Ablington
Ablington maps (2 available)
Map of Wiltshire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
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Ablington books (17 available)
- 1 photos on Ablington appear in 1 Frith books - View photos of Ablington
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Ablington and Wiltshire
Ablington memories
Read and share memories of Ablington and Wiltshire inspired by Frith photos
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Wiltshire memories
I Miss Home
I live in America now. I have a family here, but I would like to return to Highworth one day. I was born there and Christened in St Michael's Church in 1954.
A memory of Highworth contributed by First Name Last Name
Historical Connections
I am a New Zealander, as my (recent) ancestors have been for more than one and a half centuries! However, my ancestors had emigrated from Highworth twice during the 1800's - firstly to Australia on a 7 +2 year contract with the Australian Agricultural Company in the 1820's, and back to Highworth after 9 years, then eventually to settle permanently NZ from 1841. The descendants families have been in NZ ever since.
Ancestral research only a decade ago discovered that my earlier ancestors had had a lengthy association with St. Michael's Church. The Church records exist of ancestral marriages and christenings from 1714 (commencing with the marriage of Henry Stokes to Deborah Watkins, 9 May 1714) through to 1815.
read more here
A memory of Highworth contributed by Martin Thomas
holidays
my grandparents used to live in church walk in purton , my father and his brothers and sisters grew up there and every summer we used to go to stay there for our holidays.
they had feather beds and gas lighting and we used to go to bed with a candle.
the milkman used to come and fill up the pewter milk jug each morning.
we all got up early in the morning and went looking for mushrooms over the fields then go home and cook up a good breakfast. There was a well in the garden and we used to get water to wash our hair and it came out really shiny and healthy.Our grandfather used to take us on ...read more here
A memory of Purton contributed by Susan Scott
Family Tree
I am researching my fam tree. I have found out some of my ancestors came from Swindon. Due to a long story my Grandmothers biological Grandfather worked on the G.W.R AS A Labourer his name was Edwin New. He married Mary Jane Stroud in 1873 then went on to have my Grandmother Real mother Alice Elizabeth New. Alice was born on the 10th March 1884 at Lower stratton.
I wondered if any one out there knows of these name above. My grandmother was born in a mother and baby hospital in Hackney for unmarried mother on the 24th July 1906. I found the details out with the help of the Salvation Army her real mothers name was given ...read more here
A memory of Swindon contributed by Karen Surtees
Extracts From Ablington & Wiltshire books
Looking West
This view looks down
Commercial Road towards
the old market site. The
street at this time was
largely occupied by small
businesses such as (on
the right) Harold the
jeweller’s, with next door
Hiscock’s the builder
and decorator’s. On the
opposite corner of the
Morley Street junction
was Taymac the builders’
merchants (now the site
of the West Bromwich
Building Society).
An extract from from"Swindon Living Memories".
This public house at Stratton St Margaret owes its existence
to the Wilts and Berks Canal which ran nearby. The original
inn stood on the opposite side of the road, on the south-
western corner of what is now the busy Oxford road into
Swindon. The original building was demolished, and a new
one built in 1937-38 on its present site. One of its most
famous landlords since then has been Johnnie Stiles, whose
band had brought prestige to the town when winning the All
British Dance Band Championships in both 1948 and 1949.
Standing on the A419 Swindon by-pass and A420 Oxford
Road interchange, the pub was subsequently extended and
modernized in 1982.
An extract from from"Swindon Living Memories".
The Town Hall, standing in the middle of the High Street,
was given by Lawrence Hyde, first Earl of Rochester, in 1700.
Restored in 1889, it was presented to the town by Lady
Meux in 1906. Until the restoration in 1889, under the open
staircase there was a lock-up or blind house. At one time the
building was used as a court house; it has subsequently been
used as a branch of the County Library and as a museum. In
recent years it was restored with the help of English Heritage,
initially in an overall grey finish, but it has since been restored
to its traditional timber-framed look.
An extract from from"Swindon Living Memories".
Looking West
We are looking
across the lake
to the houses in
Durham Street, with
the Presbyterian
church roof in the
centre of the picture,
and the Holy Rood
Roman Catholic
church on the right.
The vegetation on
the far bank has
now grown to fill
the open spaces
shown here, giving
the whole site an
impression of being
far removed from
the centre of a busy
and thriving town.
An extract from from"Swindon Living Memories".
Looking East from Wood Street
An inn has stood on this site for 400 years. It was known as the Crown until
about 1810, when it was renamed in honour of the Goddard family, the
lords of the manor of High Swindon. The Magistrates’ Court for Swindon was
held here until the Old Town Hall was built in the Market Square in 1852.
In April 1914, Francis Priscilla Hunter, aged 23, a between-maid here, was
shot dead by her jealous lover, Walter James White. He was executed for the
murder at Winchester in June 1914.
An extract from from"Swindon Living Memories".