MY STREET CHALLENGE - HIGH STREET

On a wet, grey and dull Saturday morning I was out just after 6 a.m. before too much traffic was about, or so I thought, to capture the images of High Street, the next one in my self-imposed Street Challenge.  Mr. HCB came with me and I was glad he did, because it was raining very hard at times and it saved me parking the car and walking.  

I guess most towns have a High Street since the origin of this name is: “The main street of a town, especially as the traditional site for most shops, banks, and other businesses,” and of course, this would have been the main street in the Old Town of Swindon before the town expanded into New Swindon.  The top left view of High Street even has an ambulance for interest. 

I have worked in four places in High Street - first of all when I was 16, I went to work in Lloyds Bank in the town centre, but did some training in the Old Town branch of Lloyds - middle top row.  Not for us computers and screens, but manual posting of ledgers and statements, and then these had to be called back by two people at the end of the day to check that they balanced.  The only downside for me was that I was very quick on the accounting machine, so if ever anyone was away, even though I was working as a secretary, I would get put back on them.  In those days, if the Manager said “Jump” you jumped and didn’t ask why, but things are very different these days;  sometimes you don’t even have a cashier, but you pay your money into a machine and also draw it out from a machine.  Soul-less places now sadly.  It was a happy place to work, and one thing that used to make me smile was that our Manager was Mr. Plimsoll, and on the staff we also had a Miss Sandall and a Miss Boots.

I then went to work in a place called Skurrays, a motor dealers, where I was a secretary to the various salesmen and the Office Manager, Beryl Coster.  She and her husband, Bill, who started his working life as an apprentice mechanic, started working at Skurrays when they were both 14 years old and when they eventually left, had worked a total of 100 years.  What an amazing couple!  The mock Tudor showrooms were demolished in 1971 to make way for a concrete and glass monstrosity, which was pulled down thirteen years later and the site now houses the large Co-op complex, outside which is the High Street sign. 

Bevan Ashford, formerly Kinneirs - bottom left - was a very old and long-established firm of Solicitors, and I worked there in the mid 1980s.  This old building had an imposing entrance and was spread over four floors.  When I started, I worked in one of the attics - not great working conditions, as attics tend to be very hot in summer and very cold in winter and this building was no exception - in fact, we ran up and down stairs in the winter just to get warm!  I was secretary to a lovely lady who became the Senior Partner and eventually had an office closer to hers on the second floor.   It was another very friendly place to work and I am still in contact with some of my colleagues.

My last place of work in High Street was at Chalk Smith Brooks, another firm of Solicitors, and the building - middle right - just happened to be next door to Bevan Ashford’s premises.  I found out that it was originally an inn, "The King of Prussia", and this attractive low stone building possibly dates back to the 17th century. 

When I was a young girl, I remember it being a butcher’s shop and run by Eastcott Smith, but I can’t find any information about this.  I do remember it as a really old-fashioned shop with wooden floors and sawdust scattered all around.  The butcher who served you never handled any money, so when you had chosen the meat you required, you went over to a little window where Mr. Smith’s sister took the money.  I can’t remember when the butchers closed.  It was interesting to be working in the same building, but of course, we didn’t have sawdust on the floors when I worked there!  The solicitor I worked for acted for the Jockeys’ Association, so I got to meet many jockeys including some quite famous ones - when they came in, you could tell they were jockeys because they had small feet and most of them were not very tall!

Across the road is The Goddard Arms - middle photograph - which was one of the main inns of the town in the 18th century and it still has a beautiful Doric porch.  Apparently, this replaced a thatched building called The Crown, which dates back to the 16th century.  When I was working in the Bank, it was THE place to go for your firm’s annual dinner and dance and we have been in there many times over the years. 

The Bell - top right - was another inn or posting house, and the inscription under the large bell says “Established in ye reygn of Kyng Henry VIII AD 1515”.  It has been empty for some time and every so often, a developer or publican comes along and tries to revive it, but sadly, nothing seems to work and before long it has closed again, but at least the building is still there with its massive bell. 

The entrance to The Lawns Park showing the early 19th century gate piers and stone walls - middle left - is in High Street with a tree-lined drive down to what would have been the 18th century house, "The Lawns" built on the site of a Tudor mansion and the home of the Goddard family, Lords of the Manor from 1563 until 1927.  The grounds, now a public open space, contain an ice house and an Italian sunken garden, but the main house was demolished in 1952 when it became unsafe. The remains of the old parish church are still there and this is used on a few occasions each year, the most notable being for the Dawn Service on Easter Sunday morning.  

In 1989 the beautiful avenue of Holm oak trees and laurel was damaged in the storms so many were cut down, but they were replaced by more oak trees in 1992.  However, when many of these became diseased, they too were cut down, but now eighteen pin oak trees are doing well, but I doubt I will live long enough to see their full beauty.  

On the corner of High Street and Wood Street is a building which has a date on it of 1708 - bottom right.  Limmex, established by Samuel Joseph Limmex in the early 1870s, was a wonderful ironmongers where you could buy just about anything.  I remember that you could even buy one or two nails or screws, which they wrapped in a little piece of brown paper.  Sadly this shop closed in 2000, but Old Town Hardware, another shop selling the same sort of things has taken over and is in Wood Street.  The building is now a hairdressing salon - but it doesn’t have the same atmosphere!

“Study the past 
     if you would define 
          the future.” 
Confucius