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 Holy Rood 
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This Location:   Main Page   
Outside Pages:    Outside    Gravestones
Inside Pages:   Inside    Memorials    Vicars
Tombs:   Goddard Family    Richard Jefferies Family


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Holy Rood Church, Swindon, Wiltshire, England




This church was the parish church for Swindon until the mid 1800s when  Christ Church  was built.  It stands in the former Goddard Estate, now known as  The Lawns.  The building in these photographs is the chancel and is all that remains of the much larger parish church; it is Grade II listed - see details of the listing at the:  Historic England  website.

The late Dennis Bird wrote a book about Holy Rood called "The Story of Holy Rood - Old Parish Church of Swindon", ISBN 0951763903, published in 1991 and printed by Thamesdown Community Press.  Dennis has managed to write about facts and information in an interesting as well as knowledgeable way.  We had viewed Holy Rood as a rather sad building, albeit in a lovely location, but Dennis' book brought the history to life and now the sadness is that only the chancel survives.

We have divided up our photographs of the building into 'Inside' and 'Outside' as it stands today; please bear in mind some of the features shown as being outside were originally inside the building.

Our visit in September 2004 was rather frustrating for us.  Rather annoyingly the weather was overcast, making our photographs appear dull; the showers made us run for shelter on more than one occasion.  To add to this, it was only later we discovered we had our camera set at a lower quality than we usually use for our church photographs and some gravestone/memorial photographs were not readable.  We will have to return here another time and order good weather and make sure the camera is set correctly.

We did manage to photograph many of the gravestones before finally giving up as the light faded and rain became too heavy.  However, many of the inscriptions are simply too eroded to read so have not been included in these pages.  Some photographs have been included even if only a name is visible.  Please bear in mind we have guessed at some names and we would appreciate you contacting us if you know we have an incorrect spelling or the name is wrong.  Thank you.
Outside
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Swindon - photo: 0373
Looking towards the west wall (previously the chancel arch) from what was the nave
Photo No: 0373     Size: 750k
Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: September 2004
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Photo Date: September 2004
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Entrance to the chancel - now the west door
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Figures on the Chancel arch (originally inside)
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Photo Date: September 2004
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Coming round the corner to see the north wall
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Photo Date: October 2012
Swindon - photo: 0001
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Photo Date: December 1999
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Photo Date: August 2004
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Photo Date: August 2004
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: September 2004
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: October 2012
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The Goddard family tomb.
Formerly in the north chapel
More Photographs
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Photo Date: October 2012
Swindon - photo: 0154
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Photo Date: September 2004
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Coming round the corner to see the east wall
Photo No: 0397     Size: 1240k
Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: September 2004
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The east wall
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Photo Date: October 2012
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The east window
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Carvings either side of the east window
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Moving round to the south wall
Photo No: 0145     Size: 600k
Photo Date: September 2004
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Photo No: 0365     Size: 1254k
Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo No: 0381     Size: 1246k
Photo Date: October 2012
Swindon - photo: 0358
Doorway in the south wall of the chancel
Photo No: 0358     Size: 1694k
Photo Date: October 2012
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Inscription is in Latin.
Includes name of Johannes Vilett
Photo No: 0357     Size: 1437k
Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: October 2012
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We have no idea what this was
Photo No: 0360     Size: 1512k
Photo Date: October 2012
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More vandalism
Photo No: 0361     Size: 1710k
Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: September 2000
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Photo Date: September 2004
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Photo Date: October 2012
Swindon - photo: 0150
Photo No: 0150     Size: 956k
Photo Date: September 2004
Swindon - photo: 0367
Grave of Swindon's oldest person?
More Photographs
Photo No: 0367     Size: 1658k
Photo Date: October 2012
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Looking from the chancel arch along to where the nave used to be
Photo No: 0293     Size: 1698k
Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: September 2004
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Photo No: 0161     Size: 748k
Photo Date: September 2004
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Photo No: 0002     Size: 407k
Photo Date: December 1999
Swindon - photo: 0392
The graveyard - now mainly grassed over, with gravestones placed around the perimeter
Photo No: 0392     Size: 1770k
Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo No: 0153     Size: 781k
Photo Date: September 2004
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Photo No: 0152     Size: 931k
Photo Date: September 2004
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Photo No: 0396     Size: 1752k
Photo Date: October 2012
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In memory of ...
Photo No: 0140     Size: 727k
Photo Date: September 2004
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... Richard Jefferies
Photo No: 0141     Size: 322k
Photo Date: September 2004
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In memory of ...
Photo No: 0138     Size: 893k
Photo Date: September 2004
Swindon - photo: 0139
... Brian Bridgeman
Photo No: 0139     Size: 255k
Photo Date: September 2004
Swindon - photo: 0379
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Photo Date: October 2012
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This yew tree is rather magnificent, even shrouded in rain
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: October 2012
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Photo Date: October 2012
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In 2004 it was our shelter from the rain!
Photo No: 0149     Size: 996k
Photo Date: September 2004
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Looking beyond the stone walls
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Photo Date: September 2004
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Photo No: 0142     Size: 989k
Photo Date: September 2004

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