Swindon in the Past Lane

I'm finishing my week long profusion of Priscilla posts with an absolute cracker. There's a complicated family tree, a Will and a portrait! Anne Priscilla Goddard was born in Swindon, the daughter of Ambrose Goddard and his wife Sarah and was baptised in Holy Rood Church on September 9, 1783. Ambrose Goddard was a politician representing Wiltshire from 1772-1806. Described as having 'diffident habits and the state of his nerves precluded him from public speaking' by 1796 Ambrose himself felt that  he was too old to continue in public office. However, he was persuaded to remain until by 1804 he was seldom able to attend parliament and retired two years later. Perhaps it was through his political career that Ambrose met Tory MP Sir Thomas Buckler Lethbridge. Lethbridge, who was described as an outspoken and somewhat unpredictable politician, represented Somerset from 1806-1812 and again from 1820-1830. Anne Priscilla married Thomas Buckler Lethbridge on May 14, 18...

Priscilla Goddard was born in the village of Cliffe Pypard and baptised at St Peter's Church in June 1765. The entry in the register reads: Priscilla Daughter of Edward Goddard Esq & Joanna his Wife was born Sund: March 31. The Goddard family acquired the Manor of Cliffe Pypard in 1530 when it was sold to John Goddard of Aldbourne. The story goes that the Goddard family acted as rector presented to the living, but that Edward (Priscilla's father) was so dissatisfied with the incumbent cleric that he took holy orders himself and in 1780 presented himself for the job. Priscilla probably received an education appropriate for the daughter of the Lord of the Manor, either at home by a governess and then tutors or at a private school for young ladies. I can only guess at the events of Priscilla's life because - here I go again - there is no written evidence! She probably received music lessons and painting lessons. She could probably play the piano and sing and no dou...

You know you’ve got a bad case of this family history research malarkey when you spend hours trying to trace someone who died more than 280 years ago and who isn’t even a member of your family. I have recently set myself the task of researching all the women from the Goddard family called Priscilla (l know, it seemed a good idea at the time!) I began with Priscilla D’Oyley who brought the name into the family. Next, I traced her daughter Priscilla Sedgwick. All reasonably straightforward and very interesting. Then I came across a will written by Priscilla Vilett and proved in 1834. This will be nice and easy, I thought, coming across a whole bunch of names I recognised. ‘Priscilla daughter of Thos Vilett Esq & Mary [formerly Goddard] was baptised on March 18, 1754’ at Holy Rood Church, Swindon, according to the parish registers. Priscilla was one of quite a small family for the time and when her father made his will, he mentions just three children - a son Thomas...

On July 11, 1638 Obadiah Sedgwick married Priscilla Goddard at the parish church, Ogbourne St Andrew. Obadiah Sedgwick was born in 1600, the son of Joseph Sedgwick, vicar  at St Peter's, Marlborough. He went on to become lecturer at St Mildred's in the City of Westminster before moving onto a parish in Coggeshall. In 1642 he became chaplain to the regiment of foot raised by Denzil Holles and finally rector at St Paul's, Covent Garden. But these were extraordinary times. It all started to go wrong for Charles I when his best friend forever George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was assassinated in 1628. Charles had already fallen out with his MPs, dissolving Parliament three times between 1625 and 1629. Add to this inflammatory mix religious upheaval and lo and behold civil war erupted, Charles lost his throne and eventually his head as well. And in the middle of all this we have Obadiah Sedgwick, a Puritan divine and member of the Westminster Assembly, a council of fe...

How many women are there in the Goddard family called Priscilla? Well I can tell you - loads! Sadly few of them left us any evidence of their lives bar an entry in the parish registers, except for the woman I think of as Priscilla the First. The name originated with Priscilla D'Oyley who married Edward Goddard on August 13, 1611, in the parish church of Stadhampton, five miles north of Wallingford in South Oxfordshire. Priscilla was born in 1593, the daughter of John D'Oyley and his wife Ursula. Edward and Priscilla lived at homes in Inglesham and Box where Priscilla died in 1681. There is a memorial to the Goddard couple in St Thomas a Becket Church, Box. The Goddard family weathered the turmoil of the Civil War but like the St John family at Lydiard Park, they struggled with split loyalties. Edward was a Parliamentarian while his elder brother Thomas, Lord of the Manor of Swindon, was a Royalist and like the St Johns the war both divided yet protected the family and...

As Swindon schools prepare to begin the summer holiday at the end of July, the debate continues about the validity of a long six week break. The tradition harks back to our agricultural past when children were required to work in the fields, earning a much needed additional income for their family. Today things are a little different and the long summer break is said by some educationalists to disadvantage children and set back their learning. School holidays are an expensive time to travel but parents potentially face fines for taking their children out of school during term time. Perhaps there is an argument for readjusting how we do things. Few firms still shut down for a fixed summer holiday, and nothing compares to TRIP when the mighty railway works closed for its annual break. 'Swindon changed its ways and adapted itself to accommodate TRIP, so significant was it for the town's economy and social well being. The council called special meetings, the shopkeepers chang...

Having wondered how I would get a photograph looking down busy Commercial Road, it turned out to be quite easy. A gap in the traffic, hold your nerve and hey presto. A photograph of Commercial Road today is far removed from those taken during the late Victorian period when it was a tree lined vista of elegant, red brick villas. However, as it's name suggests Commercial Road was always intended to be at the heart of Swindon's growing commercial centre, an important highway linking Old and New Swindon and a busy shopping street to rival Regent Street. Central to the development of Swindon, Commercial Road was constructed in the late nineteenth century and heralded the first phase of development on the valuable Rolleston Estate. The Rolleston Estate, a large land holding that originally belonged to the Vilett family, was crucial to the development of New Swindon. In the 1880s the vast area of prime building land was held in chancery following the bankruptcy of it's the...