Swindon in the Past Lane

I've photographed the Murray John Tower from Radnor Street Cemetery in all seasons but today I enjoyed a view of the cemetery from the 9th floor of that very same building. The building, also confusingly known as the Brunel Tower, was opened in 1976 and named after Swindon's visionary Town Clerk David Murray John. It was Murray John who engineered Swindon's post war development, recognising that the town could not continue to be reliant upon the railway industry alone. It was Murray John who saw Swindon become an overspill town under the Town Development Act of 1952. Murray John is also credited with saving Lydiard House and Park although it was Cllr Francis Akers who first bought the property for the people of Swindon to protect it from possible private development. David Murray John served Swindon as Town Clerk for more than 35 years. He died on his 66th birthday May 24, 1974. The tree lined cemetery on the skyline. Zoom in to catch a glimpse of the corner of...

Well, what more could I have asked for? Visitors on yesterday's guided St Mary's churchyard walk had Ody ancestors and arrived with a family tree and photographs. And another visitor was descended from Edwin Edmonds, buried close to the churchyard gates, and gave us a unique glimpse of her versatile ancestor. On the next walk on June 19 I will include some different graves with different stories to tell. Next Saturday sees the beginning of the Old Town Festiva l with an exciting programme of events including a Family Day on Sunday 12 in the Lawns. The Swindon Heritage team will be there as well and the regular guided walk at Radnor Street Cemetery will take place as usual. Meet at the chapel for 2pm. We will be visiting another Lydiard Tregoze resident, Richard Strange from Mannington Farm The grave of Noah and Sarah Ody in St Mary's churchyard, Lydiard Park - published courtesy of Duncan and Mandy Ball Edwin Edmonds who left his signature on window...

If you are spending the afternoon in Lydiard Park why not call in at the historic church of St Mary's? Open every weekend afternoon and today there is a Strawberry Tea on offer as well. If you're plotting your own family tree, come and see how Sir John St John did his. The magnificent 17th century St John polyptych will be open today revealing the St John Tudor connections. Come and marvel at the 14th century wall paintings, the medieval glass and the stunning St John Bed Stead memorial. Then join me on a guided churchyard walk where I will tell you about the ordinary country folk who have worshipped in this fascinating church. Meet Jonas Clark who lived with Alice Pinnell for more than 30 years and had seven children before he could marry her. Why was Martha Hale buried in Radnor Street Cemetery, Swindon and not with her husband Charles here at St Mary's. And what is the significance of the butterfly on Vernon, Viscount Bolingbroke's headstone? The church...

On October 20, 1846 Elizabeth Harvey appeared before Ambrose Goddard, Esq at the County Sessions 'having feloniously stolen a piece of Lace'. The records show that she was sentenced 'to be confined in the New Prison at Devizes for Two Cal. Months to hard labour'. She was 18 years old and had been in the employ of Jonas and Alice Clark at Wick Farm who brought about the charge. Jonas and his family farmed at Wick for about 40 years and we will be visiting his grave on the first of our guided churchyard walks at St Mary's churchyard on June 5 between 2 - 4.30 pm. Jonas' rough account books are held at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre and make for some fascinating reading. Particularly interesting is that he refers to his herd of more than 70 short horn cows by name. There is Pretymaid and Darling and Dainty, Squrel, Scarlet and Lovly, affectionate names for all his cattle. Perhaps Jonas had a soft side - unfortunately it didn't extend to young ...

I really thought my Ody family obsession was a thing of the past; a guilty, not so private pleasure. I'd written a school's project for Brookfield School with  a copy for Lower Shaw Farm , because yes, an Ody family once lived there too, along with numerous articles including one for the Friends of Lydiard Tregoz annual report. I had stopped tracking down people online and I no longer trawled through local history books for any reference to the Odys. I honestly thought I was over it all. Yes, occasionally I felt stirrings, the odd itch or twitch, but it would pass. Then earlier this week I made a reference to Walter Ody in a blogpost about the Hook Burial Ground, and I'm back in the grip. Readers have contacted me in their dozens - well three actually, but so intense is my obsession that I'm experiencing a full blown Ody episode. For me it all began with the weathered headstone in the churchyard at St Mary's Lydiard Tregoze and as the saying goes, the rest...

Now you might think I had better things to do on a Bank Holiday Monday - but I spent it sorting out the Dore family. I don't mean I popped round to their house and threw about accusations until they all argued and fell out with one another. No, I spent most of the day, well to be honest all the day, comparing gravestone inscriptions, census returns and wills until I managed to create order out of chaos. And given the odd mis-transcribed date I think I can now safely say I've got them all sorted. As you've already seen their father William's Will included personal items such as beds and bedding, a mahogany tea table and his old Chestnut Hackney which he stated should not be sold or disposed of but be kept so long as it shall live. His son John was brief and to the point - he left everything in equal proportions to his two spinster sisters Sarah and Mary. But it was Anne's Will that tied in all the strands and helped me locate everyone. William and Sarah D...

William Dore was the first in an auctioneering family dynasty that spanned nearly 100 years and three generations. Christened at St Mary's Church, Lydiard Tregoze in 1749, the son of Peter and Jone Dore, William married local girl Sarah Hedges and produced a large family. William fulfilled his parish responsibilities as tenant and rate payer, and clocked up an impressive 13 years service as churchwarden with Jacob Matthews of Toothill, retiring in 1812, possibly due to ill health or just general infirmity. A long time tenant of Lord Bolingbroke, William paid rates on Wick Farm and additional land called Prinnels, Blacklands and Greendown between 1806 and his death in 1815. He wrote his will in the month before he died and what I find particularly interesting are the personal bequests William makes to his family. Beds and bedding continue to be an important and valuable item of household furnishing and are handed down to his daughters. I would love to be able to identify the...