Trip to St.Mark's Church with Michael Gray

 After our March talk on the History, Art and Architecture of St.Mark's Church, heritage architect Michael Gray kindly agreed to give us a guided tour of the church  on the 11th of May. It was our first trip of the year and we were looking forward to meeting up in person again. There was a great turn out, but the weather was challenging, the 11th marked the first day of rain after something like 7 weeks without rain. The garden was desperate for rain, but we weren't, especially when outside in the graveyard. I took some photos which appear here, for more detail on St.Mark's, please click on the link to the blog above.

We started by looking at the outside of the church, as you can see it was wet! The church is very impressive from the outside, designed by architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, it showed its best side to the railway line that went beside it so people on the train knew they took things seriously in Swindon and could be very grand

This photo shows Michael with Maria Drysz beside him recording the talk for radio 105.5. The interview can be heard as follows: Michael Gray talking about local architecture in general and St Marks in particular, Thurs 26th May 3pm.    Repeats on Sun 29th May 5pm Spotlight 105.5 FM Copied and pasted so strange white background!!

Some of the monuments in the graveyard are listed, I could only find a listing for the Armstrong monument, but they were very impressive.

I looked up Christian Rea, you can find a copy of his will here, he died on 15th of September 1857, and is described as a 'Gentleman of Swindon'.

Another view of the tower

And once safely inside, we were shown a print of the original Gilbert Scott drawing of the church, vicarage and school.

Here's a general view of the inside of the church looking towards the altar

I listened to Michael talking about these windows, and realise I have written something about each one in the post about the original talk, so will refer you to that now.

The lectern is rather impressive

This is the window designed by Martin Travers, on a sunny day, the sun shines through this wonderfully

The parable of the prodigal son is a wonderful window

This one is beautiful, an 'off the shelf' design rather than individually designed for the church

This is the latest addition to the stained glass, the top panel reads 'Forward in Faith' and references the 4 churches in the area: St.Mark's represented by the lion, St.Saviour's by a crown of thorns surrounding a ball, St.Aldhelm's by a lyre and St.Luke's represented by a flying bull or ox

We finished the tour off with a choice of home made cakes and biscuits and a drink. With grateful thanks to Michael Gray and Fr Toby Boutle, the Parish Priest and the whole team who were there on that day to welcome us. You did a brilliant job.

Swindon's Mammoth Graveyard

 Towards the end of 2021, news began to emerge of mammoth bones being discovered by Sally and Neville Hollingworth in a quarry north of Swindon. The finds were so significant that they passed the management of the discoveries onto Dig Ventures, an archaeological organisation based at Barnard Castle who have the capability to manage finds. We were very pleased when Maiya, Lisa and Ginny from Dig Ventures agreed to give our April Zoom talk on the Swindon mammoths.

We're looking back 200,000 years ago, this discovery is the most important in a generation apparently. I loved the reconstructions of what the mammoths might have looked like, although it is not known if neanderthals coexisted with the mammoths.

The quarry was no longer in use when Sally and Neville came across many Jurassic fossils such as crinoids and ammonites. It was when they found a large mammoth tusk on the ground that they realised there might be some very interesting finds. It's such a large site, the question was where to start? Two years were spent making bore holes and examining their contents. 3D photography of the site was used, and a small excavation made by Historic England. The finds are from a time a hundred to two hundred times older than the Bronze Age and the finds such as hand axes and bones are so well preserved because apparently having been buried, they weren't moved. 

Above is an aerial view of the site, and below filming on site with Sir David Attenborough for a BBC film outlining the finds and their importance.

I think this photograph shows Sir David Attenborough with Sally and Neville when he first saw some of the mammoth bones.

Here's another aerial view

And a very important part of the process, draining the site which is 5 metres below ground level

You can see how well this mammoth tooth has been preserved, it looks a bit like a cheese grater

This slide gives an idea of the 5 different sizes of mammoths 

Here's Sally with a hand axe

This is a great slide showing some of the discoveries. Apparently the curvature of the tusk gives an indication of whether the mammoth was a male or female, and the number of rings, the age.

