Swindon in the Past Lane

Our regular guided walk takes place this Sunday, August 14 at Radnor Street Cemetery. Meet at the Chapel for 2pm. The cemetery opened in 1881. Here is a description taken from a trade directory two years later. SWINDON CEMETERY.- Situate on the hill at the west of Swindon, this enclosure of about eleven acres commands beautiful views over the vale of Swindon, and for many miles to the west and north. The chapel, in the centre of the ground, is in the Early English style, with apsidal east-end, vestry and bell-turret, and accommodates 100 persons. There is also a mortuary chapel. The main entrances are at Clifton-street, which is convenient for funerals from Old Swindon, and at Redcross-street, easily accessible from the new town over Cambria-bridge. At the latter entrance is the lodge, a substantial and convenient residence for the care-taker. The number of burials in the cemetery from the day of the opening, August 6th, 1881, to the end of December, 1882, were 309. Burial Board (f...

One of the earliest trade directories was Samuel Lee's list of the City of London merchants published in 1677. It wasn't until 1800 that directories for cities and large towns began to make an appearance and it is Frederic Festus Kelly that we have to thank for the most comprehensive of all directories. The former Inspector General of Letter Carriers took over publication of the Post Office London Directory in 1835 and by 1845 was producing provincial directories for just about everywhere. Until the incorporation of the borough in 1900, Swindon received two entries for the old and new towns. The format for these publications was pretty standard with a general description of the place and a little local history followed by a list of the notable inhabitants followed by commercial enterprises. Kelly's Directory of Wiltshire dated 1899 describes Lydiard Tregoze, now pretty much absorbed into Swindon, as 'a village and parish, 3 miles south east from Wootton Bassett s...