Swindon in the Past Lane

  Swindon is an interesting town – no, honestly it is. From medieval market town to Victorian industrial hub, Swindon had members of the aristocracy living at Lydiard House and innovative engineers in New Swindon. We are surrounded by heritage at every turn. In West Swindon you might think the ancient agricultural heritage had been lost beneath the 1980s housing development, but even here there is plenty of evidence remaining. Wick Farmhouse and the neighbouring properties overlook the field which gives the housing estate its name – the Prinnels. In 1841, following the Tithe Commutation Act 1836, records reveal that Jonas Clarke farmed 150 acres of land at Wick, but the history of the farm goes back much further than that. Owned by Alfred of Marlborough when the Domesday survey was compiled in 1086 the farm passed to the Ewyas family down through the Tregoze, Grandison and Beauchamp families to the St. Johns who owned it for more than 500 years. The Victorian Wick Lane now fo...

I have just finished re-reading The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce . This is the story of a man who walks to save someone's life and discovers his own along the way. The eponymous hero walks from Kingsbridge in Devon to Berwick upon Tweed, an epic journey during which he examines his past and finds his future. It is an inspirational story. I'm a big fan of walking and now I want to embark upon my own pilgrimage. But for the time being I shall have to make do with my daily walk from Old Town to West Swindon, a distance of a mere three miles, but one which take me through both the old and newer areas of our town. My journey begins in Goddard Avenue named after the Goddard family, Lords of the Manor of Swindon from 1560 who continued to hold sway in the town until the death of Fitzroy Pleydell Goddard in 1927. Development in Goddard Avenue dates from 1896 when the avenue was laid out by engineer and architect James Rew Shopland. Numerous builders worke...