Page 6 - link magazine

6 The Link Magazine • February 2006
Plan to recycle demolished heritage

The facade of a building demolished in 1978 might make a reappearance in the town, if Swindon Council comes up with a lot of cash to buy
what is at present 200 hundred tons of dressed Bath stone piled up in a field in Northamptonshire.
The triangular pediment sup- which was knocked down for lack Rod Bluh, reckons reassembling they are rebuilt close to their origi-
ported by six columns was once of funds to maintain the building the classical portico would send nal location at the top of Regent
the frontage to the Baptist Taber- completed in 1886. out a bold and imaginative mes- Street, opposite the town hall, per-
nacle at the top of Regent Street It was described by architectural sage. "The building was very much haps as an entrance to the Granville
historian Nickolaus Pevsner as're- in the conscience of Swindon and Street development behind.
markably purely classical' and lik- its demolition a symbol of where Coun Bluh said three of the four
Purton House ened by poet John Betjeman to St things started to go wrong in terms developers being considered for
Church End Martin's in the Fields, off Trafal- of how the town valued its history. town centre regeneration had ex-
gar Square in London.
Purton. Swindon
The Pilgrim Centre was built in
Tel: 01793 772287 its place, comprising a town centre
place of worship, meeting rooms,
HedN t (mA offices and community cafe, with
grt'ti n this tD ym other parts of the site sold off for
commercial development.
The frontage was bought and
Call for details about our
transported to two locations in
Organic Box Scheme Britain with a view to giving a
Vegetables • Fruit • Meat • Eggs classical appearance to new coun-
Deliveries & drop off points in Swindon, try properties. Planning permis-
Cirencester, Wootton Bassett, Broad sion was blocked on both projects.
Hinton. Marlborough. Wroughton Now Swindon cabinet member
www.purton-house.co.uk of town centre regeneration coun.

(%ie cc.J Ith ' c/wi "Rebuilding the frontage in an pressed interest in incorporating
appropriate context would be a the portico into a building project.
London trained mobile hair stylist mark of confidence in heritage and
For a visit call Sue on 07796 432 700 our aspirations for the future." What's your view?
However not everybody is con- The Swindon Civic Trust, which
or email sue [email protected]
vinced that resurrecting stones for campaigns for better planning de-
the sake of symbolism is a good way cisions and improved quality of
of spending tax payers' money. buildings, is asking its members
Jean Allen of the Swindon Soci- before it expresses a view. The
ety, which has published nine his- Trust also wants to hear from
torical books about the town, said non-members about whether
there were few objections to the Swindon Council should buy the
demolition of the tabernacle in the tabernacle stones.
1970s. "Three town centre places Send your comments via:
of worship decided to come to- www.swindincivictrust.org.uk
gether in a new building. The con-
tractors taking down the tabernacle Heritage pool restriction
were going to crush all the stones Swindon Council is proposing to
for the foundations of the redevel- cancel casual swimming at the
opment. By chance Stanley Frost, a Health Hydro in Milton Road as
sculptor who lived near Malmes- part of this year's council tax cut-
bury, was in Swindon and discov- backs.
ered what was being planned and
agreed to buy the portico at the
last moment.
"I went to see the stones in Mr
Frost's field in 1998. He said the
council could have them back for
£10,000 which would have cov-
ered his costs. Goodness knows
what they are willing to pay for
them now, but I bet it's a lot more.
"Anybody who was around in
the 1970s will remember how the
front of the tabernacle and the steps
were always covered in pigeon The 115 year old building was
droppings. It took an awful lot of originally built as a leisure and
work to keep them clean; that health centre for workers living in
would have to be borne in mind if the railway village.
they came back." Casual swimmers in the town
Details of where and how the centre would have to travel to the
facade could be used has yet to be Link Centre or the Oasis, involv-
revealed but one suggestion is that ing two bus trips for some.