon St. John.

Henry 5th Viscount Bolingbroke

Lady Mary Bolingbroke, the former Bessie Howard

Vernon, 6th Viscount Bolingbroke

Another date for your diary.

West Swindon Localities Meeting - Monday, January 11 at The Link Centre.

The agenda includes the proposed Wimpey development and Lydiard Park.

This is Prince George snapped by his mother, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, on his first day at Westacre Montessori School nursery close to his parents' home at Anmer Hall, Norfolk.

And this is his 12x great grandmother, Anne Leighton who married Sir John St John in 1604 and filled the nursery at Lydiard House with her thirteen children.

I will be telling you more about her during my Ladies of Lydiard portrait tour at Lydiard House on Saturday January 23 at 2.30pm and Wednesday February 24, 7pm.

Did you know our popular modern Royal family has a direct link to the St John family at Lydiard House? Do you think an exhibition about Anne and her husband Sir John, who commissioned the fantastic memorials in neighbouring St Mary's Church, might be a good idea?

It might even prove to be a bit of a crowd pleaser - and even help to generate a sustainable income at Lydiard House and Park. (Rest assured, it's already on The List).

To book a place on my tour and any of the other events in the Behind Closed Doors programme telephone Charlotte Thwaites on 01793 465277 or email cthwaites@swindon.gov.uk. The events are free but places are limited.

For those of you who may have missed this item, which appeared on the Swindon Advertiser website yesterday afternoon, SBC has agreed to debate the Lydiard House and Park issue at the next council meeting.

'There will be a debate surrounding the future of Lydiard House and Park at the next council meeting, despite a petition with 8,000 signatures not meeting the necessary requirements to trigger one.

Swindon Borough Council are looking at leasing the popular site as a cost saving measure despite strong protests from residents.

Thousands of people signed a petition calling for the move to be stopped, comfortably passing the 1,500 normally needed to trigger a debate at full council.

However, the signatories need to live within the borough and because the petition, set up on Change.org could not prove this, it did not qualify.

But Council Leader David Renard (Con, Haydon Wick) says he recognises the level of interest in the issue and a motion on the proposals will be tabled at the next council meeting, with wording to be decided, so a debate can be had....'

Read the article here.

This morning the number of signatures on the Friends of Lydiard Park petition stands at 8,039.

Behind Closed Doors offers a series of fascinating talks and tours taking place from January to March while Lydiard House is closed. For further information visit the Friends of Lydiard Park website.

All the events are free but spaces are limited. Please telephone Charlotte Thwaites on 01793 465277 or email CThwaites@swindon.gov.uk to book a place.

There was a fantastic response by local people to last night's Friends of Lydiard Park meeting.

Some reports say 600 people others that more than 700 attended the public meeting at Lydiard Park Academy. It was difficult to tell.

The start of the meeting was delayed as reports came through that cars were queued up outside the school as far as the roundabout at the top of Hay Lane and parking was becoming a problem. All seats were quickly filled as more chairs were brought out. People sat on benches and stood three and four deep around the edges of the sports hall.

Speakers included Mike Bowden, Chair of the Friends of Lydiard Park; Friends trustee Sarah Finch Crisp, who worked as Keeper at Lydiard Park for 24 years and headed the Lydiard Park Project, an ambitious landscape restoration project funded by a £3.1 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant; Cllr Garry Perkins (Con Haydon Wick) Cabinet Member for Economy, Regeneration and Skills and Matthew Courtliff, prospective Labour candidate for Lydiard and Freshbrook.

The meeting got off to an emotional start as Mike Bowden was clearly overwhelmed by the level of support given by local people.

For those who couldn't make the meeting or who were unable to see the short opening film clip watch it here on the Swindon Viewpoint website.

Cllr Perkins repeatedly reminded the audience that Lydiard Park is not up for sale and never will be. (I would argue that to give a private/commercial company a 25/50 year lease is as good as selling it and that profit sharing contracts are a much better option). We've all got that message Cllr Perkins. He also repeated the constraints upon the public purse and the cost to the Borough of providing services for the elderly, children and vulnerable people - yes, we all appreciate that as well.

What Cllr Perkins didn't seem to take on board was that we want to help. Instead of looking to external private companies who will cream off any profit, let a locally formed community trust take on the job and plough the profits back into the estate - there are numerous local people with vast experience willing to volunteer.

The meeting concluded with an address given by Lord Joel Joffe CBE, human rights lawyer who represented Nelson Mandela and today is Chair of the Joffe Charitable Trust. Lord Joffe encouraged communication and co-operation.

