The corner site on
the pedestrianised Bridge Street was once at the very heart of Swindon’s busy public transport
network.
William Clappen’s
business empire had shops at prime locations in both Old and New Swindon and his
premise at the junction of Fleet Street and Bridge Street was at the site of
the tram centre when it opened in 1904. The
tram system in Swindon began with a route from the Market Place in Old Swindon
to the junction at Bridge and Fleet Streets in New Swindon. It was later extended to include Wellington
Street and the railway station with a further route through Rodbourne and Gorse
Hill. Tram drivers used the clock set in
the wall of William’s shop to check their departure times and the area became
known as Clappen’s Corner.
Born in
Cirencester in 1855, William Clappen was the son of a tailor, William and his
wife Sarah. Like his brothers, the
younger William joined the family firm in Cricklade Street, Cirencester where
his father employed six men and three women in 1861.
In 1881 William
married Hannah Prior, a farmer’s daughter from Kemble. In the census of that year the couple were
living over their outfitters business at 14 Wood Street. As the Clappen business empire grew, so did
the family, with three sons and two daughters born between 1883 and 1892 above
the shop in Old Swindon.
During the 1880s
William submitted a number of building applications to both Old and New Swindon
Local Boards, among them a plan to convert into shops the Baptist Chapel on
Fleet and Bridge Streets. In 1887 he
applied to make alterations to his property in Wood Street and two years later
he made another application to build a warehouse in Henry Street.
In 1898 Kelly’s
Trade Directory lists Clappen business ventures at 14 Wood Street, 7 & 8
Cricklade Street and Fleet and Bridge Streets.
By 1901 William
and Hannah had moved to a house called Pinehurst in Rodbourne Cheney. Their daughters Sarah and Ethel were both
employed in the family firm as clerks.
Second son William James completed his drapery apprenticeship at Alfred
Herington’s shop in Arundel, Sussex before returning home to Swindon. But unlike previous generations, not all the
sons went into the family tailoring and outfitters business.
Eldest son Allan
Victor Clappen, born in 1887, was to become a solicitor and practised at
various addresses in Winton, Bournemouth.
William and
Hannah’s youngest son Wilfred Joseph, born in 1892 attended Durham University
where he gained a BSc in Agriculture and was Master in Agriculture at North
Eastern County School in Barnard Castle at the outbreak of the First World
War. Wilfred joined the Durham Light
Infantry in January 1915. He died on
September 22, 1916 aged 24 of wounds received during the Battle of Flers
Courcelette during the infamous 1916 Somme offensive. He is buried in the Heilly Station Cemetery,
Mericourt-L’Abbe, near Albert.
William and Hannah
retired to Southbourne on the Hampshire coast and by 1919 William’s tram centre property had been taken over by Stead & Simpson’s shoe shop. William died in 1920 and
Hannah in 1928.
Images published courtesy of Swindon Local Studies Collection, Central Library - visit the website on www.flickr.com/photos/SwindonLocal
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