Swindon in the Past Lane

Following an hiatus of more than a year, Swindon in the Past Lane is back with a smart new layout. And you might like to take a look at my latest venture, the Radnor Street Cemetery blog (published every Thursday) which shines a light on researched and re-imagined stories of the people who made our vibrant town. A lot has happened in the past 20 months. Sadly the beautiful Swindon Heritage magazine has ceased publication. Some back editions are still available at the Library Shop in Swindon Central Library and during Radnor Street Cemetery walks and Swindon Society meetings.  To re-launch Swindon in the Past Lane I am publishing a few of the stories I wrote for Swindon Heritage, beginning with the history of Swindon's brickworks and an interview with local historian Jan Flanagan. When Charles A Wheeler put his two acre brickworks on Stratton St Margaret Road up for sale in 1861 he knew it wouldn’t stay on the market for long. ‘The great demand for dwelling h...

It is difficult to believe that this town centre parkland oasis was once a brown field site. Queen's Park is a twelve acre beauty spot with a Victorian industrial past, the site of builder Thomas Turner's brick works -  examples of his artistry stand close to the Drove Road entrance. Today the former derelict claypit, once popular with zoologist Desmond Morris and his girlfriend Diana Dors, is an award winning park and garden. The park was developed between 1947 and 1962.  The first phase - a Garden of Remembrance to the fallen of the Second World War - was opened by Princess Elizabeth in 1950, the year of Swindon Borough's Golden Jubilee.  The second phase was opened by Sir Noel Arkell, Sheriff of Wiltshire, on May 30, 1953. Unfortunately the glass Show House was dismantled following storms in the early 1990s.  Designed by Borough Architect J. Loring-Morgan and opened in 1964 a brick wall is all that remains of the structure that once boasted a...

  When brick and tile manufacturer Thomas Turner wanted to advertise his wares he certainly thought of an eye-catching method. In 1889 he built two properties known as the 'catalogue houses.' The two cottages along with Jessamine Cottage, were 19th century show homes, built to display every brick and tile, every finial and moulding, made in Turner's works. The properties were constructed at the front of his manufacturing site in Drove Road, one of around nine brick works operating in boomtown Swindon in the late 19th century. Topped off with terracotta acorns, crests and rosettes and even a pottery portrait, said to be that of Daniel Lynch, master potter at the Stratton works, they are unique examples of Turner's expertise. Turner's own home, Grove House, a substantial Victorian villa stood slightly removed from his worker's houses, perhaps better known today as the Miller & Carter Steakhouse, Drove Road. Thomas was the son of another potter a...