In 1955 one English stately home was demolished every five days. Properties commissioned by the military during the Second World War were returned to the owners in a neglected, and sometimes, irreparable state and an estimated 1,000 of these once elegant properties were lost between 1945 and 1955.
But due to Swindon’s visionary Town Clerk David Murray John and the commitment of Swindon Corporation, the dilapidated Lydiard House was saved for the people of Swindon.
The Lydiard Revealed exhibition recently opened in Lydiard House reminds visitors of the scale of the task undertaken by the local authority throughout the 1940s, 50s and into the 1960s. The exhibit showcases the story of the survival of Lydiard House in photographs and remarkable, rarely seen objects.
Lydiard House is open Wednesday-Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.