Page 34 - link magazine

34 The Link Magazine • February 2005
Car boot sale The lost farms of West Swindon
Freshbrook Community
Frances Bevan, from Middleleaze has been investigating
Centre the families who lived in and worked the farms across West
Large hall or car park at rear Swindon, before it was engulfed by the creeping urban
Every Sunday, from 7am development of the town in the 1 970s and 1 980s.
£4/car or table Over recent years The Link has covered Frances' re-
search which she has aligned with the national curriculum so
Tel: 877650 for details
that children can study the farm nearest their school.
She has distilled her work into a series of articles for us.
PARKING Brook House Farm, now part of a Thomas Plunmer. The
pub chain, stands on the corner of 1841 Tithe Map for
CENTRAL SWINDON Middleleaze Drive and Tewkes- Lydiard Millicent
bury Way. Perched on the 19th records fields of pas-
Annual long stay Century parish boundary of ture called Middle
Lydiard Tregoze and Lydiard Leaze and Ram Leaze,
parking from only Millicent, the farm derives its names preserved in the 1980's de- Joses Badcock owned Brook
£63.00 per month name from the brook, which me- velopment of the area. Farm when it was auctioned at the
anders through the former estate The earliest reference to Tho- Goddard Arms Hotel, in 1901. The
Contact Christine Jenkins of Lord Bolingbroke. mas Plummer as tenant at Brook sale catalogue describes the farm
Tel: 01793 - 690600 The farm buildings and some 50 Farm is in the 1836 Rate Book for as 'comprising Picturesque House
acres of land in Lydiard Tregoze the parish of Lydiard Tregoze. with Gardens and grounds, Farm
Wk! ily, a further 119 acres in Lydiard to this as the parish register for St. 165a 2r 33p forming a High Class
J '3' belonged to the Bolingbroke fam- However, Thomas may have been Buildings, Cottages, and Pasture
Lands having a total area of about
farming at Brook a few years prior
Millicent were owned by John
your partner in business Lewis Mallet, and farmed by the Mary's Church records his mar- Residential pasture farm.'
Victorian tenant at Brook Farm, riage on 19 April 1831 to Joan Dore, It continued as a working farm
daughter of William Dore, tenant until the 1970s, when Jeff Stephens,
farmer at Wick Farm and Thomas' who kept a herd of pedigree Dutch
closest neighbour. Fresian cows, owned it. The Haines
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Now masked from Tewkesbury Way by trees,
* Electronic tuning * Welding * Electrical work Brook Farm in the early 1980s before conversion
* MoTs arranged (no re-test fee)
In the era of large families, Tho- family lived in the part of the build-
For a reliable local service with over 25 years experience mas and Joan Plummer appear to ing and recall how at times of heavy
(No VAT to pay) have had just two surviving chil- rainfall the farmyard was fre-
CALL GRAHAM ON (01793) 873045 or 07867 556350 dren, Sarah born 1832 and Thomas quently flooded by the rising wa-
in 1835. In 1853 Sarah married Ri- ter of the brook, re-routed during
chard Frampton Tuckey, the son the modern development.
of yeoman farmer Robert Tuckey, Today, Brook House Farm which
and made the short journey across was converted into a restaurant in
the parish to begin a new life at the 1980s, is decorated in a rural
Providing friendly & efficient Shaw Farm (Lower Shaw Farm). motif. Victorian farm implements
Thomas Plummer died in Feb- and reproductions of 19th century
* servicing to make of car ruary 1865 and his wife Joan in signboards and posters surround
* engine & gearbox rebuilds CUMEfiUU ^ January 1871. Over at Shaw Farm modern day diners.
S
g
g
* electrical repairs gEFUREIACKFBUSI their daughter Sarah Tuckey had Brook House Farm is today a
CUMESTUVUU. been widowed and in 1868 she busy place, open long hours and
* brake and clutch repairs
n married Joses Badcock, from employing a fleet of staff, much as
* cam belt replacement
Service Cl ►ecK Radley in Berkshire. it was in the 19th Century. What
* MOT repairs * sales NOW In 1876 the Swindon and Dis- Sarah Badcock would make of a
trict Directory lists Joses Badcock pool table in her elegant morning
OPTIMA MOTO1S as the farmer at Brook and the room is anyone's guess!
• Frances will next look at Upper
census returns for 1881 show the
Tuckey/Badcock family living at Shaw which was converted and
Tel: (01793) 840667 Brook Farm, Sarah's childhood opened as a community centre in
39b Station Road, Wootton Bassett (Opposite St Ivel) home. March 1984.