Swindon in the Past Lane

Here in Swindon we are so very fortunate. We have historic countryside on our doorstep with more national monuments than you can shake a stick at and within the borough boundaries more green spaces than many towns and cities twice its size. When the desperately needed Swindon cemetery was on the drawing board in 1881, planners were already looking forward to a time when it would have to close. The 11 and a half acre cemetery was designed on the principle of a country estate with the chapel situated where the house might be. Pathways radiate out to a serpentine perimeter walk where local residents would be able to enjoy some gentle exercise long after the cemetery had closed. In 2005 the cemetery was declared a Local Nature Reserve and described as: Mostly ancient semi-natural woodland, with oak dominating canopy and hazel dominating understorey. Some parts managed as coppice with standards. Many large old coppice stools, especially field maple and oak. Good range of woodland fl...

On one of our guided cemetery walks one of our followers told me about Reading Old Cemetery and now that is top of my list of places to visit. Measuring eleven and a half acres the cemetery is the same size as Radnor Street and an aerial view reveals it is also a very similar shape. It is bounded on two sides by the busy London and Wokingham Roads and even has a junction named after it - Cemetery Junction. Reading Old Cemetery Radnor Street Cemetery There is a magnificent Grade II listed memorial to young pilot Bernard Laurence Hiett, a record breaking motor cyclist who lost his life during a race at Brooklands in 1930 aged 21. In Radnor Street Cemetery we have our own local hero, Battle of Britain pilot Sqd. Ldr. Harold Morley Starr who was gunned down as he bailed out of his Hurricane on August 31, 1940. Bernard Laurence Hiett Sqd. Ldr. Harold Morley Starr There are 18,327 burials in Reading Old Cemetery while Radnor Street Cemetery contains 33,000. Read...

Celebrate the launch of  Swindon in the Great War with the formal unveiling and dedication of the Sanford Street School Roll of Honour Memorial The memorial and its significance to Radnor Street Cemetery - a talk by Mark Sutton  Saturday November 23, 11.30 am Radnor Street Cemetery Chapel  and  The launch of the Swindon Heritage Winter edition  Swindon Heritage subscribers – come and collect your copy of the Winter edition and pick up a copy of Mark Sutton’s book Tell Them of Us free on the day only Have you been with us from the first issue - come and renew your 2014 subscription in the historic Radnor Street Cemetery Chapel? Want to send a Christmas gift subscription for 2014 – we can organize this too - come and see us at Radnor Street Cemetery Chapel 11- 2 pm November 23. Want to join our growing list of subscribers - if you love local history, come and meet us. Other attractio...

Next week sees the launch of Swindon Heritage, an exciting new local history magazine all about Swindon. Contrary to Ricky Gervais and popular opinion, Swindon has, in fact, plenty of fascinating history and this new publication is set to reveal some surprises. In the first issue you can read about the myths surrounding the magnificent Mechanics' Institution, a hub of intellectual enterprise established by innovative railway men in the nineteenth century.  Today the dilapidated building, high on Swindon Borough Council's 'to do' list is a familiar sight, but what went on there will be a revelation to those new to the town. Local farmer John Arkell went to Canada, founded a township and returned home to establish a brewery.  Today Arkell's is Swindon's oldest surviving business and they will be hosting the official launch of Swindon Heritage. This magazine, the first of its kind in not only Swindon, but the whole of the UK, is the brainchild ...

Do not be fooled by the casual mien of this group of people, chatting, making tea, waving.  This group knows more about the collective history of Swindon and its surrounds than you can shake a stick at. Members of the Swindon Society, Rodbourne Community History Group et al, independent researchers and freelance writers gather four times a year to look at what's new on the local history scene and last night's meeting was a doozy. Graham Carter, journalist and columnist on the Swindon Advertiser, gave the Swindon & District History Network a sneak preview of Swindon Heritage - an 80 page, all colour, glossy magazine due out Spring 2013 - the like of which Swindon has never seen before. Network members got to view a select few pages - the record of Swindon men's sacrifice during WWI by military historian Mark Sutton and a companion piece written by two Commonweal students just returned from a visit to the battlefields.  The story of the Stratton workhouse as seen ...

"All the approaches to the Town Hall were densely packed with people," reported the Swindon Advertiser at the unveiling of the cenotaph on Saturday October 30, 1920. "Especially touching was the scene when the relatives of the fallen came forward to deposit their floral tributes at the base of the memorial," the front-page account continued. In his dedicatory speech, Alderman S.E. Walter, Mayor of Swindon, spoke of how "upwards of 6,000 men went out from their homes in Swindon to fight for what they believed to be the liberty and salvation of the world." Anxious to create a lasting memorial to those men, Swindon dignitaries perhaps failed to appreciate the post war hardships families continued to endure. An ambitious scheme launched by the then Mayor, Alderman C.A. Plaister in May 1919 was for a memorial hall. A public appeal was announced and a donation of £100 was made by both Alfred Manners and Major F.P. Goddard to get the ball rolling. Fun...

As local and national plans to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War are discussed, here is a look back at how Swindon marked the 90th anniversary of the end of the Great War, a war to end all wars. More than 3,000 people visited the BBC Wartime Discovery Day at Swindon's STEAM museum on Saturday November 8, 2008. With more experts under one roof then you could shake a stick at, there was plenty of advice on what records are currently available and how to access them. One of the highlights of the day was a talk given by local historian Mark Sutton who has set himself the task of commemorating the men of Swindon who fought in the First World War. Mark, who grew up in Redcliffe Street, has a breathtaking knowledge of his subject and quoted facts and figures with effortless ease. "The BBC have asked me if I would talk for about half an hour but I've got enough here for three hours," he joked. With a wealth of personal detail, the slideshow pre...