Acclaimed Swindon author and historian John Stooke is to deliver a talk about the historic Queenstown district of Swindon as part of the ongoing Swindon-wide History Festival.
The area, in what is now part of the town centre, predated Swindon's rise as a railway town.
Mr Stooke's talk, entitled Queenstown Not Kimmerfields, will be delivered at Zurich's Unity Place headquarters on Thursday 24 September, beginning at 7pm and expected to last a little over an hour.
Entry will be by a modest donation to Swindon mental health charity The Kelly Foundation.
A festival spokesperson said: “Local author and historian John Stooke will delve back into the history of this important part of New Swindon, from the original landowners to the builders, it’s role as a centre of transportation beginning with trams, the characters, canals and bridges of Queenstown, discover who’s idea the not so good name was then and up to the present day, the new theatre, renewed uncertainties and why it is still mostly undeveloped”
Long before Brunel’s railway village was completed, speculative developers were looking at ways of further increasing the spread and accommodation potential for New Swindon.
Their eyes quickly fell on an area east of the Railway Village divided by farm tracks between fields, with the best reference point today, being lower Eastcott Farmhouse which was roughly at the junction of Manchester Road - which was then Mill Street - and Corporation Street.
This area soon became known as Queenstown and, according to Mr Stooke, has the unenviable reputation as being that area of Swindon most demolished and most built up
The location of the talk directly in the midst of Queenstown.
From the seating area, visitors will be able to look over John Street basin, where the Wilts and Berks Canal separated, with one branch going towards Latton and the other towards Abingdon.
The Kelly Foundation, Swindon’s community mental health support service, is run by people who care passionately about improving their clients' outlook, and who look at mental health in a holistic way seeking to address the causes are not just the symptoms.
Its website is 4kelly.org and further information about the history festival can be found at www.facebook.com/groups/1568573454634661/
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