Swindon in the Past Lane

When Ambrose Goddard married Sarah Williams it involved a lot of legal man hours and a very large document. The Marriage Settlement dated 12 August 1776 reads like a tour of eighteenth century Swindon with some very familiar place names, even now more than 240 years later. Ambrose Goddard released in trust to his kinsman Ambrose Awdry and Charles Penruddocke, Wiltshire neighbour and political colleague, the manors of Over Swindon and Nether Swindon and parcels of land called Walcot, Tismead and Oakus grounds. Also included were messuages (house and land) in Wanborough and Stanton, Westlecott Farm in Wroughton and the tolls of markets and fairs in Swindon. Sarah's father, the Rev. Thomas Williams was no slouch in the property stakes either and in an accompanying document released properties in Carmarthenshire in trust to Owen Brigslock. Ambrose and Sarah married at St James's, Westminster on August 17, 1776. Sarah was 26 years old and Ambrose 45. The couple had three son...

How many people coming across the name Goddard Vilett would assume this is probably a man? Well I did at first and very nearly overlooked yet another important woman in Swindon's history. I found a marriage entry dated 1710 in the Holy Rood parish registers when William Horne married Mrs Goddard Vilett, and I wondered if William was marrying a widow still using her deceased husband’s name, but no, that wasn’t the case.  The South Marston parish registers record that 'Mr Thomas Vilett & Mrs Elleanor Goddard were married December 11th, 1681.'   Their daughter Goddard Vilett was baptised at the same church on June 24, 1683, but obviously grew up in Swindon where her Vilett family lived. Eleanor's branch of the Goddard family settled in South Marston and the parish records include the baptism of James Goddard's eight children between 1657 and 1673 with Eleanor (Ellen) baptised in 1661. Sadly, Thomas and Eleanor's marriage was a short one as she died ...

On June 25, 2016 the recently created  Lydiard Park Heritage Trust  announced the names of the inaugural trustees. Mike Bowden (Chair) - Former FTSE 100 Managing Director and Company Secretary and currently CEO Swindon Speedway Per-Axel Warensjo (Vice-Chair) – Former Finance and HR Director within the technology sector and currently a local Parish chairman and CFO of Swindon Speedway. Kevin Fisher - Swindon resident for 54 years, electronics engineer background and former employee of a multinational technology company where he held various European level management roles. Currently chair of the Shaw Residents' Association Sarah Finch Crisp - Former Director of Chiswick House and Gardens Trust and previously Head of Heritage at Swindon Borough Council and led The Lydiard Park Restoration Project Richard Howroyd - Chartered Accountant and procurement professional with significant public/private sector experience. He has lived in Swindon for over 15 years. He is curr...

I think it's about time I gave Duncan and Mandy Ball another mention. I originally wrote this blogpost more than five years ago and I now have to revise the paragraph on statistics. So, that would be a lot more pages, thousands more photographs and a much larger index.  Probably without exception the ambition of every family historian is to visit the places with which their ancestors are most closely associated. As few of us have a baronial home, and castle fortresses are pretty thin on the ground, for most researchers the ultimate destination is the parish church where their forebears married, brought their babies to be christened and eventually were laid to rest. For the lucky ones there may even be a memorial or a gravestone providing additional valuable information in the quest to piece together a family history. For those researching their origins in the North Wiltshire area there is a real treasure trove to be found at www.oodwooc.co.uk. Duncan and Mandy Ball began re...