Swindon in the Past Lane

Hook Farm signpost Today there is little evidence of the medieval village of Lydiard Tregoze.  However, despite the proliferation of 1980s building around Lydiard Park, it is still possible to trace a depression in the landscape close to the park and St Mary’s Church.  This is believed to be a ‘hollow way,’ the former medieval high street from village to parish church. The popular theory is that the village was abandoned following the Black Death when plague decimated the population.  The tithing of Lydiard Tregoze, a group of ten householders, a sort of medieval neighbourhood watch, continues to appear in records during the 16 th century but disappears after this date when there was a shift of population to Hook. The Bolingbroke Arms, situated between Hook and Greatfield, is little changed since it served the Lydiard estate workers in the 19 th century – or is it? The inn first appeared listed in early local trade directories and at the time of the 1841 census Sa...

Nothing much out of the ordinary ever happened in the small Victorian village of Hook, Lydiard Tregoze. Until 1854 when an event occurred that shocked the small community to its foundations. William Wright had only lived in the village a few months. No one knew much about him or Ann Collins, the woman who sometimes lived with him. Wright had served in the navy but after his discharge had adopted a nomadic lifestyle, travelling the country, staying in one place only as long as the work lasted. He told how he met fellow traveller Ann Collins some three years previously. By the summer of 1854 the couple and Ann's young daughter were staying in a lodging house in Wootton Bassett. Wright obtained a job as a blacksmith in nearby Hook where he rented a cottage in the village. However Ann was reluctant to join him and when she did she stayed but a short while. She told him she was going to Lancashire to visit her family but Wright soon discovered she had returned to the lodging...