Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Enhancement on 23/04/2020

SU 1484 NE
6/85

SWINDON
EMLYN SQUARE
No. 16, Former Bakers Arms Public House

(Formerly listed as No. 16 (Bakers Arms Public House))

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.

Former public house, 1845-1846 for Great Western Railway Company. Coursed limestone rubble with ashlar quoins. Slate roof. Three storey corner block with three bays to Bathampton Street and one-bay to Emlyn Square. Pair of glazed doors on splayed corner, and C20 moulded windows to ground floor. Sixteen- and eight-pane casements to upper floors. Similar to No. 15 Emlyn Square (q.v.) but without gable to Bathampton Street or on corner splay.

Listing NGR: SU1452584787

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26274471

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

• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)