Swindon in the Past Lane

Mary Tuckey, spinster, died in 1837, before the advent of photography, and how I wish there was an image of her. I can imagine her seated at her dressing table beside the carved worked bed with the embroidered quilt, vallance and curtains. Or posed at the desk where she conducted her business and considered the property up for sale in Old Shaw Lane. There maybe a portrait in oil, prized in some distant descendants collection. Maybe a miniature hanging on a long golden chain. Who knows? Mary Tuckey was born in 1757, the second daughter and last child of Richard and Joanna Tuckey. In April 1834 she wrote her Will at Shaw House, the property left to her brother Thomas in their father's Will where she had lived with her mother Joanna. Mary died a wealthy woman, leaving property and parcels of land across the parishes of Lydiard Millicent and Rodbourne Cheney. She wrote off a sizeable debt owed her by her nephew John and everyone received a share of her money. She left beque...

So while we're on the subject of Swindon Heritage I'd like to mention former editor Graham Carter. In case you missed it, Swindon Heritage was a quarterly magazine for lovers of local history and was co founded in 2013 by Graham, First World War historian Mark Sutton and myself. During our five year career we published 20 editions plus a Battle of Britain 75th Anniversary special. There are still copies available at a knockdown price in the Library Shop, Central Library and bound copies of all 21 editions are on the shelf in Local Studies. But this wasn't Graham's only heritage publication achievement. Graham worked on the Swindon Advertiser from 1989-1998 before going freelance, returning to produce one off supplements. One of the supplements he researched, wrote and designed was the Chronicle of Swindon, a free insert which told the story of Swindon from pre-history to the new millennium.  You probably can't get your hands on a copy of this fantastic publ...

Council Leader David Renard stated in his column in the Advertiser this week that 't he council works very closely with heritage groups within the town' but there are many volunteers who would refute this assertion. Cllr Renard was answering claims that Swindon Borough Council neglects heritage assets following the disastrous  fire at the Coate Agricultural Museum on New Year's Eve.  He concluded his column with the following statement: 'Unfortunately, the passage of time does not make it easy to bring these buildings back to their former glory, but that does not mean we should not try. Letting our heritage fall by the wayside is not on our agenda.' Well sadly Cllr Renard, many of us feel it is. Save Swindon’s Heritage , a new facebook group formed following council tenant GLL’s announcement to develop part of the historic Health Hydro, a Grade II listed building, has registered more than 720 members in just 9 days. The listing of buildings came out of...

Nicola Cornick - Author Talk Date:  11th February 2016 Location:  Central Library, Regent Street, Swindon, Wilts SN1 1QG Time:  19:15 - 20:30 Cost:  £2.50 (£1.50 Library Members) Historical Romance - the fact and the fiction! Romantic fiction – from the medieval troubadours to Sir Walter Scott, Jane Austen to Barbara Cartland! To celebrate Valentine’s Day, international best selling author Nicola Cornick tells the history of romantic fiction from the Middle Ages to the present. With tips for aspiring authors and advice on how to get published, Nicola reveals all about romance! Nicola will also be promoting and signing copies of her new novel 'House of Shadows' published by MIRA Books. Nicola Cornick has been shortlisted four times for the US Romance Writers of America RITA Award and twice for the UK Romantic Novelists Association Romance Prize. She is also Awards Organiser for the Romantic Novelists' Association and a mentor for their New Writers' Scheme...

Over the coming weeks I shall be reviewing some books of local interest, all available on the shelves of Swindon Central Library. As the Swindon Society celebrates its 40th anniversary this year what better place to begin than with their superb selection of six publications.  The Swindon Society was founded by the late Eric Arman following a series of lectures given at the WEA.  Members meet every second Wednesday from September through to May at the Broad Green Centre, Salisbury Street, for more information visit the website on www.theswindonsociety.co.uk. Published during the 1980s/90s these popular books are available to view in the Swindon Local Studies Collection. One book I return to again and again is Studies in the History of Swindon.  Published by Swindon Borough Council in 1950 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the incorporation of Swindon as a borough, this unassuming book begins with a look at the Prehistory of the Swindon...

In 1881 the population of New Swindon stood at nearly 20,000 and was rising. In just forty years building had spread out of the railway village, first along Westcott Place and then beyond the railway line to the north of the town. With the parish church of St Mark's struggling to meet the spiritual needs of its ever increasing congregation, another church was desperately needed, but the coffers were empty. Undeterred Canon Maurice Ponsonby stepped into the pulpit to give an inspirational Whitsunday sermon on June 9, 1889. Taking as his text Genesis Chapter 6, verse 14, he told his congregation to 'build me an ark' - and that's exactly what they did. Meetings held on two consecutive Wednesdays in June soon saw a band of sixty volunteers step forward. The men were rapidly organised into three groups headed by Cresser, Hayward and Wager, three carpenters and joiners employed in the GWR works. Work began immediately on a plot of land in Ashford Road gifted by...

If the hugely popular TV programme 'Who Do You Think You Are? has made you want to know more about your family history there is a wealth of material in Swindon’s Central Library for those with Wiltshire roots. But even if your ancestors are from further a field there is still plenty of lines of research to explore. Civil registration was introduced in England and Wales on July 1,1837 after which every birth, marriage and death was recorded at a local register office. Throughout the Victorian period and up to the 1980s every district registrar sent a quarterly summary of the registers to the General Register Office. The index of these returns, published in hundreds upon hundreds of large leather bound volumes, was until recently, housed at the Family Records Centre in London. Fortunately a microfiche copy of this index is much closer to hand and available for consultation at the Central Library, Regent Circus, Swindon. Here you will be able to obtain the date during which the ...