Sitting on Regent Circus, on the the opposite side to Rudi’s, and on the site of the ‘temporary’ library that was somewhat long-term, lies Swindon central library.
Designed by council architects Nic Newland and Tony Currivan its 71, 405 bricks and 18, 415 roof tiles cost the princely sum of £10, 214, 930.00. Princess Anne performed the official opening of the library on 22nd May 2009.
Swindon central library – plaque commemorating the official opening by Princess Anne
An award winning library
Built for Swindon Borough Council by Wilmott Dixon Construction, the library won a national commendation in the prestigiousRICS (Royal Institution Chartered Surveyors) awards. It seems that the building narrowly missed winning the top sustainability category award. It was though singled out by the judges for a special commendation thanks to the efficient use of resources and the provision of a sustainable environment. One that met the needs of the people then as well future generations.
Earlier that year (2009) Swindon central library won the south west regional sustainability award. That prize qualified the library to go forward to the final. There it was up against international schemes as well as others from across the UK.
Said James Gregory, RICS south west regional chair, ‘this is terrific news for our town. The RICS awards are acknowledged as among the most prestigious accolades given to buildings attaining the highest standards. Not only does the library tick the box in terms of sustainability it makes an important contribution to the community ..’
The library’s original brief was one of providing a vibrant and appealing image that fitted with the character and fabric of Swindon town centre.
Sadly the cafe is no more – but there’s the lovely shop and the fabulous Local Studies
Modern Library provision in Swindon
Following the adoption of the Public Libraries Act, Swindon’s first library opened on August 14, 1943 inside McIlroys department store in Regent Street. The library was located in the store after plans to house it in the Mechanics’ Institute fell through and proved hugely popular, being home to around 22,000 books.
The opening of Central Junior Library for children followed one week later in the former electricity showrooms, now Rudi’s, at Regent Circus.
The library moved into two mobile units at Regent Circus in March 1949. And there it remained for 57 years until the new library opened in 2008. The new library housed over 77,000 books, free public-access computers and Swindon’s Local Studies collection.
In recent years, the Library Shophas been a welcome addition. It sells books, art by local artists and gifts. Central Library has become a popular venue for a wide range of community and cultural events and activities, with plans to expand these.
Five years earlier, and celebrating their 20 year anniversaries in 2023, Highworth and North Swindon Libraries opened. Although Highworth has had a library service for 60 years, it has been 20 years in its current location above the Co-op Supermarket, opening in October 2003. North Swindon Library at the Orbital Shopping Centre opened a few months earlier in May 2003 and was the first library in the then new ‘Northern Development’, which had previously been farmland.
Swindon Open Studios is 20. Swindon Open Studios are celebrating 20 years since their first community art event in September 2004. To kick off these celebrations the group is delighted to work with Swindon Designer Outletto host a pop-up gallery at their shopping centre from Sat. 10th – Sun. 18th February.
Swindon Open studios is 20!
A community organisation, Swindon Open Studios happens thanks to volunteers supporting local artists. They hold an exhibition in September each year. The artists invite members of the public into their studios, homes, and exhibition spaces to see where and how they make their art. Swindon Open Studios is super delighted to have the support of the Swindon Designer Outlet centre. It offers their artists another opportunity to share their work with the public.
Both events are free for visitors. Artists will be at the gallery each day to answer questions about the art on display and artwork will be available to buy.
SOS committee member and participating artist Sheryll Fox said:
We’re very grateful to Swindon Designer Outlet for this wonderful opportunity to celebrate the creative artistic talent that Swindon has. It’s a fabulous start to our 20-year anniversary and I’m very much looking forward to it.’
You’ll find the pop-up exhibition space between M&S and Clarks, in the unit where The Calendar Club was. There’ll be six artists featured in February’s pop-up. Five painters and a ceramicist, all with a variety of styles to suit all tastes. These artists are:
Sheryll Fox
Charlotte Abraham
Sholeh Jafari
Helen Savin
Andi Theokle and Mary Thorne.
Artists-Andi-Theokle-pink-Charlotte-Abraham-yellow-and-Sheryll-K-Fox-green-at-The-OutletHelen Savin with I Feel DeeplyMary Thorn at her pottery wheelMary Thorne in her studioSholeh with painting
This year’s artists will open their studios over the weekends of 21st/22nd and 28th/29th September 2024.
Any artist wishing to take part should sign up for the newsletter on the homepage of the website for notification of registration which opens in April. You can also follow Swindon Designer Outlet and Swindon Open Studios on Instagram and Facebook for more details.
One could well argue that creating a separate entry in Swindon in 50 More Buildings for The Cricketer’s Arms Pub constitutes a bit of a cheat, given that I covered the railway village as a whole in Swindon in 50 Buildings. But, given that, thanks to the work of the Mechanics’ Institution Trust it’s no longer rotting away, I felt it justified a special mention here.
What is it?
Well, the erstwhile Cricketers Arms Public House, is a three-storey, Grade II listed building. Listed in 1970, It’s built of Bath Stone under a slate roof. See the Historic England list entry here.
It lies at the heart of the Railway Village, Emlyn Square, on the south-east corner of the Mechanics’ Institution.
Historically operating as a pub, The Cricketers takes its name from the nearby GWR Park, that contained a popular cricket field for the workmen of the Railway Village. The building has its pub epitaph no more and will be known as the Cricketers from now on.
The Cricketer’s Arms Pub in the GWR railway village in Swindon
The Cricketer’s story
The 1846/47 building of the railway village’s western phase saw the construction of the Cricketer’s Arms pub. It comprised one of eight shop premises designed to face Emlyn Square and service the GWR’s workforce and their families.
The building operated as a public house, with first floor accommodation, from 1859 until it closed in 2015 – it’s been empty since that time. The neighbouring cottage found itself incorporated into the pub at the back end of the 19thC.
