Swindon in the Past Lane

Today's Covent Garden is a very different place to where my 3x great grandfather George Ruthven used to pound his beat in 1810.  Or is it? Once a 'convent' garden, the Italianate development was the brain child of the Earl of Bedford in the 17th century. Initially home to the rich and influential, by 1670 a number of sheds and stalls selling fruit and veg had pitched up along the south side of the square and the demographics of the area promptly changed. At the end of the 18th century it was better known for its brothels. Samuel Derrick, failed actor and smelly poet, compiled Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies: Or, Man of Pleasure's Kalender.  Originally thought to have been the work of John Harrison, head waiter at the Shakespeare's Head, it is now believed that Harrison merely loaned his name to the best seller, earning a commission for so doing. In 1810 seventeen year old George Thomas Joseph Ruthven joined his father and elder brother as an offic...

Fans of live music will be looking anxiously at popular venue The Vic as news broke this week that it is up for sale. Licensees David Young and Anna Spawson have decided to call it a day after eight successful and extremely busy years. The Old Town pub on the corner of Victoria Road and Union Row was built in 1845 and quickly proved popular with the punters.  In 1847 landlady Emma Pike was prosecuted for opening after hours at what was then a humble beerhouse. In 1867 the property was rebuilt and let to Oxfordshire brewer Clinch & Co of Witney on a yearly basis. By 1907 the pub was known as the Victoria Inn where Mark Applegate was behind the bar.  Later owned by Wadley Brothers of the Sun Brewery, Highworth the pub was acquired by Trowbridge brewers Ushers when they took over Wadleys in 1918. David and Anna told the Advertiser that business is booming, which is part of the problem.  After eight hectic years the couple are in need of a break, although David...

National Libraries Day celebrations didn't end on Saturday.  Well not at Penhill Library they didn't where youngsters got down and sticky making musical instruments. With glitter as far as the eye could see and more lentils then you could shake a stick at, the children transformed the humble Pringle pot into a shaker ahead of yet another fun day on Friday. Neil Mercer will be joining the budding musicians at Penhill 11-12 on Friday for a nursery rhyme mash up. Don't be put off if you missed out on making a shaker, there are plenty of instruments to go around.

Keith, the friendly face of Penhill Library As the Swindon Advertiser broke the sorry news of library cuts across the town, what were the staff up to? Despite the demoralising process of restructuring, the third time in as many years, library staff rolled up their sleeves and treated visitors to a super National Libraries Day. Among the treats on offer at Central Library were mulled wine and music and for the youngsters storytime included a visit from Phil Voller from Wings over Wiltshire who brought along a special guest - an owl! At Liden Library the lucky winners of February's prize draw will be treated to a meal for two at the Liden Arms while craft materials are on offer to young prize winners. And at Penhill, Neighbourhood Library Manager Leah pulled out all the stops to celebrate the day.  Her project to record local reminiscences included a contribution from two local residents who shared their memories of more than 50 years of borrowing books at Penhill Library....

Innovation was the order of the day at Coleshill when work began on revamping the Earl of Radnor’s home farm.   The previous farmstead had already received the seal of approval from radical politician William Cobbett, who brought rural poverty to the attention of 19 th  century parliament. “I saw also at Coleshill, the most complete farmyard that I ever saw, and I believe there is in all England, many and complete as English farm yards are,” Cobbett wrote on a fact finding ride across southern  England in 1826. “And here, too, there is no misery amongst those who do the work,” Cobbett noted when he stopped off to view the Locust trees the Earl of Radnor had brought from him twenty years previously.  “Here all are comfortable; gaunt hunger here stares no man in the face.” The idea of this efficient, split level farmstead came from the Earl of Radnor’s land agent but it was architect George Lamb who designed the ground breaking farmstead.  ...