Swindon in the Past Lane

When Joseph Boots of Highworth rashly declared he would rather spend his days in prison than pay money owed to Miranda Archer, that's exactly where magistrates sent him. Boots appeared before the Swindon Petty Sessions in September 1854 accused of failing to comply with a maintenance order for the illegitimate child he had fathered. Meeting just four times a year, the 18th century saw the Quarter Session Courts overwhelmed with work.  By the middle of the 19th century the Police Courts or Petty Sessions, the lowest tier in the English court system, were taking over the less serious crimes.  With no jury to be sworn in, two or more magistrates heard the cases, which were then speedily dealt with. When a similar case to the Boots/Archer one was brought before the Petty Sessions in 1881 the courtroom was cleared of 'females and juveniles' before the evidence could be heard. John Maslin, a hay binder from Liddington, was ordered to pay Mary Carter 2s per week for si...

With the 19th century Town Hall and the temporary library buildings in the foreground, Regent Circus is almost unrecognisable in this 1950s photograph. Fletcher's Directory of Swindon records doctors J. Holland, W.O. Connell and T. Quigley in practise at 37 Regent Street while solicitors Pooley, Booth & Anderson were at number 34. There were four greengrocers and three butchers including Eastmans, J.W. Read and Hunt & Sons among the many shops since replaced by 1960s office blocks. In December 2010 Meca, a 2,000 capacity live entertainment venue, opened in the former Regent cinema built in 1929. Renamed the Gaumont in the 50s and the Odeon in the 60s, the building later became the Top Rank Bingo Club. Rudi's Bar, the art deco building on the corner, opened as the Corporation Electricity Showrooms in the 1930s. Home to the children's library it later became the Islington Furnishing Company. Although shops to the right of the Victoria Road traffic isl...