The MIT Cricketer’s project
The MIT acquired this building, back in 2019, on a 125-year-lease from Swindon Borough Council. Since then, they’ve obtained several grants. Thanks to that fiscal boost they’ve been able to start both external and internal restoration work.
Further, the Trust got £200,000 from Historic England with which to fund external repair works. That phase of the renovations included the replacement of external windows and the making checks on the building’s structure and foundational stability. That work came to an end in September 2023. The trust also got a £250,000 grant from the Dept for Levelling Up’s housing and communities. That will go towards the internal restoration of the building. Work is now underway in the plant room, lounge and cellar.
The Trust’s plans for the Cricketer’s future
In the short term the Trust hopes to reopen pat of the ground floor to the public, offering its space and facilities for private hire and community events.The Trust will then consider whether to operate part of the ground floor as a visitor centre which can also support an internet café or workspace.
Historically the first and second floors of the Cricketer’s served as a home for the pub owners with a function room and rooms to rent. Looking long-term, there are plans for apartments. But in the short-term the Trust intends to use both floors for creative purposes. Current plans include art studios, a gallery and a model making workshop.
Pavey’s Mill (also known as Woodhams’s mill) Wroughton is a welcome addition to this Swindon in 50 More Buildings series. That’s because, with my original Swindon in 50 Buildings book the brief didn’t allow me to cover any buildings in the wider borough. Thus I’m seizing the opportunity with this blog series to write about at least a couple.
Now, before I go any further I must give mention of the Wroughton history group – had I not chanced upon their website I would have remained ignorant of Pavey’s Mill. Well, to be fair, not only this building but a host of other interesting stuff. Their website has a downloadable leaflet that takes you on a circular walk round the village from the Ellendune centre and back. I did it with a friend last summer and it’s a most agreeable activity. I had no idea at all that of how interesting Wroughton is – my bad for sure.
Pavey’s Mill wroughton
An extract from the aforementioned walk:
‘At the end of The Pitchens, turn right into Baker’s Road, keeping the large white house – Woodham House – on your left. Just past the house peep round the corner into Woodham Mill. Known also as Pavey’s Mill the present building dates from 1771. That said, documentary evidence exists of a mill on the site as early as 1649 with the miller being Richard Sadlers.
The third of seven mills sited along the stream, this one ground flour and bones.
The overshot well remains in place – though it’s now frail so is fixed in place. The remains of the ponds and leets lie behind the building.’
The general opinion is that the mill used something like 1026-1250 gallons of water per minute to drive two pairs of stones. In 1810, one Mary Pavey was the miller – thus the mill’s name.
The twenty-six foot overshot mill wheel that drove the milling machinery
A lucrative trade
I had a dig around in Local Studies in the central library for info on this building. They have a collection books written by Wroughton history group covering a wide range of aspects of Wroughton’s rich history. From them I’ve managed to glean that the size of the building combined with the elegant Woodham’s House is suggestive of milling being a most lucrative enterprise indeed.
In the first instance water powered, it seems that the mill became independent of a water supply with the installation of a steam engine. Mary Pavey herself bears this assumption out. The deeds of 1869 lists a 12 horse power steam engine and boiler.
By 1960s, it seems that, although still lived in, Woodham House was in dire need of repair and the mill lay derelict.
A local builder applied for planning permission to clear the site and build bungalows. But, fortuitously, a newcomer to the village by the name of Harold Rushden happened to be a restoration builder. He saw the site’s potential and bought the mill.
In 1964 he embarked on the painstaking restoration works and saved the mill. He also bought Woodham House and restored that to its former glory.
STEAM museum Swindon. Otherwise known asSTEAM – the museum of the Great Western Railway. As a rule with these Swindon in 50 More Buildings posts the title is the name of the building – the Link Centre for example. But it’s somewhat impossible to give a singular name to the Grade II listed building that houses this tourist tribute to God’s Wonderful Railway. And that’s because it comprises a number of buildings.
NB: this post is about the building that houses STEAM museum – NOT the museum itself.
STEAM museum Swindon from the side
According to the museum website, the structure now containing STEAM is ‘ a complex piece of industrial archaeology’ that comprises several buildings built over a long period. The earliest of these buildings is the 1846 machine and fitting shop -part of Brunel’s original Works complex. Once known as the scraggery* this area now houses the museum’s entrance hall and public facilities.
*Nuts and bolts were renovated for re-use in a process known as scragging.
STEAM museum Swindon 1846 – front desk
The building retains its queen-post roof and some original windows. To the south is the much-modified blacksmith’s shop. It also dates from 1846, although its conversion to a substation early in the twentieth century caused dramatic alterations to its character.
The main body of the museum
The main body of the museum served as a machine and turning shop – set up when the GWR covered over a courtyard between the original 1843 Brunel engine house and the 1846 machine and fitting shop. Finished in two stages between 1865 and 1872 the ‘R’ Shop features a ridge and furrow roof with case iron columns supporting it.
Despite modification in 1929/30 the building remained a machine shop for most of its life. For the most part it contained belt-driven equipment – until the outbreak of WWII at any rate.
Come the 1960s, the building again underwent modification – this time into a wheel shop. This conversion saw the removal of the block floor and the addition of a new concrete slab. Despite all these alterations though, it retains many original features. Some of them emerged during the refurbishment process.
As the STEAM website tells us, ‘Swindon Railway Works opened in January 1843 as a repair and maintenance facility for the new Great Western Railway. By 1900 the works had expanded dramatically and employed over 12,000 people. At its peak in the 1930s, the works covered over 300 acres and could produce three locomotives a week.
Despite a brief renaissance in the 1970s, the works finally closed in 1986.
