History is all around us here in West Swindon and just up the road from Lydiard Park is a survivor from the ancient forest of Braydon. Back in the day our neck of the woods was the property of the King. The ancient woodland at Braydon had become a royal forest by 1135 and in 1228 enclosed an area of around 46 square miles. While the forest was the playground of the privileged, for the ordinary folk it provided vital resources and the right to common pasture to graze their animals. In 1270 Robert Tregoze received a royal licence from Henry III to create a deer park at Lydiard but the march of progress had already begun. By 1300 several of the local woods had been disafforested including those owned by John de Clinton and Robert Russell of Lydiard Millicent called ‘Spersolt’ (Sparcell) and William de Grandison’s wood at Lydiard Tregoze. Thankfully Peatmoor Copse was preserved during the 1980s development when sensitive planning saw the copse and the newly con...