Swindon in the Past Lane

Work continues apace on Princes Street at the Union Square development despite the recent snow and rain. Have a look how things are progressing and catch up on the history of Princes Street  on a previous Swindon in the Past Lane post. The Man with a Stick outside 19 Princes Street in 1953.  For the legendary MWAS series see  Swindon Local Studies  and for the whole story visit Swindon Heritage.

Swindon has been a work in progress since Brunel and Gooch sited an engineering works for the maintenance and repair of locomotives here in 1840.  Of course the industrial new town grew bigger and was more successful than anyone could have possibly predicted.  Pretty much the same could be said for the development that came after the railway boom. Victorian development on Princes Street, the site of construction work pictured here, began in the 1870s as building projects swallowed up fields of pasture right to the door of Eastcott Farm.  Among the builders at work on Princes Street were the entrepreneurial James Hinton, John Webb and one time publican at the Dolphin Inn, Rodbourne Charles Williams. The street that stretched from Regent Circus to the canal was named in honour of Albert Victor, eldest son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII.  The scandalous Albert Victor, once in the frame for the Jack the Ripper murders, died  fr...

Two buildings in this aerial view of Swindon fifty years ago are testament to the town's continuing record of expansion. Clarence Street School on the corner of Euclid and Clarence Streets was build in 1897 at a cost of £12,091.  With accommodation for 885 children by the beginning of the new century the school was already overcrowded. The building of Euclid Street Higher Elementary School in 1904 eased the pressure somewhat.  School log books reveal that around this time Clarence Street School was divided into a separate girls' and boys' section. In 1907 J.J. Stafford was the headmaster with Miss C.J. Stiles in charge of the girls and Miss L.M. Kent, the infants' mistress.  Just two years later and the average attendances numbered 891. Fifty years later and Clarence Street School accommodated the children of Swindon newcomers moving to the new estates at Walcot and Parks.  In 1958 there were approximately 1,000 children on the roll. With a population to...

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...