IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Prospect Place, SWINDON, SN1 3FB

Row of shops at the top of Victoria Road, a major artery linking the old and new towns in Swindon. Hickmans is a long established local electrical retailer, whilst to the right was once an ironmongers and DIY store known as Handys where one could buy anything from a candle to a cupboard door, and receive free advice over the counter. Now defunct due to the rise of the DIY superstore.

Showing position of Postbox No. SN1 44 and Postbox No. SN1 440.

The large brick-built office, dating from 1935. It stands on the site of older council offices.

3-storey building on the corner of Union Row and Victoria Road.

Outside the Post Office. Postbox No. SN1 44 and Postbox No. SN1 440.

Not yet three o'clock on a January afternoon, but the shadows are already creeping up the side of Victoria Road, one of the main streets in Old Swindon.. Interestingly, the road behind this block, much narrower, much shorter and much less imposing, is Albert Street. I guess he had to get a mention, but status was everything in those days.

Bath Road, in Swindon's Old Town area, was at one time one of the most prestigious streets in the locality. But those days are long gone, and now it contains a motley collection of offices, a few shops, hostels, bed & breakfast establishments and large Victorian houses turned into apartments, as well as new developments. Even so, it is quite a shock to see an empty property in this street boarded up, as it awaits a new tenant. Years ago such a thing would have been unthinkable, and would probably have prompted a flurry of letters to the local paper!

Swindon is not noted for elegance, but this row of 19th century properties near the eastern end of Bath Road can be described as such with their clean lines and canopied doorways. In the sixties the firm of PJ Lord-Smith and partners were architects here and provided the photographer with his first job.

Swindon lays claim to the evocative works of a local writer, Richard Jefferies. He was born in Coates in 1848 and wrote many books that were founded on his upbringing on a farm. He suffered from tuberculosis and had to move home on several occasions. The plaque records that he lived here from 1875-7, some twelve years before his death at the age of thirty-eight.