For this post in the Swindon in 50 More Buildings series I’m keeping with the Stratton area. The previous post covered Upper Stratton Baptist Church – and in this one LowerStratton Methodist Church. So one way and another I’ve got Methodism north of the railway well-covered!
The Methodist Church in Lower Stratton
The Lower Stratton Methodists, it seems, began to worship together in 1825. For around five years they met in a wheelwrights shop at Stratton Park crossroads. 1830 saw the erection of their first chapel in Swindon Road. But the congregation grew resulting in it being enlarged in 1842. But then, following the Swindon circuit revival campaign of 1880-8, they decided to have a larger chapel – the one we’re concerned with here.
The firm of Thomas Colbourne, a church member, built this and other chapels in the district. His name crops up a lot when one starts to look at Swindon’s buildings. It cost £1,600 and stands on the site of a blacksmith’s shop. The school hall followed in 1893 or 1897 – depending what you’re reading. The 1930s saw the addition of the clock on the outside and 1938 the installation of the organ.
On the north side there exists a pathway – a bare two-yards wide. A short-walled pathway on the south side and the wall of outbuildings attached to the schoolroom was the boundary on that side. The church didn’t then own the land that now forms the car park and the site of the Manse. That belonged to a Mr Freeth of Elborough Farm. The house stands still south of the chapel.
In the mid-1920s one of the church trustees negotiated to buy from Mr Freeth, a piece of land that now comprises the car park on the site of the Manse.
Following completion of the sale the church established a bowling green and tennis court. The bowls club they established flourished for many years.
Levi Lapper Morse: 24 May 1853 – 10 September 1913
All the above is fine and dandy and it’s an attractive building for sure. But the thing that imbues it with particular significance is the associations the church has with Levi Lapper Morse and the Morse Family. For he is literally the cornerstone of the church.
Levi Lapper Morse cornerstone on Stratton Methodist church.Levi Lapper Morse in 1901
Levi Lapper Morse – son of Charles Morse of Purton – became a business and political giant in Swindon and the area. Morse’s department store, along with McIRoy’s, remains lodged in Swindon’s cultural fabric despite being long-gone.
Educated at the High School, Swindon Lapper Morse married Winifred. Between them they produced two sons and four daughters. Both Levi and his son, William Ewert Morse (1879-1952) were devout Primitive Methodists.
Levi served as Swindon mayor in 1901-1902. Between 1906 and 1910 Levi Lapper Morse indulged his political interests as a Liberal MP for Wilton while his son, William, represented Bridgewater for the Liberals between 1923 and 1924. Further, son and father both were Wiltshire county councillors, Justices of the Peace, and Swindon Town councillors.
LL Morse died at his home, The Croft, Swindon on 10 September 1913 aged 60 years. He lies in Radnor Street Cemetery, Swindon.
Swindon helped to bounce back thanks to £19.5m for town centre regeneration projects
Swindon has succeeded in its bid for a share of the Government’s Towns’ Fund. If you’ve been following Swindon’s Historic England Heritage Action Zone activities you’ll understand how big a deal this is.
The majority of this money will go to HAZ projects:
1. £5.5m for the next phase of the Carriage Works 2. £5m for the Health Hydro on Milton Road 3. £3m HAZ Streets & Spaces – improvements to Station Road and the Bristol St and Sheppard St tunnels.
Ultra-exciting news
The great thing about this funding coming Swindon’s way is that it can’t fail to accelerate and maximise the HAZ objectives of revitalising the Railway Village.
The GWR Railway Village – Photo credit Martin Parry
The town enjoyed selection from one of 101 places that put forward submission. It’s now official that Swindon has secured funding for six projects as follows:
Health Hydro refurbishments: embedding community and leisure uses in the heart of the Railway Village
Redevelopment of units of the Carriage Works. This includes completing Phase 3 of our rejuvenation of the former Carriage Works. Then redeveloping three units as well as part of the building fronting onto London Street.
Install Create Studios at the Carriage Works. This involves fitting out the new space to support Swindon’s digital economy and upskilling residents.
Brunel Centre Market. Introducing new town centre uses, complementing the High Street and bringing a new experience.
Heritage Action Zone Streets and Spaces. This includes public realm and improvements to walking and cycling routes. This is vital to tie together Swindon’s heritage-led regeneration projects and connect the Designer Outlet and North Star to the town centre. This in particular is crucial. As it is, the Railway Village and the GWR Workers’ tunnel are all but cut off from the town centre. To get from the RV to the Health Hydro you either dodge traffic or you have to do a 3-point zig-zaggy road crossing manoeuvre. It’s fragmented and it isolates the RV & the GWR Park from the town.
Kimmerfields Enabling Infrastructure. Delivering enabling infrastructure to make land ready for new homes and offices on the next phase of Kimmerfields. That’s next to Zurich’s new flagship building.
Pulling it together
The Independent Swindon Town Deal Board will now pull together online business cases for the funded projects.
Many people in Swindon have rightful concerns about what will happen to The Oasis. I do hope that SBC will not see this as an either/or sort of thing. What we don’t want to see is a ‘we’ve saved the Health Hydro, it’s iconic, what more do you want?’ dialogue happening.
