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Emmeline Pankhurst
Today marks the anniversary of Emmeline Pankhurst's birthday, although the date is still up for debate. Emmeline always celebrated her birthday on July 14 aligning her arrival with that other...
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Arthur William Burson
A walk through Radnor Street Cemetery reveals some striking new discoveries as the Community Payback Team continue their excellent job of work, for example, this striking monument with its crazy paving...
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Daffodil roots
As Lydiard House closes its walled garden doors on another successful  NGS Open for Charity Sunday, SPL takes a trip to neighbouring Cirencester on the trail of a once lost daffodil.The Bowly family...
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Bruce - the famous fund raising dog
Bruce travelled 12,000 miles by rail and raised more than £890 for charity, mostly for the Swindon Victoria Hospital, in a life that spanned just ten short years.  Awarded 16 gold and silver medals and...
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Mary E. Slade
As the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War fast approaches, I remember two incredible Swindon women, Mary Slade and Kate Handley.The Swindon Committee for the Provision of Comforts for the...
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Swindon in the Great War
The people of Swindon marked the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War across the town in a variety of events this week.On Monday August 4 Dr Mike Pringle (pictured below) launched the publication...
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Swindon Heritage - Autumn 2014 edition
The team from Swindon Heritage will be launching the publication of the Autumn edition of the magazine at the Richard Jefferies Museum tomorrow.The farmhouse at Coate was the home of Victorian...
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Hamblet's famous blue bricks
Today it is difficult to picture the former GWR Park on Faringdon Road without it's splendid railings, yet it is a mere four years ago since the installation of the new ironmongering. A £200,000...
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1880 General Election Riot
On the eve of voting in the Scottish Independence Referendum, the United Kingdom holds a collective breath. This is possibly the most emotive if not the most important political event to take place...
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Fitzroy Pleydell Goddard
Major Fitzroy Pleydell Goddard's dying request was that his funeral service be as simple as possible and that he wished to be buried in a"plain elm coffin made from timber grown on my estate."The last...
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Town Centre Regeneration and Slum Clearance
In 1952 Swindon embarked upon an ambitious programme of expansion. One of the objectives was to encourage London based industries to relocate and thereby revitalise a town too dependent on a declining...
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Astill's Corner
Window bills, confectioner's bags and sermons are just a few of the seemingly endless list of printing services produced by Robert Astill at his works in Victoria Street.Born in Coventry in 1833 Robert...
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The Poole family's Amazing Myriorama show
When Florence Poole married Elver Milsom in 1900 her family was at the peak of their profession, enjoying celebrity status across the country. Â Florence was the daughter of Joseph Poole who with his...
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To Fitzroy and Eugenia with love - two Berkshire pigs and some meal
Today it is de rigueur for the about-to-be-married couple to circulate a gift list, but few would publish the results in the local paper. Yet this was common practice among the great and the good of...
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Rosa and Ian Matheson
If you're looking for a good cause to support this Christmas read about Rosa and Ian Matheson, a man called Angel and an orphange in Nepal.On a cold, dark winter’s evening in the magical, twinkly lit...
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Adopt a Tommy
Ironically the dedication on the official Swindon Roll of Honour reads 'Their Glory Shall Not Be Blotted Out, Their Name Liveth For Evermore.' Whilst it might not be exactly blotted out, the...
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No 34 Regent Circus
This impressive building once stood on the corner of Regent Circus and Commercial Road. The house was caught on camera shortly before and during its demolition in 1964.In 1901 number 34 Regent Circus...
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GWR Park
Today you will be unlikely to hear the thwack of leather on willow in Faringdon Road Park where in 1844 the GWR bought a parcel of land west of the Railway Village, owned by Lt. Col Vilett.In the early...
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Edith New - Swindon Suffragette
In 1906 the suffragette campaign entered its most violent phase. Over 500 women had been imprisoned by 1909 and right up there among the militant activists was a Swindon schoolteacher.Edith Bessie New...
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Chiseldon Camp Disaster
Our next guided walk around Radnor Street Cemetery takes place on Sunday, August 9, 2015. Meet at the chapel at 2pm.Somewhere in the area marked Section C in Radnor Street Cemetery, close to the...
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