Robert Buckland, MP for Swindon South, has also added his support to a commonsense solution. Speaking from London during last night's BBC Points West programme he described Lydiard Park as a much loved asset of national historical importance and he wants to see people coming together in a common purpose. Coverage from last night's meeting can be viewed on the BBC iplayer.

Keep checking the Friends of Lydiard Park and Swindon Heritage websites and follow us on social media for updates.

Learn more about the fascinating history of the St John family and Lydiard House in Behind Closed Doors a series of free talks and tours taking place at Lydiard House from January 23 to March 16. Places are limited so please phone Charlotte Thwaites on 01793 465277 or email CThwaites@swindon.gov.uk to book a place.

So why is Lydiard House and Park so historically important? Read the entry on Historic England website and look back through some of the blogposts on this website.

Some of the lakeside trees at Lydiard Park are believed to be about 250 years old, dating from the mid 18th century redevelopment of the parkland. In 1743 John, 2nd Viscount St John, remodelled the medieval mansion house with his wealthy wife's inheritance. He swept away the old formal gardens and introduced the new, 'natural' looking landscape popularised by leading English landscape artist Lancelot 'Capability' Brown.

In recent years the vagaries of the British weather have taken their toll on the trees at Lydiard Park and when this majestic tree (pictured above) close to the house was brought down in heavy winds several years ago, I was told the sad story of a grieving mother who planted two trees for the sons she lost fighting in the Civil Wars.

I wondered why I had never heard this poignant story before ...

The mother in question was Anne Leighton, Lady St John, the wife of Sir John St John, 1st Baronet. But there were a few inconsistencies in the story - firstly, three sons, not two fell during the 17th century wars.

William was the first to die, killed in action fighting alongside Prince Rupert at Cirencester in 1642/3. John was killed when the Royal garrison at Newark was blockaded during the winter of the same year. The third of Anne's sons to die fighting for the Royalist cause was Edward, wounded at the Second Battle of Newbury on October 27, 1644. Edward returned to Lydiard House where he lingered, eventually dying from his wounds more than five months later.

But there was an even greater problem with this heart rendering story; Anne Leighton, died following the birth of her 13th child in 1628, long before the outbreak of war.

But then, I reflected, perhaps it was the action of a grieving stepmother, Sir John's second wife Margaret Whitmore, Lady Grobham. She married Sir John two years after the death of his first wife Anne and played an active role in raising his young family. But Lady Margaret died in 1637, several years before the death of her Cavalier stepsons.

I duly reported all this back to the teller of the tale. 'Ah well,' he said, 'it makes a good story!'

Hear the full story about Anne Leighton at my portrait tour The Ladies of Lydiard, part of the Behind Closed Doors series of events organised by the Friends of Lydiard Park in partnership with Lydiard House. The events are all free but spaces are limited and you need to book a place by phoning Charlotte Thwaites on 01793 465277 or emailing CThwaites@swindon.gov.uk.

You know how it happens - a group of lads out on the town, everyone's having a good laugh and then one bloke has a drink too many. And before you've worked out who said what to whom, someone's got their rapier out.

Born in 1652 Henry St John was the second child and eldest son of Sir Walter and Lady Johanna. He grew up at the Battersea Manor House under the stern eye of his Puritan mother during the austere post war years of the Commonwealth.

With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 it could be fairly said that Henry entered into the spirit of the new age. Anxious to save him from his worst excesses, Sir Walter and Lady Johanna swiftly married him off in 1673 to Mary Rich, the daughter of the Earl of Warwick. Sir Walter settled the Lydiard estate on his eldest son and the newly weds divided their time between Battersea and Wiltshire.

But in 1684 Henry was between marriages. His first wife Mary had died in 1678 following the birth of their only surviving child and his second wife to be, Angelica Pelissary had just arrived in England bethrothed to her first husband Philip Wharton.

Temporarily let off the marital leash, Henry fully indulged his predilection for partying, gambling and racing. It was during a night out with the boys in that popular watering hole, the Devil Tavern, Fleet Street, that the talk turned to who owned the best horses.

Along with Sir William Estcott, MP for Malmesbury, and Henry's cousin Edmund Richmond-Webb, the group left the Devil and moved on to the Globe, round the corner in Shoe Lane. A Tryal of Racing between Henry and Sir William was proposed with a bet of £100 - but then it all got rather out of hand. Some insults were bandied about - Henry called Escott an ass who replied that Henry was a fool.

Out came the weapons and before you could say 'calm down boys' Estcott lay dead on the tavern floor. Henry and Edmund were committed to Newgate prison to await their appearance at the Old Bailey where they were jointly charged with murder and manslaughter.

On December 13 the two men were sentenced to death; their estates seized by the crown. But Henry and Edmund had friends and family in high places. Henry's cousin Barbara, Countess of Castlemaine, long time mistress of the King and mother of five of his illegitimate children, interceded for them.

