IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Garson Road, SWINDON, SN25 4XD

Catering for the recent influx of young families, to northern Swindon.

One of a number of local paths and cycleways through grassy or wooded strips of land which have been left in between the housing.

This is the northern edge of the large municipal housing estate developed in the 1950s. It may not have existed had it not been for a land acquisition problem on the east side of Swindon where the next housing estate was planned, Walcot. This resulted in an 18 month hiatus and, rather than break up the housebuilding machine that had formed to build houses for the Council, the decision was made to extend Penhill further north than had originally been planned. This took up the slack until work started on Walcot in 1955. Rightly or wrongly 'the valley' as it became known gained a reputation as a sink for 'problem families'. An attempt to remove the stigma was made by the Council by trying to rename the area as 'Lower Penhill'. I don't think it caught on.

Melksham Close is at the northern edge of Penhill. The estate was developed in the early to mid 1950s by the local council. I understand it had been intended to complete the estate a few hundred metres south of here but circumstances made the council decide to carry on down the northern slope of the hill the estate is mainly built upon. This northern extension became known as 'the valley' and soon acquired something of a poor reputation where it was suspected 'problem families' were housed. I have no way of knowing whether that is true or, if it is, was a deliberate policy on the part of the Housing department. It is true that there have been instances of some properties in the valley having been used as crack houses.

Abbey Meads is part of the very large Northern Development Area of Swindon. The area is bisected by a spine road called Thamesdown Drive which runs roughly north-east to south-west north of the established parts of Swindon. Development is taking place north and south of Thamesdown Drive. Elstree Way is south of it. The road leading off to the left is Wynwards Road.

2000s houses in Abbey Mead.

The path marks the southern edge of the northern development area of Swindon. This view is facing west.

The avenue is the spine road of 'the valley' area of Penhill, that part of the estate developed last. The entrance to Imber Walk is visible at the left behind the silver car. The pillar box is unlikely to be a Victorian post box or a Georgian post box or an Edwardian post box.