Swindon in the Past Lane

So you've looked at all the photographs, talked to Aunt Bertha and you now know that great-granddad was born in the railway village, the next step is the census returns. In 1800 Parliament passed the Census Act and the first official census of England and Wales took place on 10th March 1801 when results revealed the population stood at approximately 9 million. With the exception of 1941 a census has taken place in England and Wales every ten years since then, although those between 1801-1831 were basically just a headcount and most of the statistics were eventually destroyed. With adult ages rounded down to the nearest five years and no indication of relationship between occupants, the 1841 census can be a tricky one to navigate. However, each subsequent census contains more fascinating information. A required field to be completed in the 1851 returns was whether any of the occupants were 'blind, deaf or idiot' while in 1871 and 1881 the required information inclu...

Brook House Farm pub and restaurant has enjoyed a number of makeovers in recent years, but despite the alterations to the former farmhouse it is still possible to identify some structural features from its glory days. Standing on the corner of Middleleaze Drive and Tewkesbury Way, just inside the Swindon borough boundary, with views across Lydiard Park and its back to the sprawling town, today Brook House Farm straddles the divide between town and country. Once belonging to the St. John family at Lydiard House, a farm has stood on the site for at least 200 years, probably longer. Along with Wick Farm it made an early appearance on the 1773 Andrews and Dury map of Wiltshire. Nineteenth century particulars of the Lydiard Estate reveal that parcels of land, gardens and cottages on the two farms appear to have been interchangeable. Called Brook Farm until the beginning of the 20th century, the 165-acre dairy farm perched on the parish boundary of Lydiard Tregoze and Lydiard Mill...

If the hugely popular TV programme 'Who Do You Think You Are? has made you want to know more about your family history there is a wealth of material in Swindon’s Central Library for those with Wiltshire roots. But even if your ancestors are from further a field there is still plenty of lines of research to explore. Civil registration was introduced in England and Wales on July 1,1837 after which every birth, marriage and death was recorded at a local register office. Throughout the Victorian period and up to the 1980s every district registrar sent a quarterly summary of the registers to the General Register Office. The index of these returns, published in hundreds upon hundreds of large leather bound volumes, was until recently, housed at the Family Records Centre in London. Fortunately a microfiche copy of this index is much closer to hand and available for consultation at the Central Library, Regent Circus, Swindon. Here you will be able to obtain the date during which the ...

The 1970s regeneration of Swindon town centre saw the disappearance of many local landmarks, including two Victorian roadways, Cromwell Street and Brunel Street. Today the foundations lie beneath the Brunel Centre, awaiting some futuristic Time Team dig to reveal their secrets. Photographs taken in Cromwell Street before the First World War show a busy shopping street with awnings stretching into the distance. At the Regent Street crossroads Briggs & Son boast 70 years of honest value. Fast forward to 1967 and a film clip viewable on the BBC website shows the demolition in action with views of Norman's Carpet Store and Briggs Footfitters, possibly a descendent of the honest Victorian traders. Cromwell Street, Brunel Street and houses on the north side of Havelock Street were built in the late 1860s in response to the chronic shortage of housing in the town. New Swindon was experiencing a population explosion with the continued expansion of the railway works. The censu...

When pub landlady Lorna Sumbler, licensee at The Flag in 2008 caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure on the stairs, she knew immediately it wasn't a locked in customer - well not from this century anyway!  There had been other sightings too - a figure standing at the end of the bar that sat down - and then disappeared. She reported feeling a tap on the shoulder and seats moving, but there was never anyone there - or was there? John Knapp, one of James and Jane Knapp's seven children, was born in Shrivenham in 1849. Married to Mary Jane Hill in 1872, by 1881 the couple, with their four children Helen 8, William 6, Evelyn 4 and two year old John, were mine hosts at the Lamb and Flag in Bridge Street. In April of that same year John took Elizabeth Cavill to Swindon County Court for non-payment of £2 3s 6d, (£2.17 worth about £150 today) costs accrued by her husband George, The report in the Evening Advertiser reads: "Mr, Boddle appeared for the plaintiff and expla...