Milton Road Baths ARE absolutely of the utmost importance. They’re value is immeasurable both for the building itself and what took place there. The Medical Fund Society and its influence on the NHS are embedded in every brick and every Victorian glazed tile. Not to the mention the the Turkish baths there being the oldest extant Victorian Turkish Baths in the WORLD.
But let’s be clear.The Oasis is also iconic – for very different reasons for sure. But iconic and important it absolutely is. And besides that, it’s the only fully-accessible leisure facility the town has. We live in an age of equality and accessibility – thank goodness – so no-one can ignore that fact.
The veteran’s hub Swindonexists to do what is says in the title of this post. How needed support for veterans is can’t be underestimated. For it’s severely lacking in places where it should exist. At Swindon’s veteran’s hub they understand that. They know all to well the support that veterans need – and how big a difference the smallest amount of support can and does make.
Founded in 2019, the people behind the hub are determined to have a positive effect on their community.
Co-operation and collaboration
To achieve their aims the veteran’s hub works in partnership with a number of organisations – strength in numbers and all that eh? Amongst the people the hub works with are:
Should you be wondering why this support is necessary then take a look at this piece on the BBC news website that talks about the suicide crisis for British veterans. ‘Military charities say they are not coping with the increased demand for mental health support.’ It seems that, according to campaigners, 2019 saw 58 veterans take their own lives. Further, this 2020 piece from The Week reports on the surge in suicides by UK veterans of the Afghan war. In it they report that: ‘More than 70 former and serving personnel took their lives in 2018 and at least 50 suicides occurred last year. Fourteen former and serving personnel are thought to have taken their own lives in the past two months alone.’ Why? Well, Research suggests that delayed-onset post-traumatic stress disorder can arrive a decade or more after the event in question.
It’s clear that, somehow or other, and this is not the place to go into that, veterans are simply not getting the support they need. And that’s where the veteran’s hub Swindon comes in.
Upper Stratton Baptist Church Swindon With this Swindon in 50 More Buildings series my quest to include different areas of town continues, as it did in my Swindon in 50 Buildings book. What I can also do with this series, that I couldn’t with the book, is look at some buildings in the wider borough. I’ve not yet spread my blogging wings that far but I will – so watch this space. But for now, with this post, I’m in Upper Stratton with the Upper Stratton Baptist Church.
In the midst of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic I’m reliant on Internet research. Thus much of what I’ve written here is taken from the website of this church. They’ve got an ongoing history page that has lots of great photographs and documents on it. So, if you want to delve deeper into the history of this church go there!
A bit about Upper Stratton to begin with
In similar vein to Shaw , swallowed up by the western Expansion, Upper Stratton village used to be a discrete community. That was until the arrival of the GWR. As New Swindon expanded into a large and modern town it absorbed Upper Stratton.
The Baptist church on which this post centres, was built 1861. From that year to this the church has busied itself serving the community as a place of worship as well as a hub for community activities.
‘The area of the parish of Stratton was once much larger than it is now. The majority of Gorse Hill was part of the parish until 1890 when it was taken into Swindon. And a large part of the housing estate at Penhill used to be fields in the parish of Stratton St Margaret.
Stratton derives its name from the Latin, strata (meaning a paved way or street) after the Roman road which runs straight through the parish from south east to north west. In the Domesday Book, taken from the survey in 1086, the name is shown as Stratone.
Then, the parish was in possession of Nigel who was the physician of William the Conqueror. The village once consisted of three main areas: 1.The Street (the area near The Wheatsheaf in Ermin Street) 2. The area around Green Road and Dores Road and including the few houses at Kingsdown .. 3. … and Stratton Green, mainly around Tilley’s Lane.
Various footpaths and coffin-ways joined these three areas…’
1861
Before the chapel in Green Lane (later to become Green Road) opened, Upper Stratton had no school and only one small Primitive Methodist church.
In 1860, one Henry Tucker Esq. of Bourton House, Berkshire took ownership of a large part of Upper Stratton village. A Christian, he took the decision to take action on this situation to both benefit the community and of course, glorify God. Thus he made plans to build the Chapel. He intended it to serve the community both as a day school and as a free church.
1861 saw the laying of the foundation stone and the church started its Upper Stratton life in 1862 and Rev Horatio Gilmore served as the first full-time Minister.
1886 – the bell dings its last dong
In this year the bell fell from use in Upper Stratton but later went on a one way trip to Jamaica in response to an appeel (see what I did there?!) from the Baptist Missionary Society. So what do Jamaica that?! Boom!
By 1891, following the death of one Mrs Tucker (see their website for more info) this church became a lay church. Plans to amalgamate with Gorse Hill Baptist church and for a co-pastorate with Stratton Green Baptist church came to naught. Hence this church became led by a lay pastorate for over 60 years. The first such preacher being Mr A N Taylor who served as Senior Deacon until 1919.
1929 and there’s a Sunday School
On the 2nd March 1929 the bunting flew for the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the new Sunday School hall. Mr Samuel Colborne did duty as guest of honour and gave the address at the special service. Mr Colborne served as superintendent of the Sunday School some forty-five years before this event.
