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St. Mary, Lydiard Tregoze, Wiltshire

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Outside of Church
Inside
Memorials
Windows

Monuments:
'Golden Cavalier'
Katherine Mompesson
Nicholas & Elizabeth St. John
'Rysbrack'
St. John Tomb
Triptych

Gravestones: A B C D E F H I K M N O P R S T W Y

Lydiard Mansion
History
Wiltshire Collections entry

The village of Lydiard Tregoz disappeared over 300 years ago and all that remains of it is the church. Lydiard Mansion was built adjacent to the church - guide books state a house could have been here from the Middle Ages, although the earliest record dates from the 1700s. Today, what is left of the estate is run by Swindon's Borough Council.

Although the name is now spelt Lydiard Tregoze, according to John Jackson (in the Wiltshire Collections book) it has gone under various names over the years: "Lydiard Tregoz, or South Lydiard, is in the old Hundred of Blackgrove, now included in Kingsbridge. The name occurs in a multitude of forms: as, Lydeyerd, Lidegherd, Lideyert, Lidiarde, Lydyarde, Lydeyarde, Lidyard, Ledyerd, Lydeard, Liddiard, Ladyhart, Lidyhart and Lediar. The derivation is Anglo-Saxon; from Leod, people, and geard, enclosure."

Locals now refer to the estate as Lydiard Park. The park has beautiful and extensive grounds (some 244 acres) where you can just sit and admire the scenery, or follow one of the trails through the woodland. For the youngsters there is an adventure playground and toddlers play area, and for the more energetic a cricket and football pitch. There is also an 18th century lake, picnic and barbeque area, an arboretum and a visitors centre. During the summer there are outside events held, including Shakespear in the Park, the annual Wiltshire Festival (held in August) - the 'Party in the Park', held over successive evenings and has mix of classical and pop music with a spectacular fireworks display staged in front of the mansion house.

The State rooms are open daily to visitors - a small entry fee applies - Ł2.00 adults, Ł1.00 under 15s, and under 5s free, (as of December 2004) - and is well worth the money. Opening times are: weekdays 10am-5pm, Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday 2pm-5pm - with early closing time of 4pm November to February. The former Swindon Corporation bought Lydiard Park back in 1943 when the house was in a terrible state. Over the years parts of the house have been impressively restored. This is an on-going project as conservation and restoration is a slow and expensive task.

To enter the church of St. Mary you will need to first obtain the key from the house (note opening times above) or from the vicar. There is a short guide available inside the church (written by D. Attwood) which sums up the atmosphere in its Introduction with: "As you step into the little parish church of St. Mary's, Lydiard Tregoze, it seems as if you step back hundreds of years into the past." The impressive monuments to various members of the St. John (pronounced 'sin-gin') family must look as good today as they did when they were erected. Although it would be easy to view this building as a museum to the St. John family when visiting it during the week, this is misleading as it still has a thriving worshipping community. Do pick up a copy of the guide which, in its own words, sets out to attempt to answer some of the most frequent questions that visitors ask about the church, but it also mentions smaller, less obvious things that you might otherwise miss. We have used this guide, a booklet about Lydiard House and the Wiltshire Collections book as our source for information given on these web pages.

For such a relatively small church there is so much to see inside - wall paintings from the 1400s, the splendid Royal Coat of Arms, the elaborate chancel rail, the monuments and the wonderful stained glass windows. We still have some more photographs waiting to be processed and added to these pages.

Click on thumbnail to see full size picture

Outside

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