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 hero walks from Kingsbridge in Devon to Berwick upon Tweed, an epic journey during which he examines his past and finds his future. It is an inspirational story.

I'm a big fan of walking and now I want to embark upon my own pilgrimage.

But for the time being I shall have to make do with my daily walk from Old Town to West Swindon, a distance of a mere three miles, but one which take me through both the old and newer areas of our town.

My journey begins in Goddard Avenue named after the Goddard family, Lords of the Manor of Swindon from 1560 who continued to hold sway in the town until the death of Fitzroy Pleydell Goddard in 1927.

Development in Goddard Avenue dates from 1896 when the avenue was laid out by engineer and architect James Rew Shopland.

Numerous builders worked on the wide, tree lined avenue we see today. In 1897 William Henry Selby built ten houses while Henry Charles Cook built property in 1897 and 1898.

The 1899 Ordnance Survey Map shows the avenue sparsely built up with several short terraces and ten semi detached properties. The quarries stretch along the backs of the housing on one side of the road with allotment gardens on the other.

Gaps in the avenue were filled in when E.H. Bradley built 19 houses in 1901 and A.J. Colborne added another ten properties in 1907. Building continued as late as 1926 when W.H. Smith built a single property, believed to be for W.W. Hunter, a house furnisher who had a large store in Regent Street.

Tomorrow ...
Carry on walking with me - down Kingshill Road

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