There are three more years of excavation still to be done at the site, and lots of questions to try and answer, why did the mammoths go to the area? Why did they die there? What other species were there at the same time? 

We are very grateful to Dig Ventures for coming along to tell us more about this fascinating find so close to home, if this has whetted your appetite, please go to Dig Ventures website where you can find out more about how to join in with an archaeological dig, or help fund one. The nearest might be at Sudeley Castle.

You will be pleased to know we gave Dig Ventures a donation towards their work, and look forward to finding out where we can see the mammoth bones being displayed.

Relocation Plans for Wiltshire Museum

 David Dawson, Director of Wiltshire Museum in Devizes gave our March talk via Zoom on plans to relocate the museum, currently on 9 different levels to the former Assize Court, unused since the 1980s. At the moment, it's empty and a derelict shell. There is an excellent video on the Wiltshire Museum website where you can find out more about the plans from David Dawson, I was interested to see that plans for the renovation had been posted on boards on the outside of the Assize Court so people could read about them. It was fascinating to hear how David had an over view of the process of breathing new life into the old building; he sees opportunities and builds on them. 

I took notes and photographed some of the slides, my favourite being this one below, people were asked about the proposals for relocation in single words, the size of the word indicates the frequency with which it was used, so the slide below gives a good indication of how they feel:

The slides that follow are ones used in the video and on the hoardings outside the Assize Court during the consultation. One of the interesting aspects of the building is that it has the canal behind it, it might be possible to use the rear of the building overlooking the canal as a way in. Along with image makers, they have created visualisations of how spaces will work, and how to use the spaces outside to engage with people.

In this slide, you can see where the canal is situated in relation to the building which is a real asset; water being a great feature in any situation. Think of the Hepworth in Wakefield and how fabulous it is to see the river snaking around the building.

The next slide looks at the audience development report where people were asked if they visited the current museum and what would influence their decision to visit. Telling stories of Wiltshire came out very strongly, and providing interesting things for the children to see, for example leaving cells in the basement. Location and layout of the present museum is seen fairly obviously as a problem, which I feel has been largely overcome by a determination to make things happen.

This slide looks at the potential audience for Wiltshire Museum

This slide below gives an idea of how people feel about the current museum which engages with about 20,500 people annually, it's seen in a very positive light as can be seen by the words people used to describe how they felt

This slide which you can only see if you home in, asks questions about why people don't visit, and the reasons they give.

The next one asks why people do visit.

The next slide shows that twice as many people use the building as visit it. The shop is excellent and a great place to buy cards, books and other items.

You may have visited the recent Ravilious exhibition, I visited it twice and thought it was fabulous. The Duchess of Cornwall visited and looks very happy being shown round by David Dawson. If you click on the link, you will find the duchess also visited the new cinema in Marlborough.

This slide was also very interesting, the figures are amazing and well deserved. If you put on exhibitions and advertise them, people will come, and spend money in Devizes town as well as in the museum. A calculation was made that it was worth £500k to the town in extra revenue. People eat and shop when they visit the exhibition.

Below a timeline and costings

And what's coming up

Including Hardy's Wessex which opens on 28th of May and is part of an exhibition in 4 museums.

Lots of food for thought in the talk. We will follow the progress made towards a new museum for Devizes with interest, and wish David Dawson every success in moving this project forwards.

Two Year Anniversary of Closure Marked

 When Apsley House, home of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery closed on 18 March 2020 in line with every other public building, because of Covid restrictions, we didn't realise that would be the last time we would be able to visit. It didn't reopen when restrictions were lifted in early 2021, and then when all restrictions were to removed on 19 July 2021, we learned it would never reopen, be emptied and the building sold as surplus to requirements.

