I very nearly put the nunnery on Milton Road in Swindon in 50 Buildings but didn’t. So, despite the fact that’s not too much to tell, I have to include it in this Swindon in 50 More Buildings series, because it’s unique in Swindon. There is no other nunnery – or ex-nunnery – in the town. Unless someone can tell me otherwise.
W G Little Milliner and Draper
Born in Chippenham to a Scots family, William Graham Little arrived in Swindon in 1874.
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 Stratton Methodist Church. So one way and another I’ve got Methodism north of the railway well-covered!
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. But for now, with this post, I’m in Upper Stratton with the Upper Stratton Baptist Church.
I’d had no particular thought about including the WH Smith offices in this series. But then, as is so often the way, I saw something on Twitter that piqued my interest and persuaded me that I should. What I saw was this article from the 20th century society about getting the building – what’s left of it – listed.
Now known as Anderson’s hostel, Anderson’s alms houses in Old Town – on Cricklade Street to be precise – were built thanks to a bequest by one Alexander Anderson in 1865. He made his bequest of £1, 636 for the benefit of the poor.
For No 10 in my series on Swindon in 50 More Buildings we’re paying a visit to the Oasis Pleasure Dome. Have you got your towel under your arm?
The other week my regular guest blogger, Rebecca Davies, sent me a delightful and charming account of an older couple she once visited in Ferndale. It’s a lovely story and it’s further down in this post. But as her story is set in Ferndale I figured I could tie it in with a Swindon in 50 More Buildings post centred on the Southbrook Inn Swindon. Which happens to be in Ferndale.
Between Secret Swindon and Swindon in 50 Buildings, I’ve given good coverage to Swindon’s Mechanics’ Institution itself in my published books. So this series of Swindon in 50 more buildings (pretty much stalled by Covid-19 for almost a year at the time of writing (January 2021) gives me a chance to give mention of Rodbourne Reading Rooms.
Shaw House – Old Shaw Lane
It’s ever curious is it not – how stuff pops up on social media relevant to somewhere you’ve not long since been to? In this instance the co-incidences relate to Shaw House, on Old Shaw Lane.
I tend to think of Old Shaw Lawn as being a bit of bygone Swindon. But of course it’s not – not really. Because this side of town – the western expansion – wasn’t Swindon. Back then Swindon was the settlement on the hill. Old Swindon – Old Town as we call it now.
One of the entries in Swindon in 50 Buildings, is The Crumpled Horn pub over in Eldene. That one made the cut – as it were – in part because it had been listed by Historic England. So when I saw the press release that follows, about the Hall & Woodhouse canalside hostelry gaining national recognition for its innovative design, it felt appropriate to include it in this blog series: Swindon in 50 More Buildings.
To be clear, this post is about the GWR Weighbridge Swindon as part of the GWR Works – not the Weighbridge Brewhouse as the restaurant that it is now.
