Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Enhancement on 28/04/2020

SU 1484 NE
6/82

SWINDON
EMLYN SQUARE
Nos. 12, 12a, 13 and 13a

17.2.70

GV
II
In order to house the workforce for the new Great Western Railway works, IK Brunel designed a new village to the south of the railway line. Brunel’s early layout drawings of 1840 show a grid similar to the final plan of 12 terraces in six blocks on either side of the High Street (from 1893 Emlyn Square). Construction started in 1842, and by 1855 most of the buildings had been completed. Houses and cottages of different types were built, as well as lodging houses. Brunel himself designed only the first block of 1842 (4-25 Bristol Street); as it was visible from the railway line, this is in a more decorative style than the others.
The financial difficulties of the contractors JD & C Rigby, who undertook to build 300 cottages but only completed 130, delayed the completion of the village until the 1850s. The cottages to the west of Emlyn Square were built first (1842-1843), followed by those on the east side (1845-1847). The end blocks towards Emlyn Square, containing corner shops on the ground floor, were built in 1845-1847, and the remainder, mostly end blocks on the outer ends of the streets, were built in 1853-1855. In 1966, the local authority acquired the cottages from British Rail and restored them. The village is one of Britain’s best-preserved and architecturally most ambitious railway settlements.

Houses and surgery and flats, 1853-1854 for Great Western Railway Company. Limestone ashlar with black mortar. Brick rear walls. Two storey, nine bays. Low plinth, entrances in third and seventh bays; chamfered surrounds and straight bracketed hoods. Entry to rear in fifth bay; pointed segmental chamfered head. Windows with chamfered stone surrounds and four pane sashes, C20. Shouldered gables over first and ninth bays. Two-bay gabled return on Taunton Street, and to Exeter Street.

Listing NGR: SU1457984722

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26274468

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
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  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
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  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
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  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
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  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey