Swindon in the Past Lane

So, what or where are you most looking forward to revisiting as lockdown eases.  I can't wait for the record offices and especially Local Studies in Swindon Central Library to re-open. I have documents and books I am desperate to get my hands on for research purposes. Talking about research and books, the Library Shop in Swindon Central Library is offering a deal on my two books, Struggle and Suffrage in Swindon and the recently published Ladies of Lydiard available at £25 for the two. The story of Swindon is that of a town of two halves. Transformed by the coming of the railways the women were on the front line of change, shaping the new industrial town and transforming the old market one. The story of Swindon's women includes artists and actresses, political activists and social reformers, as well as the ordinary women who worked in the factories, raised their children and made a difference. Struggle and Suffrage in Swindon tells the story of these women. From Mary Slade who ...

It's never too early to introduce your grandchildren to history - even if they really, really don't want to know! When my daughter said she’d never walked along the canal, I immediately went into local historian mode. What a lovely idea for an educational day out. We made a picnic lunch and armed with cameras we headed off with grandchildren in tow. Our walk took the route that begins behind the Esso Service Station at the bottom of Kingshill and extends into the Wichelstowe housing development. Begun in 1795 and under construction for 15 years, the Wilts & Berks canal opened in 1810. Stretching 52 miles from Semington Junction on the Kennet and Avon to the Thames at Abingdon, the canal was used chiefly for the transportation of coal from the Somerset mines. Its most profitable period was during the construction of the Great Western Railway and the Swindon works when it was used to convey materials. Sadly, the collapse of the Stanley Aqueduct over the River Marden in 1901...

  Swindon is an interesting town – no, honestly it is. From medieval market town to Victorian industrial hub, Swindon had members of the aristocracy living at Lydiard House and innovative engineers in New Swindon. We are surrounded by heritage at every turn. In West Swindon you might think the ancient agricultural heritage had been lost beneath the 1980s housing development, but even here there is plenty of evidence remaining. Wick Farmhouse and the neighbouring properties overlook the field which gives the housing estate its name – the Prinnels. In 1841, following the Tithe Commutation Act 1836, records reveal that Jonas Clarke farmed 150 acres of land at Wick, but the history of the farm goes back much further than that. Owned by Alfred of Marlborough when the Domesday survey was compiled in 1086 the farm passed to the Ewyas family down through the Tregoze, Grandison and Beauchamp families to the St. Johns who owned it for more than 500 years. The Victorian Wick Lane now fo...