The Eighth Wonder of the Natural World: Royal Wootton Bassett Mud Springs by Rebecca Davies BSc. (Hons)
Introduction to the Royal Wootton Bassett mud springs
From time to time something gets discovered that is new and surprising. Royal Wootton Bassett mud springs are definitely new and surprising. These are springs that instead of upwelling water, as springs generally do, produce goopey clay mud.
Geological map
Cross section diagram
History
So say in 1974 the staff of Wootton Bassett sewerage works were investigating a flow of mud into their stream. A fields length upstream from the sewerage works was a copse of trees, surrounding a marshy area. Here they decided to dig. Pressure was released, and SPLAT! Mud showered everywhere, coating the surrounding trees. Following this astounding event, powers that be called for the Geologist W. I. Stanton to investigate. He wrote about the interest of the site, but to no avail.
It has been known for cattle to disappear and such an area is hazardous. Many have lost their boots in the spring and one investigator ended up in up to his armpits.
The spring is well within walking distance of the town’s venturesome children and children might well want to investigate such an unprecedented location for getting dirty. Thus, those in charge had to take action to render the location harmless. So they tipped a hundred tons of rubble into the spring in 1990 to make it `safe`. This disappeared without a trace, except maybe an equal amount of mud squeezed out into Hancock water. So then council officials had to clear that.
These springs are deep…bottomless even … DO NOT APPROACH!!
1994
It was in 1994 that this phenomenon was further investigated, studied and reported in scientific papers and even the international press. Suddenly the quiet town of Wootton Bassett (these were the days before it was `By Royal Appointment` and was then known as the town with four sets of double letters in its name…) became a sensation.
Then someone suggested that this seemingly endless source of mud might have useful qualities. Some claimed hat Wootton Bassett was actually a spa town in Georgian times. Indeed there are salt springs in the locality. In Purton Stoke for example.
Eric Hodges, when a councillor for the town, campaigned to have the springs accepted as a World Heritage Site. He proposed the building of viewing platforms and interpretative boards. And, presumably, long sticks for poking supplied. Sadly this appealing project was never accepted. But in 1997 did get designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
Nowadays the furore is over. But the mud springs still produce mud.
The geology of the mud springs
Ordinary springs are a common enough feature of the landscape, why is this special?
The local geology consists of Oxford clay, capped with the limestone known as Coral Rag, forming the ridge that Royal Wootton Bassett stands upon. Covering over that is Ampthill clay.
The water flow originates in the Coral Rag layer, under enough pressure to force it up through the normally impermeable clays. Forced out as the mud it forms a blister of material, added to when the springflows strongly, in the winter and after heavy rain.
Mud springs diagram
Scale Plan
The fossils
The mud springs are an upwelling of material from the Ampthill clay, clay that itself is rich in fossils. This washes out into the stream, which is in consequence a good hunting ground for them. Found there are many ammonites, belemnites, sharks teeth and the occasional bone.
My visit
Shame on me, I have never visited this fascinating place. I recall reading about it in the 1990s, when it was very much in the local news. I have also walked along the canal; but never crossed the field to the copse.
Time to rectify that.
There is no doubt the springs are dangerous. Though – as far as I know – mercifully never a location for human fatality. I aim not to change that. But I intend to get a good photo of them, and find some fossils.
The mud springs themselves lie in a grove of trees called Templars Firs Copse, alongside a stream. This stream is called Hancocks water and is a tributary of Brinkworth brook. That in turn flows into the Bristol Avon. It is just south of the popular walk along a restored section of the Wilts and Berks Canal.
A stretch of the Wilts and Berks Canal
From the towpath you cannot see anything special.
From the towpath
And there they are – securely fenced off.
Royal Wootton Bassett Mud Springs
Royal Wootton Bassett Mud Springs warning sign
I decided discretion was best when approaching the stream. The ground underneath was very slippery, and the stream was in spate. With its melodious gurgling it stood in stark contrast to the silence of the springs themselves.
Steam
Somebody had been digging in the stream bed.
And had excavated a quantity of stream gravel, which they had picked over for fossils.
I, personally was more interested in the everyday geology.
Coral rag
Clay
Chert
Conclusion
The mud springs are an unusual but not unique geological feature. There are other examples of this, -a bit further to the east on Greenhill Common, just south of the A3102.
As for the provocative name? A red herring. I think. Temple/Templars names in Britain often refer to the Knights Templar, who had properties all over Europe. But this time it refers to Templars Firs, a belt of trees between the railway and the canal. Planted buy someone surnamed Templar …
Thank you very much to Melinda Lewis and Luis Albornoz-Parra of the British Geological Survey for their advice and encouragement. My geology is shaky.
Bibliography
BRISTOW, C. R., GALE, 1.N., FELLMAN, L. & COX, B .M. (with WILKINSON, 1.P. & RIDING, J. B.) 2000. The lithostratigraphy, biostratigraphy and hydrogeological significance of the mud springs at Templars Firs, Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 111, 231-245.
