Swindon in the Past Lane

Lydiard House and Park was busy today as families enjoyed the August sunshine. A steady stream of visitors filed through Lydiard House and front of house staff were heard to say it had been so busy they could have done with another pair of hands in the reception. With barbecue bookings booming and the Coach House Tea Rooms doing a roaring trade, had the parking charges deterred visitors? It didn't look like it. Get up close and personal with me in Lydiard House and the Walled Garden.

If you enjoy the guided walks at Radnor Street Cemetery, you may like to join me on a new venture, exploring the churchyard at the historic St Mary’s Church in Lydiard Park. A church has stood on this site for more than 1,000 years and the building that survives is full of historic gems. Sir Simon Jenkins, columnist, editor, author and former Chair of the National Trust said ‘were it to be removed lock stock and barrel to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London it would cause a national sensation’. Until the 1980s West Swindon development, St Mary’s Church had been at the centre of a small rural parish where tenant farmers and agricultural workers worshipped, married, brought their babies to be christened and were eventually laid to rest in the churchyard. Today some of the farmhouses still survive, among them Brook House Farm, which is a pub and Toothill Farm, a community centre and although former farmland has disappeared beneath the housing developments the h...