MY STREET CHALLENGE - LAKESIDE

Having been up until 1.30 a.m. looking for the top piece for my tripod (and that’s another story!) I was up again at 6.30 ready to go out and take more photographs for my Street Challenge.  I have to pay tribute to Mr. HCB, who is a real trouper, as he got up and came out with me and waited patiently while I was wandering round taking photographs!
 
Lakeside is actually a cul de sac, leading off Sandown Avenue in Old Town, Swindon but the whole area around is commonly known as “Lakeside”.  There are only 4 houses in this cul de sac, which were built in 1957 and then overlooked the two artificial lakes that were created by damming the Mill stream after the grounds were landscaped in the early 19th century.  Since then, the trees have grown very tall, so the lakes will only be seen, if then, in the winter months.  I wonder if the houses were built by local builders, Leighfields, because I remember going to Number 1 many years ago, when I worked for a Solicitor, to witness the Will of the Managing Director of the company, Mr. Arthur Leighfield.
 
Not only do the houses have a spectacular view over the lakes but also over The Lawns (helpfully also beginning with an “L”), a beautiful area of parkland situated in the Old Town area of Swindon.  It was formerly owned by six generations of the Goddard family, who were Lords of the Manor from 1563 until 1927, and who lived at The Lawn House, an 18th century house, built on the site of a medieval manor house, which was thought to have been here since the 13th century.
 
The grounds included an arboretum, lawns, artificial lakes, ornamental gardens, a working mill and an ice house, which is still there today, and was used for entertaining, garden parties and fêtes.  From various places in The Lawns, there are panoramic views over Swindon and the surrounding countryside and it was beautiful this morning to see the sunrise. 
 
To this day, many popular events are held here including The Old Town Festival, the Forest Festival and the Dawn Chorus, which traditionally marks the start of the Swindon Festival of Literature, where poets, storytellers, singers and circus performers welcome the dawn.
 
The last Lord of the Manor, Fitzroy Pleydell Goddard, as well as being a Major in the British Army, was a diplomat and also the High Sheriff of Wiltshire from 1904-1907.  Roads in Swindon named after him include Fitzroy and Pleydell Roads, and Goddard Avenue.  He died in 1927 and his widow, Eugenia Kathleen, left Swindon in 1931.
 
The house then remained empty until American troops were billeted there during the Second World War.  In 1946, it was purchased by Swindon Corporation for £16,000, which included 53 acres of land, Lawn House and the adjacent Holy Rood Church.  However, the house was declared unsafe and was sadly demolished in 1952.  However, there are still a number of boundary walls and gateposts remaining.
 
Unfortunately, all that remains of the original Norman church is the chancel, and a few pillars, with the Goddard family tomb situated next to the church.  It was once the Parish Church for Swindon. when was just a small hill-top town, but in the 1840s it was considered inadequate for the growing town and Christ Church, which is close by, was dedicated in 1851.  Every Easter Sunday morning, starting at 5.30 a.m. there is an Ecumenical Sunrise Service in the ruins of Holy Rood Church, which is always very moving.
 
Mr. HCB lived quite near The Lawns when he was very young and remembers going there with friends when he was 6 or 7 years old in the late 1940s, a time when children could “freely roam” in the area adjacent to where they lived.  He says it was fenced all round with barbed wire and even he and his friends couldn’t get in!  When he was about 16 he remembers attending Night School classes in Nissen Huts situated on part of the parkland area but they are long gone.
 
In 1952 after the derelict house was demolished, the surrounding Manor grounds were opened as parkland and remain so to this day, where the woods, lakes, sunken garden, parts of the walls, gateposts at the entrance to The Lawns are all open freely to the public.  Quite recently, there has been talk of a car park being opened on this parkland, but as yet nothing has happened - if this goes ahead it will cause a great deal of controversy because this area is much loved and used by fishermen, walkers, runners and dog owners, many of whom were out this morning when we were there.
 
“History cannot give us a program
     for the future,
          but it can give us
a fuller understanding of ourselves,
     and of our common humanity,
          so that we can better face the future.”
   
Robert Penn Warren