Swindon in the Past Lane

The corner site on the pedestrianised Bridge Street was once at the very heart of Swindon’s busy public transport network. William Clappen’s business empire had shops at prime locations in both Old and New Swindon and his premise at the junction of Fleet Street and Bridge Street was at the site of the tram centre when it opened in 1904.  The tram system in Swindon began with a route from the Market Place in Old Swindon to the junction at Bridge and Fleet Streets in New Swindon.  It was later extended to include Wellington Street and the railway station with a further route through Rodbourne and Gorse Hill.  Tram drivers used the clock set in the wall of William’s shop to check their departure times and the area became known as Clappen’s Corner. Born in Cirencester in 1855, William Clappen was the son of a tailor, William and his wife Sarah.  Like his brothers, the younger William joined the family firm in Cricklade Street, Cirencester where his father...

This 1950s aerial view of Swindon shows the town centre on the threshold of an earlier regeneration project. Demolition had already begun with a small cluster of terraces on the corner of Weymouth Street.  Built in the 1870s, the site of the former housing was used as an unofficial car park when this photograph was taken in 1959. The transformation would continue with the creation of Fleming Way, named in honour of former Swindon Town striker, Harold Fleming.  This busy bus terminus cut a swathe through housing in Cheltenham and Gloucester Streets. Today the Zurich Tri Centre buildings stand on the site of houses once bounded by Wellington and Gloucester Streets. Farnsby Street, at the top of the photograph, numbered fifty-seven houses.  The Wesley School Rooms stood on the corner of Faringdon Road, now dominated by the refurbished Bridge House. Catherine, Carr and Vilett Streets all made room for the multi-storey car park and the Murray John building.  N...

When pub landlady Lorna Sumbler, licensee at The Flag in 2008 caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure on the stairs, she knew immediately it wasn't a locked in customer - well not from this century anyway!  There had been other sightings too - a figure standing at the end of the bar that sat down - and then disappeared. She reported feeling a tap on the shoulder and seats moving, but there was never anyone there - or was there? John Knapp, one of James and Jane Knapp's seven children, was born in Shrivenham in 1849. Married to Mary Jane Hill in 1872, by 1881 the couple, with their four children Helen 8, William 6, Evelyn 4 and two year old John, were mine hosts at the Lamb and Flag in Bridge Street. In April of that same year John took Elizabeth Cavill to Swindon County Court for non-payment of £2 3s 6d, (£2.17 worth about £150 today) costs accrued by her husband George, The report in the Evening Advertiser reads: "Mr, Boddle appeared for the plaintiff and expla...