Plaum's Pit - Rodbourne Cheney

I spent some time around Rodbourne Cheney a year and a half ago in February 2008 when I was surprised to find the remnants of a small village that was once completely separate to Swindon.
http://swindonia.blogspot.com/2008/02/old-rodbourne-cheney.html
Someone mentioned Plaum's Pit and today I went back to find it. What a beautiful and much hidden little spot ... I have lived in Swindon for a decade but have never visited this unsung place before. Unfortunately I am unable at present to track down the origins of this place and am assuming it used to be a quarry of some sort.

A favourite spot for anglers
http://www.waterscape.com/things-to-do/fishing/fisheries/7099/plaums-pit

Plaum's Pit, tucked away behind Cheney Manor Road

The green area leading up to the lake.

Some more sarsens - they appear on almost every green open space in Swindon

Seven Fields Nature Reserve

Another Local Nature Reserve:

A while back while walking along Whitworth Road in the north of Swindon I noticed an intriguing looking track called Blackthorn Lane. Today I made my way there and followed my feet; what a lovely surprise, it came out into Seven Fields Nature Reserve. This is literally seven fields set aside between the residential areas of Penhill and Haydon Wick. Hedgerows still burgeoning with elderberries and hawthorn berries dividing the meadows up, it is a place frequented by dog walkers.

http://www.swindon.gov.uk/print/leisure-naturereservessevenfields

Today as summer wanes, the meadow grass was being cut by a large municipal grass cutter - it must have been lovely a few days ago with wild grasses in abundance. I wandered through small copses and crossed a stream which no doubt feeds into the river Ray at some point.

The meadow grass

Marsh reeds waving gently in the breeze

Blackthorn Lane - leading from Whitworth Road to Seven Fields Nature Reserve

Kingsdown Brewery

Kingsdown Brewery - built 1861, home of Arkells Ales

The Old Chimney and Cooper's Fire

One of Arkell's drays returning back to the brewery
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This post is directly inspired by the mural of the previous post. Today I went over to Kingsdown to have a look at this historic and still working building. Arkells has been established since 1843 and the above building since 1861, going through their gates was in some ways like stepping back in time - much remains as it has always been, except perhaps the drays, these are no longer horse drawn.

After my little wander, I called into the Kingsdown public house on the other side of the road to sample the product ... excellent.

http://www.arkells.com/history.php

Swindon's Murals - Arkells Brewery

Arkell's Brewery

Artist Sarah Faulkner - completed 1985

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This mural is one of only two of the original murals initiated by Ken White that remain. It can be seen at the roundabout on County Road opposite the Bristol to London railway line. It was commissioned by Swindon's own local brewery Arkell's to celebrate their beginnings in 1843. The mural shows every stage of the brewing process including some of the people who actually worked there and the building at Kingsdown.
http://www.swindon.gov.uk/highcontrast/arts_murals_in_swindon

Devil's Den and wild flowers

Devil's Den Dolmen - just outside Marlborough near the village of Manton
The dolmen and wild flowers
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Nothing, no abundance of them, can ever make poppies commonplace. There is a genius in them, the genius of colour ... (Richard Jefferies from Field and Hedgerow)

Walking away from the dolmen
*****

Not Swindon at all really but comparatively nearby; hidden away in a field off the A4 between Marlborough and Avebury. Today I met my Ramblers walking group in Swindon's town centre and was given a lift out to Marlborough. Our walk leader today led us on a rather wonderful 10 mile walk which incorporated Wiltshire's only dolmen - known as Devil's Den. It is thought that this particular dolmen was once part of a chambered long barrow and is all that now remains. It was reconstructed in 1921 and is to my eyes an incredible work of archaeological art enhanced by the meadow of wild flowers it sits within. This meadow is now under the jurisdiction of

http://www.naturalengland.gov.uk/ourwork/farming/funding/closedschemes/css/default.aspx

Since making this post I have received an email with a comment from Jean Saunders from the Richard Jefferies Society http://www.richardjefferiessociety.co.uk/

I'm aware that Thomas Hardy mentioned this dolmen in his story entitled "The Devil's Door" or "Marlbury Down". I've often wondered if this is the dolmen that Richard Jefferies had in mind when he wrote the night scene in "Greene Ferne Farm" when Geoffrey and Margaret are lost on the Downs and spend the nigh there. However, the description in GFF of "three large flat stones set on edge, forming the walls, and over an immense flat one" is more likely to be the long barrow at West Kennet or Wayland Smithy.

Thanks Jean, you're comment is appreciated and I have posted it on the Avebury Forum to see if anyone can add further information.

Ken White's 'Golden Bridge' wall painting

First painted in 1976 by Ken White to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Alfred Williams in 1877 - to learn more about Alfred Williams, one of Swindon's best kept secrets, see link below:
http://www.swindonweb.com/?m=8&s=9&ss=275&c=1111&t=Alfred+Williams


Recently as the bus I was travelling on swung around the Fleming Way roundabout I noticed a white haired man on a scaffold quietly re-painting his original wall painting which has achieved some fame. It was of course Swindon's own Ken White who, like Alfred Williams author of Life in a Railway Factory, brilliantly portrayed life in the Railway Works through his paintings.

http://swindonia.blogspot.com/2009/02/ken-white-exhibition-of-new-work.html

Ken started painting wall murals back in the 1970s though sadly most of them have now disappeared. This one remains on the end terrace of Medgebury Road (by Fleming Way) remains. Fleming Way is built on the route of Swindon's old canal.

