Inspired by a recent display on Eddie Cochran at Chippenham Museum and Heritage Centre this blog entry is all about Wiltshire’s links past and present with the world of rock and pop.

 
Eddie Cochran

To commemorate 50 years since the famous rock and roll pioneer died in a car crash on Rowden Hill in Chippenham, earlier this year Chippenham museum put on a display of Eddie Cochran memorabilia. 'Read more' to find out how many other pop stars have been associated with Wiltshire over the years...

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Hi, I’m Ange Green and, suffice to say, no two days are ever the same on Reception as our valued visitors hail from all over the country and abroad. Some visitors are on a long mission and some on a whistle stop tour. Visitors come from all walks of life to research all sorts of facts which our experienced and talented colleagues in the Search Room are only to happy to assist with. Some of our visitors are Record Office aficionados whilst others are still ‘in training’. We are also fortunate to have some very dedicated volunteers and very faithful regulars. We were very proud to celebrate our 50,000^th visitor earlier this year.

The Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre

Programmes like ‘Who do you think you are?’ have brought History and Heritage to the Nation’s attention and certainly help in promoting surges of interest in the facilities at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre. We are delighted when children and young people also come along as they are our future. We’d like to see more of them visit.

A warm welcome from staff at our reception desk

In Reception my colleagues and I from the Customer and Business Support team, aim to offer you a warm welcome, help you register quickly and settle in, and then open that door, the door to the Search Room, the point of no return but where the magic happens. It seems that visitors become entranced, certainly engrossed, and are often surprised to learn that hours have passed by in what seems like moments and they’ve forgotten to have lunch! It’s really important to take regular breaks away from the search room, both for your physical well being and your sanity when facts are eluding you! Please feel free to bring your own refreshments, especially if you are planning to be here for some length of time. We have vending machines and seating in the reception area and also outside picnic benches. Just in case you miss the lunch van (Tues – Fri) the Station café is 5 minutes up the road.

We would like to stress that we are closed to the public on Mondays. Unfortunately, many visitors have found out the hard way - our own website and the Wiltshire Council website state clear opening times but regrettably we cannot edit all external advertising agencies – we have tried. It really does matter to us that you have a positive visit – we have compliments, complaints and comments forms available and also a Visitors Book on Reception. Please do let us know if there is anything that would make a difference to your visit.


                               We really look forward to seeing you some time.

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Can you guess what it is? If a previous member of Wiltshire Buildings Record hadn’t identified this feature I doubt I would have been able to. The team was called to look at Littleton House, Littleton Pannell, in the parish of West Lavington.

The Feature in Question...

This old farmhouse had been owned by generations of Pococks who farmed the land for sheep and arable. The house itself goes back to the 17^th century at least, and successive owners have each put their own stamp on it. Narrow mullioned windows gave way to broad, airy sashes in the 18^th century, and chunky, louring beams to fine plastered ceilings in the 19^th century.

As time went on the living accommodation proliferated, with more specialised functions being carried out in different rooms. By the end of the 19^th century there were in addition to the usual reception rooms and kitchens a dairy, butler’s pantry, pump house, brew house, coal and wood house, as well as separate cellars for wine and for beer. To find out the identity of the feature, please 'read more'...

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I was recently using the school log books of Heywood for our ongoing Community History project (http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/) and found that the earliest log books we held for the school were from 1938. It is unusual for us to took at the log books for this period, and I discovered that they gave an interesting insight into the lives of rural schoolchildren (including the evacuees) during wartime.

 
Evacuees from Portsmouth in Kilmington, 1939.
Ref: P32983

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Back in March we had an enquiry from a gentleman trying to establish the date of a couple of photographs of the bridge at Bradford on Avon. They were amongst his grandfather’s collection of 598 ‘magic lantern’ slides, many of which were unnamed. He had been unsure of the location of the photographs, but the bridge happened to be featured in a TV programme he was watching called ‘Country Tracks’, and it looked like a good candidate!
The first of two photographs of the bridge at Bradford On Avon
Our Ref: P53801  

Upon receipt of the images, it took just one look to realise that they were indeed of the bridge at Bradford. To try to date the images we used two books from our Local Studies Collection, ‘Bradford on Avon: a pictorial record’ edited by Harold Fassnidge and Peter Maundrell, and ‘Bradford in Avon in old Picture Postcards’ by Adrian Powell. Both included pictures of the bridge, one dated c. 1892 and the other 1900. Walter’s photograph showed some metal work in a cross pattern appearing on the blind house. The image of 1900 showed the cross in place but by about 1916 it had disappeared. The other image (taken in or before 1892) had been taken from a slightly different angle but showed the river bank without the ornate metal fence in the picture dated 1900. This fence was also missing in our photograph, suggesting a date of c.1890. 

His grandfather, Walter J Pearce, had been taking photographs from at least 1889, when he took some at the Paris Exhibition. He was part of a delegation of craftsmen sent by the Lord Mayor of London to report on his craft of painting, decorating and gilding. His grandson told us that Walter had actually climbed onto the outside of the Eiffel Tower to look at the paintwork; it had been painted lighter towards the top to make the tower appear slimmer! To discover more about the photographer and the bridge, please 'read more'...

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