Having wondered how I would get a photograph looking down busy Commercial Road, it turned out to be quite easy. A gap in the traffic, hold your nerve and hey presto.
A photograph of Commercial Road today is far removed from those taken during the late Victorian period when it was a tree lined vista of elegant, red brick villas.
However, as it's name suggests Commercial Road was always intended to be at the heart of Swindon's growing commercial centre, an important highway linking Old and New Swindon and a busy shopping street to rival Regent Street.
Central to the development of Swindon, Commercial Road was constructed in the late nineteenth century and heralded the first phase of development on the valuable Rolleston Estate.
The Rolleston Estate, a large land holding that originally belonged to the Vilett family, was crucial to the development of New Swindon. In the 1880s the vast area of prime building land was held in chancery following the bankruptcy of it's then owner Colonel William Vilett Rolleston, and was actively holding up the expansion of the town.
But by February 1885 it looked like things might be moving. At a meeting of the New Swindon Local Board it was announced that plans had been submitted by Messrs Maxwell and Tuke of Manchester, surveyors to the Bury Union Building and Investment company, for the development of laying out the Rolleston Estate for building purposes.
The report in the Swindon Advertiser recorded a somewhat heated meeting during which both sides argued that unreasonable demands were being made and delaying progress.
Messrs Maxwell and Tuke, names that would feature in many newspaper columns for several years to follow, stated in a letter dated February 21, 1885 that they wanted 'the sanction of the Board to the levels of the great artery from Faringdon Street to Victoria Street [later named Commercial Road].'
They continued 'As soon as this is approved we shall at once send in plans and sections of all the land lying between Farnsby Street and the Canal, between Eastcott Hill and the Canal, between the New Road and Regent Street, between Rolleston Street and Eastcott Hill and the New Road, and such portions of the estate between Buscot and Victoria Street as we intend to put on the market. We are very anxious for this street to be approved, the plans of which you have now had two months.'
It cannot be over emphasised how important this deal was to the development of nineteenth century Swindon. Just think of all those rows and rows of terrace housing, many of the streets named after the men who built New Swindon such as Crombey Street, Curtis Street and Whitehead Street. Others named after the great and good of Swindon society - Morse Street after Levi Lapper Morse, a prominent local business man, second Mayor of the newly incorporated Swindon in 1901/2 and for six years MP for South Wiltshire.
So it was all systems go for Swindon ...
Commercial Road
Levi Lapper Morse
View from the top of Deacon Street
Crombey Street
William Street
A photograph of Commercial Road today is far removed from those taken during the late Victorian period when it was a tree lined vista of elegant, red brick villas.
However, as it's name suggests Commercial Road was always intended to be at the heart of Swindon's growing commercial centre, an important highway linking Old and New Swindon and a busy shopping street to rival Regent Street.
Central to the development of Swindon, Commercial Road was constructed in the late nineteenth century and heralded the first phase of development on the valuable Rolleston Estate.
The Rolleston Estate, a large land holding that originally belonged to the Vilett family, was crucial to the development of New Swindon. In the 1880s the vast area of prime building land was held in chancery following the bankruptcy of it's then owner Colonel William Vilett Rolleston, and was actively holding up the expansion of the town.
But by February 1885 it looked like things might be moving. At a meeting of the New Swindon Local Board it was announced that plans had been submitted by Messrs Maxwell and Tuke of Manchester, surveyors to the Bury Union Building and Investment company, for the development of laying out the Rolleston Estate for building purposes.
The report in the Swindon Advertiser recorded a somewhat heated meeting during which both sides argued that unreasonable demands were being made and delaying progress.
Messrs Maxwell and Tuke, names that would feature in many newspaper columns for several years to follow, stated in a letter dated February 21, 1885 that they wanted 'the sanction of the Board to the levels of the great artery from Faringdon Street to Victoria Street [later named Commercial Road].'
They continued 'As soon as this is approved we shall at once send in plans and sections of all the land lying between Farnsby Street and the Canal, between Eastcott Hill and the Canal, between the New Road and Regent Street, between Rolleston Street and Eastcott Hill and the New Road, and such portions of the estate between Buscot and Victoria Street as we intend to put on the market. We are very anxious for this street to be approved, the plans of which you have now had two months.'
It cannot be over emphasised how important this deal was to the development of nineteenth century Swindon. Just think of all those rows and rows of terrace housing, many of the streets named after the men who built New Swindon such as Crombey Street, Curtis Street and Whitehead Street. Others named after the great and good of Swindon society - Morse Street after Levi Lapper Morse, a prominent local business man, second Mayor of the newly incorporated Swindon in 1901/2 and for six years MP for South Wiltshire.
So it was all systems go for Swindon ...
Commercial Road
Levi Lapper Morse
View from the top of Deacon Street
Crombey Street
William Street
Comments
Post a Comment