Swindon's lost stone circle (continued)

The plot thickens ... I have been intrigued for some some by a cluster of large sandstones at the top of Grosvenor Road on the edge of Old Town. I first noticed the lozenge shaped stone positioned on its side outside a small block of flats. Later, I spotted a similar shaped stone making up part of a garden wall on the other side of the road. When I looked in the garden there were several large sandstones in the garden ... appearing to have been in place long before the garden. Yesterday, by chance, I had a little wander behind the flats and found several large stones, many of them buried, again similar in shape to the lozenge stone standing on its side on the grass verge.

These stones are too large, too regular in size and shape to have just been excavated when building took place. I can't help wondering if some sort of ancient stone site had existed here in

time gone by, having been pushed over before people became fully aware of their significance.

http://swindonia.blogspot.com/2009/05/swindons-lost-stone-circle-pehaps.html

Twilight by the old canal

A hot July day, too hot. This eveing it was a pleasure to go out for a balmy stroll along the old canal the bottom of Kingshill Road. So much to see in the crepuscular light - I looked across at a row of ducks lined up on the far bank (someone's back garden); a small brown deer was foraging under the willow. Peewees and other water fowl were roosting for the evening though the family of swans were still up and about.
A man came along with his two dogs - as I walked alongside him for a few minutes he told me he was homeless and lived in a tent in a field on the land known as the Front Garden. He seemed content enough, however, as we talked about nature, his morning solitude waking up with just deer, foxes, rabbits and birdsong for company. We talked about the stream by his tent which is Swindon's own river Ray, and the misty moon which he said was currently its closest to the Earth. By now the light was fading so I said farewell and retraced my steps back along the canal path. A lone brown bird on a hedgerow branch sang out with clarity into the evening.

Midsummer poppies

Swindon has grown from a hilltop market town to the large industrious borough it is today. It sits in the northernmost corner of Wiltshire with the prehistoric chalklands of Wiltshire fanning out to the south and south east; similarly, the beautiful Cotswolds spread out to the north and north west. It is just a short drive to the counties of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire - thes bean/poppy fields are just across the Oxfordshire border near the village of Shrivenham.

Woodland Walking in Old Town

Bugle and and buttercups

Information board for Bruddel Wood, just off Marlborough Road (click on photo to enlarge for information)

At the bottom of the Lawns, beech nuts already on the trees

Bruddel Wood - nettles

One of Swindon's best kept secrets - Bruddel wood
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This morning I met my good friend Elaine in Old Town; the plan was to walk from Old Town to Coate Water and back avoiding roads as much as possible. Although Elaine lives in Wroughton she hadn't actually walked around Old Swindon that much so it was a pleasure to show her Swindon's hidden beauty; here's where we walked.

We started of at the ever tranquil Lawns, walking down to the bottom of the woods, turning right we then picked up Bruddel woods (which are probably an extension of the Lawn wood). A corridor of ancient woodland running parallel with Marlborough road; today just lovely, the nettles stood high, the birds singing and we met no one else . We came out by the notice board (pictured above) and walked along the busy Marlborough road for a hundred or so metres, then crossed over into the the Polo Grounds. This took us into the Coate Tree Collection which Elaine had not seen before; a peaceful place, today the lilac was still out, one day it will be a magnificent arboretum and is already a place Swindon can be very proud of.

We stopped by the cafe at Coate for a drink then continued along the shady avenue of trees to the back of Coate. Leaving Coate we turned right into Broome Manor Lane and walked about two hundred metres to pick up the footpath around the golf course. Made our way to Piper's Lane, crossed over into a woody area, got a little bit lost, walked round in a pleasant circle back to where we started, then made our way up to the Great Copse (Croft wood); back up through Croft Sports Ground to Old Town.

Evening sunlight on the old canal

Protective parents, the resident swans keeping guard on their newly born cygnets. A friendly looking dog went a little too close and was severely hissed at

Evening sunlight on the Kingshill section of the Wilts & Berks Canal

A golden evening

The Front Garden on a summer evening

At the end of a beautiful summer's day, a stroll home along the old railway walk specifically to see how the Wichelstowe development is coming along. I took about half a dozen photos of the new houses in the evening sunlight thinking that perhaps, after all, they may look quite attractive.
I regret to report they do not.

The hitherto unspoilt Front Garden - from the Old Railway Walk

The remainder of the Front Garden landscape in the evening sunlight

The Old Railway Walk between Old Town and the Front Garden - a corridor of unspoilt nature and birdsong. Robins and blackbirds hopped across the path; there was a time until very recently that deer could be seen in the meadows below. When will the civic guardians of our ever expanding town realise that that big is not always beautiful when it is at the expense of a precious disappearing landscape.

