Then And Now

This section of the site is provided in partnership with The Swindon Society and The Richard Jefferies Society. It enables you to see how the surrounding area used to look and learn more about your town. We are adding value by providing a current photograph taken as far as possible from the same position. The project involves a fair bit of detective work, so if you can add or correct information, please get in touch. This is your site, so if you would like to get involved in extending this project, please let us know.

Titlesort icon Description Date
Victoria Road, Co-op, 1914

No. 8 branch, New Swindon Industrial Co-operative Society Ltd, 104 Victoria Road, Was opened in 1914, it moved to Devizes Road in 1925. The site of the shop is now public toilets.

 July 1, 1914 Then
Victoria Road, Bath Road, Astill's Printers, 1904

Astill's Printers, in 1904 was situated on the corner of Victoria Road and Bath Road. Later demolished to widen the road for the new tram service.

 June 1, 1904 Then
Victoria Road and Bath Road Junction 1906

Tramcar number 7 rounds the bend from Bath Road into Victoria Road. The Congregational Church in the background was demolished in 1949

 July 1, 1906 Then
Victoria Road - Technical College

The Technical College at the bottom of Victoria Hill was inaugurated at the the turn of the century when the Borough of Swindon was incorporated, and was intended to take on the role of further education in the town that had been conducted so admirably by the Mechanics Institution in the previous century

 July 1, 1910 Then
Tramways Staff - Female wartime Conductors 1917

During World War 1, as in the Second World War, women were drafted into home employment to stand in for the men who had gone to the front. This was on the understanding they would lose their jobs when the men returned

 June 1, 1917 Then