IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Rowton Heath Way, SWINDON, SN5 8LP

In the 17th century, Whitehill Farm was a 65-acre dairy farm. Then, together with Mannington and Toothill Farms, it was bought by Thomas Sutton, and formed part of the Charterhouse estate in Lydiard Tregoze. The rents from the tenant farmers went to fund Charterhouse School, which started as a charitable venture for the education of poor boys. In 1919, the three farms were sold to Wiltshire County Council and broken up into smallholdings for the use of ex-servicemen returning from WWI. In the 1970s, they were engulfed by modern housing after westward expansion of Swindon was approved. Whitehill Farmhouse is now a Swindon Borough Council property.

The Oliver Tompkins Schools are Church of England Voluntary Aided schools. The Infant School is in the distance on the left; the Junior School is nearest the camera.

Taken February 2015 on 35mm Kodak film.

Another of the many residential no through roads which make up this area.

The cottages aren't particularly remarkable. They were probably farm-workers' dwellings built perhaps between the wars. At that time the road they are on was the main route from Swindon to the west country. That remained the case until the early 1970s when a new road south of here was built and the whole area now known as Toothill and Freshbrook was developed as large housing estates, surrounding the cottages with new houses. The once main road became just suburban in character, servicing the residents of the new dwellings. The cottages survived the succeeding forty years (in whose ownership I'm not sure) but now it seems their life is to come to an end. The now-empty cottages and their gardens are soon to be sold at auction, probably to a developer who will demolish them and construct four new housing units. For another view see Image

The cottages aren't particularly remarkable. They were probably farm-workers' dwellings built perhaps between the wars. At that time the road they are on was the main route from Swindon to the west country. That remained the case until the early 1970s when a new road south of here was built and the whole area now known as Toothill and Freshbrook was developed as large housing estates, surrounding the cottages with new houses. The once main road became just suburban in character, servicing the residents of the new dwellings. The cottages survived the succeeding forty years (in whose ownership I'm not sure) but now it seems their life is to come to an end. The now-empty cottages and their gardens are soon to be sold at auction, probably to a developer who will demolish them and construct four new housing units. For another view see Image

The road seen here was once the only route west from Swindon to the west country. Traffic heading for Chippenham, Bath or Bristol had to use this road, then designated the A420. In the late 1960s however, plans were made to develop hitherto sparsely populated farmland to the west of the town to provide thousands of additional dwellings for the expanding population. Part of the plan included the construction of a new 'relief' (although it was never called that) road to the south now named the A3102. Where once traffic could travel without speed limits, now it has to go no faster than 20 mph as the road is just another suburban estate road. The houses in view were built in the 1970s although, for the time being, there is a handful of older properties that pre-date the 1970s development Image

One of the larger thoroughfares in this area of residential no through roads. Junction with Corfe Road.