Digging up its secrets (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Digging up its secrets

The history and former glory of Lydiard Park are gradually being revealed as the undergrowth of ages is pulled away and restoration work begins.

Currently going through the early stages of a £5.3 million scheme to take the parkland back to its 18th century appearance, the estate is slowly giving up some of its long-buried secrets.

Now a series of activities has been announced which will give local people the chance to play a part in the historic project.

"Given the number of enquiries about volunteer opportunities, particularly in respect of archaeology, the council has decided to run a programme of activities with Wessex Archaeology," said park project officer Sarah Finch-Crisp.

Tours, public and talks and open days have already been planned for next month. And people will also have the chance to get down and dirty on a dig.

Volunteers have already made their mark in clearing away scrub and dead wood from the castellated dam wall and around the lake.

"A sunken path, that was once lined with yew trees running down to the lake, can be seen clearly now and steps to the boat house are also visible," Ms Finch-Crisp said.

An initial £430,000 funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund is being used to pay for the detailed design and surveying before the main restoration work gets underway. The borough council has contributed another £45,000 and RWE Innogy, the main business partner in the scheme, has provided £70,000 for the initial planning and development work.

"The work being undertaken this year will underpin the planned restoration for which the council will apply to the fund for a further £3 million in 2005," she said.

"The funding has allowed the council to appoint Nicholas Pearson Associates to undertake the highly specialised restoration programme.

"Their task is to decided exactly how the restoration of principal park features like the great lost lake, dam wall, ornamental walled flower garden, avenues and vistas can be achieved."

NPA, which is providing a project team of experts in historic landscape architecture, conservation, structural engineering, lake works and horticulture, was the firm responsible for drawing up the restoration and development plan for the park. Its work formed the basis of the council's application for a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The NPA's team is led by landscape architect Simon Bonvoisin, who oversaw the restoration of Hestercombe Gardens in Somerset and Trebah Gardens in Cornwall.

Hestercombe, which is the headquarters of Somerset Fire Brigade, was awarded a £3.7 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant towards a £5.5 million, five-year restoration and development project.

Energy suppliers RWE Innogy, based at Swindon's Windmill Hill business park, is also working alongside Ms Finch-Crisp providing management and engineering skills as well as funding.

The five-year project hasn't always had an easy path. Only last year the lottery fund decided to delay a decision on a £4 million application by the council to finance it. According to the trustees there were concerns about the sheer scale of the plan.

But last December the council was told it had secured an initial £450,000 from the fund for the first year, with another £3 million to follow depending on how well work goes in the early stages. The council also pledged another £500,000 towards the later work.

The eventual aim is to restore Swindon's stately home to its former Georgian glory. That includes bringing back the 10-acre lake built in the 1740s, but drained in 1922 when the dam wall was breached. Over the years it gradually became more and more overgrown until it had all but disappeared.

All that remains of the kitchen garden is the wall that surrounds it.

In its heyday it would have been filled with fruit, vegetables and a huge variety of herbs to provide for the household. Now there is an expanse of grass.

Open to the public since 1955, the estate was actually bought for the town in 1943, thanks largely to the efforts of corporation town clerk David Murray John.

In the post-war period, huts on the estate helped to house hundreds of young families.

In earlier times, Lydiard Park was home to the St John family and many of their original furnishings and portraits are still preserved in the house, which is open to the public.

The surrounding land has always been popular with local people.

Around 250,000 of them take advantage of the green fields to play football, wander the woodland trails and watch the wide variety of wildlife each year.