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A bountiful harvest
Far be it from me to question the great Richard Jefferies – but I wonder where he got his story from. In 1896 the posthumously published Jefferies Land included a short history of Lydiard Tregoze and...
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Fatal Accident to an Engine Driver at Swindon Station
In 1966 the local authority purchased the railway village cottages from British Rail. The properties were in a state of disrepair and in a flashback to Victorian times were found to be insanitary and...
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Richard Renwick Pattison - in his own words
It is seldom possible to read the words of our working-class ancestors, after all, what time was there to write diaries or even letters, but there is one source where occasionally we can hear their...
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The fighty Ody family
Spare a thought for Fanny Ody.Born Fanny Smart in 1823 she had her first baby out of wedlock when she was just 21 years old. It took William Ody another three years to get around to marrying her.During...
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5 Graham Terrace
In 1950 Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman wrote ‘there is very little architecture in Swindon and a great deal of building,’ but he got it right when he added that Swindon is more interesting than many...
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A personal history
In 1986 my husband moved to Swindon. After several years of unemployment, he left me and our two young children living in the coastal town in Pembrokeshire where he had grown up and where there was no...
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Another week, another walk
I have just finished re-reading The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. This is the story of a man who walks to save someone's life and discovers his own along the way. The eponymous...
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Another week, another walk Pt II
In which I continue my Swindon pilgrimage ...I cross busy Bath Road at the traffic lights by the Monkey Puzzle tree and begin my descent down the hill.Today the former market town has a number of...
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Another week, another walk Pt III
You might think it would be difficult to miss the black and yellow warnings on the railway bridge over the road but still lorry drivers frequently get their vehicles stuck, causing delays on the road...
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Another week, another walk Pt IV
Continuing my walk from Old Town to West Swindon I cut through the underpass beneath Great Western Way and emerge at Mannington House. Today Mannington Lane is a bus lane, which seems pretty fortunate...
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Another week, another walk Pt V
Google Old Shaw Lane and it is fairly indistinguishable among the modern housing, but on the ground you get quite a different perspective.Development on the western expansion of Swindon began in the...
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Swindon Photographers & Postcard Publishers
If you enjoy local history books that are full of fascinating facts and amusing anecdotes then you are going to love Swindon Photographers & Postcard Publishers.Co authored by Local Studies...
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Alfred Williams: Our Forgotten Local Hero
Multi-talented Graham Carter, journalist, artist, drummer, cyclist and DIYer extraordinaire, will be talking about Alfred Williams: Our Forgotten Local Hero this Thursday, May 30, 7.15 pm at the...
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Swindon Heritage Blue Plaques
If you haven’t got around to visiting the Richard Jefferies Museum yet this spring, then Sunday June 2 is the perfect time to do so.Take a trip on the Coate Water Miniature Railway, making sure you...
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Peatmoor Community Woodland
History is all around us here in West Swindon and just up the road from Lydiard Park is a survivor from the ancient forest of Braydon.Back in the day our neck of the woods was the property of the King....
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Swindon in 1900
In 1900 the separate towns of New and Old Swindon were incorporated; Swindon Town FC were beaten two goals to nil away at Portsmouth in a Southern League football match in front of a crowd of 7000 and...
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Struggle and Suffrage in Swindon: Women's Lives and the Fight for Equality
As the industrial revolution and the coming of the railways transformed the Wiltshire countryside Swindon women were on the front line of change, shaping the new industrial town and transforming the...
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The Eastcott Big Lunch and Neighbourhood Party
The friendly face of Savernake Street encourages the flagging walker up the steep hill and tomorrow there will be a particularly warm welcome at the Eastcott Big Lunch and Neighbourhood Party. In 1900...
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Great Western Embroiderers
When my mother left school at the age of 14 her headmistress asked her what job she wanted to do and she said she didn't know but it wouldn't be anything to do with sewing.Within weeks of leaving...
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Susannah Phillips - builder, contractor and marble mason
It wasn’t that unusual in Victorian Britain for a woman to head a family firm, which is exactly what Susannah Phillips did after the death of her husband John.Susannah was born in Chatham, Kent on...
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