Swindon in the Past Lane

When Swindon Corporation bought the old Goddard mansion house and 52 acres of parkland, it also acquired the ruins of Holy Rood Church, the town's original parish church.   In 1947 the borough surveyor reported to Town Clerk, David Murray John on the sorry state of the burial ground and chapel at The Lawn.  Many of the tombs had been vandalised with the coverings and side slabs removed while the sheet lead covering on the Goddard family vault had been taken. "In the chapel itself, a number of plaques have been wrenched from the walls and a hole has been cut in the outer wall on the North Side," wrote the inspector.  Sadly even the stone font had been smashed and scattered around the Chapel. It is believed that a church had stood on the site of Holy Rood since Norman times but the earliest mention of one dates from the 12th century when it was given to the Augustinian priory of Southwick by the Pont de l'Arche family. Alongside the burials of Swindon worthi...

Standing in a secluded space in the Lawn, the chancel is all that remains of Swindon's original parish church, Holy Rood. The foundations of the church date back to the thirteenth century with a makeover and rebuild in the 1748 when a brick built tower was added. However, by the mid nineteenth church the old parish church was proving too small for Swindon's growing population and by 1851 work had begun on a new building. Much of the fabric of the old church was sold off and it is believed that the Goddard's gazebo and ice house was constructed using recycled materials. Today the building is seldom open to the public but you can join us for a guided tour of the church and graveyard on Sunday July 23 at 2 pm. I have been studying the Holy Rood parish registers which survive from 1623. It was Henry VIII's right hand man, Thomas Cromwell, who implemented the introduction of a register recording the baptisms, marriages and burials in every parish. Although few of...

Members of the Swindon Society are now on their summer break, so I thought it was time to publish a couple of blogposts about the work they get up to. Scroll down to see what's on when the group reconvenes in September. This week saw members of the Swindon Society take to the streets as the local history enthusiasts joined in with Lethbridge Primary School's Victorian project. The eight and nine year olds had already seen a slideshow of Old Swindon and learned what it was like to be a Victorian schoolchild - now it was time to walk in the footsteps of their 19th century counterparts. The 140 children took part in four guided walks across two wet and windy days at the beginning of the week. First stop was at the site of the Old Swindon railway station, now a modern industrial estate.  Andy shows the children a photo of the former station platform -  and Bob points out the railway tunnel. The Belmont Brewery - now a nightclub.  The childr...