Swindon in the Past Lane

Things have been rather quiet of late in the Past Lane but I’ve been pretty busy behind the scenes. First there was Grave Matters, a survey of the churchyard at St. Mary’s, Lydiard Park and the small cemetery at Hook. As part of a team of volunteers I have been working on photographing and collating the inscriptions on the headstones and writing histories of some of the people buried there. The work of the Grave Matters group will contribute to the Project Archives enterprise – for more details visit the Friends of Lydiard Park website. Next came the discovery of the fascinating Woolford diaries. Elliot Woolford farmed at Hook Farm from 1899 until his death in 1941. Throughout that time, he kept a diary, begun in 1892 when as a young man he started his farming career at Bagbury Farm with his brothers Rowland and Charles. The diaries provide a view of everyday life in the rural parish of Lydiard Tregoze during a time of great social change. As might be expected Elliot takes great...

So, what is the history behind Can Court Farm and where should I begin my research? Last week I came across the grave of Margaret Fanny Willis in the abandoned churchyard at Eysey and traced her husband and sister in law, brother and sister Ernest and Ellen Willis, to Can Court, Lydiard Tregoze. Now I want to know more about the farm where they grew up, and where best to turn to but the Friends of Lydiard Tregoz Reports published annually from 1968 – 2007. These reports are a mine of information to those interested in Lydiard Park and the surrounding area, and the St John family. The Friends are currently digitising the Reports and some of them are available to members through the website. Central Library, Swindon also have a complete bound set available on their shelves in Local Studies. In Report No. 15 published in 1982, Canon Brian Carne wrote an article about Can Court and some of its owners and occupiers. The Bradford family were tenant farmers in the parish of Ly...

What better subject for a 'nearly' Christmas post than tales of ghostly happenings in Lydiard House. Like any self respecting ancient property Lydiard House boasts a spectral presence or two.  But like a thing of beauty, could the Lydiard House phantoms be just an imaginative figment in the eye of the beholder. There have been the occasional sighting of a 17th century gentleman roaming the grounds and giving directions to lost visitors, supposedly Sir John St John, first baronet, who died in 1648. Sir John is depicted in portraits in the house and in St Mary's Church he can be seen recumbent on the magnificent Bedstead Monument and portrayed in the St John polyptych he commissioned in memory to his parents. Now I'm not saying that Sir John wasn't a thoroughly nice man, but my feelings are that he would be more likely to point a musket at visitors wandering about his estate rather than give them a guided tour. In 1996 Margaret North contributed an article to Th...

“Welcome to my office,” said Joe as he led the Friends of Lydiard Park group from the visitor’s centre along a winding pathway which opened up on to a breath-taking view. Croome Court has been a work in progress for more than 260 years as restoration continues today. The 6 th Earl of Coventry’s £400,000 (worth £35 million in today’s money) project began in 1751 with the building of a Palladian mansion and a landscaped parkland and work continued throughout the 18 th  centuries. Croome Court was sold in 1948 following the death of the 10 th Earl at Dunkirk in 1940. The National Trust acquired 670 acres of the Park in 1996 and in 2007 the Croome Heritage Trust bought Croome Court and leased it to the National Trust on a 999 year lease. The house opened to the public on September 26, 2009. The 6 th Earl of Coventry inherited Croome Court in 1751 when he was 28 years old, but he already had a vision for his family home. He engaged Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown (who design...

To the Memory of Jacob Hayward who departed this Life  the 19th Sept. 1801 in the 57th year of his Age I was so long with Pain opprest, That work my Strength away, It made me long for Endless Rest Which never can decay  Also to the Memory of Jane wife of  Jacob Hayward who departed this Life the 29th of Nove. 1828 Aged 71 years Spare a thought for poor Jacob Hayward, whose demise appears to have been a welcome release from a long illness. This magnificent table top memorial is one of several listed monuments in the churchyard at St Mary's and is evidence that Jacob was a wealthy man. His will reveals that he farmed at Chaddington and Bassett Down and that he owned the freehold of Cotmarsh Farm in Broad Hinton.This very matter of fact document bequeaths his property and his money to wife Jane and daughter Mary and was signed just 12 days before Jacob's death. There is no mention of any personal effects and just one reference ...