A river and a retail park

This little river, the Cole represents so much of what I have been trying to illustrate about Swindon; it runs through the middle of one of Swindon's apparently soulless retail parks at Greenbridge, Stratton. It is the proof that nothing which belongs to nature can ever be soulless; build a retail park on the land, it will perhaps stand for several decades but the life veins of the land cannot be obliterated. The little river Cole still flows, making its way towards the mighty Thames.

The river Cole flowing through the centre of Greenbridge Retail Park

Street Art on Canal Walk

Street art (as opposed to graffiti vandals) has a long tradition in Swindon; started by Ken White with his end of terrace wall murals back in the 1970s, I have noticed it is still thriving. I recently watched a group of young people spray painting a garage wall along Canal Walk, I have to say I was impressed. Street artists represent the youth and vitality of Swindon's young population, they are the future of our town.

A detail from a garage wall

This is part of a very large Pink Panther mural on some old out buildings at the Kingshill end of Canal Walk .... easy to walk by but if you stop and look at the skill and detail, it is brilliant.

Swindon's lost stone circle, perhaps ....

A few day ago when walking past the lozenge shaped stone that stands on its side at the top of Grosvenor Road in Old Town I spotted for the first time a similar shaped stone on the other side of the road, partially hidden by shrubbery and forming a garden wall.

I went back today for take a photo and as the gates of the garden happened to be open I went to take a look at the other side of the wall. I was astonished to find several very large sandstone stones; they must have been on the land when the house was being built because I cannot imagine they would have been moved very far. (Interestingly the house has the same street number as my own).

The other side of the wall, inside a garden

Both the above and below stones are of a similar shape to the one on the green opposite the house

Another lozenge shaped stone forming a garden wall.

I have featured this stone before, it stands at the top of Grosvenor Road. At first I thought it was sarsen but on closer inspection can see it is sandstone. I cannot help wondering about its history.

Swallows over Old Town

There are some things that cannot be easily photographed; the scent of bluebells in Croft Wood (also known as the Great Copse) on a spring morning; the subtle fragrance of cherry blossom in the evening. It is unlikely that you could photograph a wren as it flits across your path into shrubbery and, for me at least, it is nigh on impossible to capture on camera a swooping swallow.

Today I heard the first swallows return over Radnor Street Cemetery and later saw them swooping over Kent Road. As I walked along Bath Road I watched three swallows high against the blue sky, in circled flight. When I came to Swindon just about a decade ago, the swallows in Old Town on a warm summer's evening seemed magical; they still do. I recall also them being over on Ermin Street in Stratton St Margaret; the sun was going down one warm evening as I was given an aerial display by the swallows.

If I had to pick just one thing to say I loved about Swindon, it would have to be the swallows in the summer .... mysteriously returning each year to the same terraced houses to roost in the eaves.
Note: my swallows could possibly be swifts or house martins; not entirely sure but harbingers of the happiness of summer anyway.

The view from Barbury Castle

Photo taken on Tuesday evening, with some friends after work; on this occasion the wind was so strong it actually blew one of my friends off her feet (though caught on camera, she was not hurt ).

The view from the Iron Age hillfort, Barbury Castle, looks towards the fertile plain where Swindon now spreads; Barbury is just uphill from Wroughton. The downs to the south-east of Swindon are steeped in prehistory and for me Liddington Hill and Barbury Castle are two of the many landscape features which make Swindon such a special place. I have been here a decade now and, as one of life's milestones comes into view, I know it is time to seriously think about moving on. Dear Swindon, how it has grown since I first moved here as a child and couldn't wait to leave at the age of seventeen and three quarters - to find my way in the big city. I can't pretend it didn't feel strange when I came back here nearly a decade ago; much of old Swindon still remains, some of it hidden, though sadly so much more of it is being lost to yet ever more housing.

The surrounding countryside is part of what makes our town such a good place to live and I know there are plenty of people living here who want to protect it. This blog is for them.

Victorian bird tiles, Wood Street

If I've walked past this building on Wood Street, Old Town once, I've walked past a hundred times, usually on my way somewhere else. The once exquisite Victorian wall tiles on each side of one of the shop fronts always catch my eye. The shop is now an estate agent; clumsily painted in red paint. Here are some of the bird tiles:

House-sparrow

Kingfisher

House swallow and flower bowl

Starling

One of the tile panels on each side of a shop on Wood Street in Old Town; each bird tile is different.

An old familiar walk

Croft Wood with bluebells was the very first photo I posted on this blog back in 2007. Last year I used the Croft Wood bluebells to say that "I have said what I wanted to say, and wouldn't be making any more posts on Hidden Swindon". I changed my mind, however, as I often do ..... and here we are again at bluebell time in one of Swindon's loveliest tucked away little places, Croft Wood (behind the Marriot Hotel). This morning, as well as bluebells there was red campion, wood anemones and green ferns unfurling.

On my way to the wood I walked through the Croft Sports Field - football being played on a Sunday morning all over England. This sports field is overlooked by the Marlborough Downs and the Wroughton Science Museum is visible on the horizon (double click on photo for a clearer view).

Raining pink petals - this morning walking through the ever lovely Town Gardens in Old Town on my way to Croft Wood.