In 1420 eleven year old Margaret Beauchamp became sole heir to her father's considerable estate, including some 3,000 acres in the parish of Lydiard Tregoze. Five years later she married Sir Oliver St John, when the St John story at Lydiard House begins. A house has stood on the site of the Palladian mansion in Lydiard Park since the 13th century and until 1943, when it was purchased by Swindon Corporation, had just five owners, the Tregoze, Grandison, Beauchamp and St John families. During the 500 years of St John occupancy the house had the odd makeover, was remodelled in the middle of the 18th century and then left in a state of benign neglect until the death of Lady Bolingbroke in 1940 when the trustees of her will put the property on the market. For more than 70 years the local authority has restored and refurbished the fabric of the building, tracked down and purchased furniture and artefacts that once belonged to the house, including numerous stunning portraits and p...