I really thought my Ody family obsession was a thing of the past; a guilty, not so private pleasure. I'd written a school's project for Brookfield School with  a copy for Lower Shaw Farm , because yes, an Ody family once lived there too, along with numerous articles including one for the Friends of Lydiard Tregoz annual report. I had stopped tracking down people online and I no longer trawled through local history books for any reference to the Odys. I honestly thought I was over it all. Yes, occasionally I felt stirrings, the odd itch or twitch, but it would pass. Then earlier this week I made a reference to Walter Ody in a blogpost about the Hook Burial Ground, and I'm back in the grip. Readers have contacted me in their dozens - well three actually, but so intense is my obsession that I'm experiencing a full blown Ody episode. For me it all began with the weathered headstone in the churchyard at St Mary's Lydiard Tregoze and as the saying goes, the rest...

Now you might think I had better things to do on a Bank Holiday Monday - but I spent it sorting out the Dore family. I don't mean I popped round to their house and threw about accusations until they all argued and fell out with one another. No, I spent most of the day, well to be honest all the day, comparing gravestone inscriptions, census returns and wills until I managed to create order out of chaos. And given the odd mis-transcribed date I think I can now safely say I've got them all sorted. As you've already seen their father William's Will included personal items such as beds and bedding, a mahogany tea table and his old Chestnut Hackney which he stated should not be sold or disposed of but be kept so long as it shall live. His son John was brief and to the point - he left everything in equal proportions to his two spinster sisters Sarah and Mary. But it was Anne's Will that tied in all the strands and helped me locate everyone. William and Sarah D...

William Dore was the first in an auctioneering family dynasty that spanned nearly 100 years and three generations. Christened at St Mary's Church, Lydiard Tregoze in 1749, the son of Peter and Jone Dore, William married local girl Sarah Hedges and produced a large family. William fulfilled his parish responsibilities as tenant and rate payer, and clocked up an impressive 13 years service as churchwarden with Jacob Matthews of Toothill, retiring in 1812, possibly due to ill health or just general infirmity. A long time tenant of Lord Bolingbroke, William paid rates on Wick Farm and additional land called Prinnels, Blacklands and Greendown between 1806 and his death in 1815. He wrote his will in the month before he died and what I find particularly interesting are the personal bequests William makes to his family. Beds and bedding continue to be an important and valuable item of household furnishing and are handed down to his daughters. I would love to be able to identify the...

It might not have felt very Springlike today, with squally showers and a chilly blast, but the forecast for the rest of the week is looking promising and I feel in a buoyant Lydiard House and Park mood. Next week sees the last in the Behind Closed Doors series of events on March 16 at 7 pm when Jane Rutherfoord will talk about ancient wall paintings and her fascinating conservation work at St Mary's Church, Lydiard Tregoze. For more information visit the Friends of Lydiard Park website. Lydiard House, which has been closed since before Christmas, reopens on March 19 with a new exhibition called Lydiard at War. And then yesterday yet more information arrived concerning future events at Lydiard House including the Friends AGM on May 7.  Mike Bowden, Chairman of the Friends, writes: "Given the very serious threat Lydiard House and Park is currently under and the uncertainty of its future remaining in public hands, we will devote our afternoon to this issue, providing you...

Who would have thought that I'd enjoy a talk about cleaning? At yesterday's Behind Closed Doors event Frances Yeo, curator at Lydiard House (and STEAM Museum) explained how she and her staff care and clean the collection. There were quite a few surprises in store, but it all made perfect sense. She explained why visitors might notice a discreet coating of dust on some of the surfaces and the less obvious that surface is, the thicker the dust - but as Frances explained, this isn't lazy housekeeping. Dragging a cloth across a dusty table top can cause an amazing amount of damage. Apparently dust isn't a problem until it is several layers deep and this could take up to two years to accumulate. So no need to dust every week then - which has been my argument for, well a lot longer than two years! Frances explained all about heat, humidity and light recordings and the difficult job of coping with the antiquated heating system in Lydiard House. The niceties of when t...

Behind Closed Doors is a series of talks and tours taking place at Lydiard House and beginning this coming Saturday, January 23. Sat 23rd Jan 2.30pm The Ladies of Lydiard - An entertaining tour with local historian Frances Bevan revealing the secrets and talents of Lydiard ladies through the centuries. Wed 3rd February 2.30pm Wigs, Ruffs and Robes - Discover hidden stories behind the portraits of sumptuously dressed aristocrats with Lydiard House educationalist Nancy Heath. Sat 13th Feb 2.30pm Keeping up Appearances - Frances Yeo, Curator of Lydiard House shows how the Lydiard collection is cared for and demonstrates ways you can look after your own treasured possessions and furnishings. Sat 20th Feb 2.30pm Grand Designs Architect Michael Gray explains how the St. John family tried to assert and maintain their aristocratic status by commissioning art, architecture and landscape at Lydiard Park 1615 - 1748. Wed 24th Feb 7pm The Ladies of Lydiard - An entertaini...