Just eleven days later Charles II issued a warrant that the sentences should be quashed and their forfeited estates restored - albeit at a price. It is believed that an estimated £16,000 was paid to secure their reprieve, with Henry's portion paid by Sir Walter and Lady Johanna.

Henry decided a move abroad might be advisable, but he wasn't gone long. By March 1685 he was back in England where he was returned as MP for the family seat at Wootton Bassett.

Did he see the error of his ways? It's doubtful, but he never killed anyone else - well not as far as we know.

He went on to marry Angelica Pelissary on January 1, 1686/7 although he never did quite fit the bill as family man, and his eldest son, the statesman Henry, Viscount Bolingbroke, loathed him.

Unlike poor Sir William, whose family line was wiped out when he died aged 30, Henry lived another 58 years. He died in 1742 aged 89 and was buried at St Mary's Church, Battersea.

Come and hear more about Barbara, Countess of Castlemaine at my portrait tour The Ladies of Lydiard, part of the Behind Closed Doors series of talks and tours at Lydiard House. For more information visit the Friends of Lydiard Park website. All talks and tours are free but spaces are limited so you need to book by phoning Charlotte Thwaites on 01793 465277 or emailing CThwaites@swindon.gov.uk.

I can't wait for April to arrive. Not just for the warm Spring weather, but to be able to turn over the calendar page and look at these images of lovely Lydiard Park.

Margie Phillips and Ali Swann have turned their pride in our hometown and their passion for photography into a 21st century cottage industry - Swindon Perspectives.

"The first year we produced calendars as Christmas presents for our family and friends," said Margie, now, three years later, the 2016 calendar comes in three different formats and they are adding greetings cards to their repertoire.

The two friends have a substantial archive of images revealing the hidden beauty of our much maligned town and discussions are already underway for the theme of the 2017 calendar.

If you would like to know more about Swindon Perspectives contact them on aliseswindon@outlook.com and look out for their Facebook page, currently under construction.

Margie and Ali are also putting together an illustrated presentation, so if you are events secretary for a club or society, contact them on the above email address.

Meanwhile, do you think I could skip straight to April and look at lovely Lydiard Park for the next three months?

Richard Jefferies Museum, Coate - August 2016

Stanton Fitzwarren - September 2016

Ali Swann

Margie Phillips

Behind Closed Doors is a series of talks and tours taking place at Lydiard House and beginning this coming Saturday, January 23.

Sat 23rd Jan 2.30pm
The Ladies of Lydiard - An entertaining tour with local historian Frances Bevan revealing the secrets and talents of Lydiard ladies through the centuries.

Wed 3rd February 2.30pm
Wigs, Ruffs and Robes - Discover hidden stories behind the portraits of sumptuously dressed aristocrats with Lydiard House educationalist Nancy Heath.

Sat 13th Feb 2.30pm
Keeping up Appearances - Frances Yeo, Curator of Lydiard House shows how the Lydiard collection is cared for and demonstrates ways you can look after your own treasured possessions and furnishings.

Sat 20th Feb 2.30pm
Grand Designs Architect Michael Gray explains how the St. John family tried to assert and maintain their aristocratic status by commissioning art, architecture and landscape at Lydiard Park 1615 - 1748.

Wed 24th Feb 7pm
The Ladies of Lydiard - An entertaining tour with local historian Frances Bevan revealing the secrets and talents of Lydiard ladies through the centuries.

Wed 16th March 7pm
Uncovering History - Jane Rutherfoord talks about ancient wall paintings and her fascinating conservation work in St. Mary’s Church Lydiard Tregoze. Donations for St. Mary’s Conservation Appeal are welcomed.

Events are free (donations welcomed) but places are limited.

To book your place please call Charlotte Thwaites on 01793 465277 or email cthwaites@swindon.gov.uk

Behind Closed Doors

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire

Margaret Beauchamp

Margaret Beaufort

Friends of Lydiard Park petition

Friends of Lydiard Park petition update

Down Your Way

Miracle worker Lady Johanna St John

Ghostly happenings in Lydiard House

The parish of Lydiard Tregoze

Two look-alike St John cousins

Behind Closed Doors

The Ghost of Christmas Past at Lydiard House

Lydiard House and Park features in January edition of The Link Magazine

A few dates for your diary

Happy Anniversary, Lord and Lady Bolingbroke

West Swindon Localities Meeting

Prince George and his 12x great granny

Breaking news ...

Public Meeting - were you there?

A Tale of Two Trees

In the tavern with a sword ...

Swindon's own Calendar Girls

Have you booked your place yet?