The signs outside the building indicate the opening hours, but it never opens, the general public may think it does open occasionally. We met outside the building to remind people of its status, as closed, and how important we think a museum and art gallery are for the people who live here, and who used to like to visit it. An article in the Swindon Advertiser says this much more eloquently than I can do: https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/20004480.cake-marks-second-anniversary-swindon-museum-art-gallery-closure/

We had large and small cakes to commemorate the event, and lots of people came along to support us. Here's a photo taken after we'd gathered and had a speech and started to eat the cake:

I took some more photos of cake with toppers on, I didn't know you could buy such things:

We also had iced cakes with flags in:

There was a card, held here by Angela Atkinson, says on the outside: 'On the 2nd anniversary of your closure' and inside

'Dear Apsley House, Two years ago today you were closed to us & we lost our museum and art gallery. We miss you #FreeOurCroc

This was setting up at the beginning, the sign says 'Swindon Borough Council this is a Swindon Borough Council designated site for rapturous applause.

A sad day we felt we needed to mark.

There were biscuits with marzipan crocs on, and a croc suited supporter, hopefully Angela's blog will have those photos, please click here to find more content and photos.

The History, Art and Architecture of St.Mark's Church, Swindon New Town 1843-1995

Michael Gray gave our February talk to a packed Zoom audience on St.Mark's Church, located in the Railway Village, and built a little after the village. Michael recently reviewed the listings for Historic England when the whole Railway Village became a Heritage Action Zone in 2019; he gave us the talk he gives on Heritage Open Days, and I hope we can have a tour round it before long as a Friends' trip.

The railway came to Swindon in 1841, at that time, Brunel sketched plans for the village, not the church. The main church in Swindon at this time was Holy Rood in Lawn, it was very small and with 1800 staff employed in the works, the need for another church was appreciated by the Goddard and Villet families who each paid £500 for the church, probably half a million today. The bulk of the funding came from Lambeth Palace, £5-6,000 was allocated to build a church, vicarage and church school.

Michael started his talk with this lovely photograph of light pouring through a window from the south, the effect is of sunlight passing through incense burnt in all services. The resurgence of all things Catholic, with ritualist ideas dating back to 1830 was called the Oxford movement and dates back to 1830, arriving in Swindon in 1840, it didn't take hold then, but Canon JMG Ponsonby who was vicar from 1879-1903 was keen on the Oxford movement.

George Gilbert Scott tendered for the job , submitting the watercolour below which won him the commission. His most famous other commissions include St Pancras station and the Albert memorial tower.

In the graveyard, there are 5 large memorials, including 2 listed ones. The one above as you can see is to Joseph Armstrong who was an engineer and driver, 6000 attended his funeral.

Many people who worked in the railway works had come from other regions of the UK, they tended to build their own churches because they didn't want to worship in Anglican churches which is why we have so many chapels in Swindon.

The photograph above shows a hammerbeam roof and scissor trusses to give height and space; the church lifts the worshipper up , as though revisiting paradise.

You can see above the detailing on the stone work

The stained glass in the church is beautiful, the window below is the one behind the altar. Jesus in depicted in the centre of the window, set in a sunburst with 4 apostles around him, and the hand of God above him. It was designed by Martin Travers who died in 1949

The two windows below were made at different times, the one on the left in 1888, depicts the returning prodigal son, and jealous brother depicted as Henry VIII. The one on the right, the Baptistry window was commissioned to mark 150 years of St Marks and the other 3 Anglican churches, St.Saviours, St Lukes and St.Aldems

Below is a magnified bit of the window on the left.

Two more windows, the one on the left tells the story of Isiah and Jeremiah, commissioned in 1894 as a tribute to a dead wife. The window on the right was made in 2012 in memory of Rex Hurrell, commemorating Saint Sithney, patron saint of mad dogs

You can find what Sir John Betjeman thought about St.Mark's by listening to this BBC archive material from March 1949.  However to listen, you have to log in to Discogs, something I was not able to do just now. And also watch the talk by clicking here. 

What a fascinating tour around St.Mark's, thank you very much Michael.