Swindon in the Past Lane

Devizes Road was a late starter getting on the property ladder.  Building along Nyweport Street had begun nearly five hundred years earlier while on Wood Street and High Street documents detailing 16 th  century property deeds survive. In 1773 Devizes Road was still an unnamed, rural lane known locally as Short Hedge or Edge after the hawthorn hedges that lined its route.  By 1841 there was little change with only twelve houses built along the lane, also known as Horsefair as this was the site of regular horse fairs where the animals were tethered along the hedgerow for inspection. Properties on the west side of the road date from the second half of the 19 th  century where the stone built terraced houses at 43-45 Devizes Road retain their original sash windows. Built in about 1830, Canford House was a private dwelling before it became home to Swindon’s early police force in the mid century.  With accommodation for a police superintendent, an i...

With residential car parking at a premium in Old Town today, there was no such problem for the 1900 owner of 31 Wood Street. The sale catalogue of 1903 advertises a carriage entrance at the rear of the property leading from Devizes Road with a coach house, stable yard and stabling for two horses. A Grade II listed building, 31 Wood Street dates from the late 18th century to early 19th century. Described as a 'commodious family residence' the property belonged to John Chandler, a successful local businessman. At the time of his death in 1902 Chandler owned fourteen other properties on Eastcott Hill and stocks and shares in numerous local businesses including the Swindon United Gas Company and the Swindon Central Market. He also owned an impressive five bedroomed house, The Lime Kiln, standing in over an acre of land in Wootton Bassett, let to solicitor Harry Bevir. Born in Pewsey, by 1841 John Chandler was already working as a draper in Swindon and in 1844 he married...