Swindon in the Past Lane

It is difficult to believe that at the time this aerial photograph was taken in the 1950s, the railway industry was officially in decline. Visiting Swindon Junction in 1840, Brunel and his superintendent of locomotives, Daniel Gooch decided this would be an ideal place to establish a repair and maintenance depot.  The works opened in January 1843 with 423 men on the pay roll. Today the Churchward estate occupies what was once the site of  'A' Shop completed in 1920 and reputed to be one of the largest covered workshops in the world.  These were the heady days of the GWR when more than 14,000 worked 'inside' the vast railway factory complex. The railway industry was nationalised in 1948 by the post war Labour government and the 100 year old GWR works was renamed British Railways Workshops.  In 1960 the Evening Star was the last steam loco built for BR at Swindon and three years later a large part of the Carriage Works closed.  The end came at 4.30 pm Mar...

When the Sir Daniel Arms opened its doors in June 2007 it wasn't for the first time. A public house of the same name had stood in Fleet Street for around 140 years, which is somewhat surprising given a clause in the original deeds. Old Swindon brewer John Harding Sheppard made sure he protected his business interests when he sold land called 'Upper Ground or Fosters Upper Ground' in 1848. George Selby, a tea dealer from Eastcott, bought a piece of the land on 'the Highway called Fleet Way,' agreeing as part of the sale that he would not 'carry on or permit or suffer to be carried on ...the Trade or business of a Brewer, Publican, Beer House Keeper or Dealer in or retailer of beer or other Malt Liquor Wines or Spirits or any offensive Trade or calling whatsoever.' By 1851 George had opened a grocer's shop on the site but the property soon changed hands. In 1858 new owner William Henry Warner drew up a seven year lease with Charles Lea, a New Sw...

The 1970s regeneration of Swindon town centre saw the disappearance of many local landmarks, including two Victorian roadways, Cromwell Street and Brunel Street. Today the foundations lie beneath the Brunel Centre, awaiting some futuristic Time Team dig to reveal their secrets. Photographs taken in Cromwell Street before the First World War show a busy shopping street with awnings stretching into the distance. At the Regent Street crossroads Briggs & Son boast 70 years of honest value. Fast forward to 1967 and a film clip viewable on the BBC website shows the demolition in action with views of Norman's Carpet Store and Briggs Footfitters, possibly a descendent of the honest Victorian traders. Cromwell Street, Brunel Street and houses on the north side of Havelock Street were built in the late 1860s in response to the chronic shortage of housing in the town. New Swindon was experiencing a population explosion with the continued expansion of the railway works. The censu...