New exhibiton takes us back to the Swindon of 1957

By Barrie Hudson barrie@positive-media.co.uk

Images of Swindon gathered 66 years ago are on display at the Central Library until the end of July.

Taken by architectural historian Andor Gomme during a visit in March of that year as part of his research into townscapes, the images are a small selection from the Historic England Archive’s Andor Gomme Collection.

Gomme’s photographs show historic buildings in Swindon town centre, the Railway Village and Old Town. They also record Walcot East, Park South, and Old Walcot - the new housing estates which were being constructed as Swindon grew east of the town centre.

redevelopment, although the McIlroys tower is clearly this, providing a record of traditional market towns and modern urban centres.

During the 1950s Gomme travelled widely across the country, recording the built environment.

The photographs he took at that time, now held by the Historic England Archive, depict the towns and villages of England during a period of rapid change.

This change was driven by a combination of factors; the after effects of the war, the growing importance of the car and a drive to modernise.

The Historic England Archive’s Andor Gomme Collection contains around 30,000 photographs of towns and villages in England and Wales, taken from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Details of opening times can be found at www. swindon.gov.uk/info/20026/ libraries/302/local_studies_ local_history_and_genealogy

Images include that of Regent Street on a busy shopping day (top), the Railway Works (middle) and a view along Leighton Avenue in Park South, then yet to be completed, toward the distant spire of Christ Church.

The Regent Street image shows Victorian shopfronts which would be changed beyond recognition or vanish altogether during town centre recognisable.

Austin Harvey (Andor) Gomme (1930-2008) was Emeritus Professor of English Language and Architectural History at the University of Keele.

He was chair of the Society for Architectural Historians of Great Britain and editor of its journal, Architectural History.

The collection reflects