The Planks and Market Square Old Town.
I’m planning on arranging the Old Town section of the forthcoming Swindon in 25 Streets book in something of the order one might walk them. Hence: Before we walk along High Street and round onto Wood Street we’ll take a wee detour to Market Square and The Planks. As you can see from the map below, the Planks leads off from Market Square – from 1866 part of the walkway from Market Place was beside the Corn Exchange.
Little London Old Town, Swindon.
Back in 2010, historian Frances Bevan wrote for the Swindon Advertiser, how Old Town once enjoyed a level of depravity and notoriety. Not the whole of Old Town you understand – but a notorious, nefarious, neighbourhood of Swindon’s Old Town.Â
Work Begins on Apsley House. Work has begun on the redevelopment of Apsley House in Swindon’s Old Town. And that marks a major step forward in bringing the former museum and art gallery back into active use after six years standing empty.
Newport Street Old Town. And we’re off on another stroll down Swindon in 25 Streets.
Looking for old when it comes to Swindon’s streets? Newport Street is it. This one is a chart topper. Well ok, if we’re going to be pedantic, it’s clear that the Roman road, Ermin Street, over in Stratton, is older. But what’s key here is that Newport Street is the oldest named thoroughfare in a town whose street pattern was established by the 13th century.Â
High Street Old Town – another instalment in the Swindon in 25 Streets project. This time, as street that used to be the main shopping destination in Old Swindon – what we now know as Old Town.
Freshbrook Way West Swindon. Although I’m numbering these articles, I’m not writing them in the order that they’ll appear in the Swindon in 25 Streets book when I get that far. So, as the title suggests, in this one I’m looking at Freshbrook Way in West Swindon.
Health Hydro Phase 1 Open. Well, it’s been a while – but it was always going to be that. Anyway as of today, phase 1 of the renovation of the Grade II* listed health hydro – or Milton Road baths – is now open.
Supermarine Road South Marston, SN3. Why am I writing about a road? It’s a good and fair question. Well, having this year, at long last (long story) got Swindon in 50 More Buildings finished and out into the wild, I’d had every intention of stopping there. But it wasn’t to be. Earlier this year I got an email from Amberley Books saying there were starting a new series XXXX in 25 Streets and would I be interested in writing Swindon in 25 Streets? Cutting short a long story, my project for 2026 is to write that very thing. Hence my interest in streets!
Ferndale Road Swindon. Okay, I know, doesn’t sound too exciting a topic eh? But stay with me – it’s more interesting than it sounds. Honest! The reason for my interest in this long, long street is this: I’ve got a contract with Amberley Publishing to produce Swindon in 25 Streets by the back end of next year.
Unity Place Zurich Building.
Hurrah! At LAST I’ve made it to No 50 in this Swindon in 50 More Buildings blog series. I began it back in the before times, in 2019, with this piece about the County Ground Hotel. But then the pandemic got in the way. And then a joint authorship of a book about West Swindon interfered. But at last I’m here. I have intention of turning these fifty blog posts into a physical book. With hopes that it doesn’t take me a further five years!
The Baptist School Bridge Street represents a classic example of me not following my own advice of ‘looking up’. Because, when someone posted a picture of what you see below and asked if anyone knew where it was I had to plead ignorance. Despite it being a building I’ve walked past countless times.
The Bothy at Burderop, in the walled garden that once belonged to Burderop Manor is going to make an unusual and terrific home. A simply delightful couple, Jules Gilleland and Mark Wheeler, are converting the bothy, and the walled garden in which it sits, into a home. See more about the bothy gardens and the couple’s plans for it here: https://swindonian.me/2024/08/30/introducing-bothy-gardens/
