Clayton Walter Joyce was born in Moredon in 1863 the second son of Charles Joyce, a mason and builder, and his wife Pamela. Clayton started work in the GWR Works and when he married Emily Jones in 1888 he stated that his occupation was that of mechanic. But inevitably he went into the building trading, working as a bricklayer from at least 1891.
In 1925 Clayton began work on properties in Telford Road, Rodbourne Cheney. He built two bungalows both completed in 1926. That same year he built a bungalow for Mr Keene and began work on a house and shop completed in 1927. In 1927 he went on to build four bungalows, one for Miss Perry, one for Mr Walker and two for Mr G. Mabberley, the man who commissioned his first build in 1925. In 1928 he built a bungalow (nearest shop) and then in 1932 another bungalow in Telford Road for Mr A.J. Thorne in the recently renamed Cheney Manor Road.
This image is published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library from the Ordnance Survey Revision Point series of photographs. Could this be one of Clayton Joyce’s bungalows?
By the 1920s Telford Road in Rodbourne Cheney had become a desirable residential area. Builders active in the area include Tydeman Bros who built a house for Mr Keefe in 1928. Our friend James Hinton (who owned the land on which the cemetery was laid out) was also busy in the area and had been for sometime, according to an entry in Architects and Building Craftsmen with Work in Wiltshire Pt 2., James Hinton – Swindon Telford Road, Harcourt Road, Cobden Road, Ferndale Road, new streets and back roads 1905.
Another view of Cheney Manor Road courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library. Could the bungalow on the right be a Clayton Joyce build?
In 1928 the Swindon Borough boundary was extended to incorporate Rodbourne Cheney and Telford Road was renamed Cheney Manor Road.
Clayton’s wife Emily died in 1925 and was buried on January 31 in grave plot D210. At the time of the 1939 census Clayton was living with his son and his family at 9 Suffolk Street. He died at Ogbourne Hospital in 1945 aged 82 and was buried with Emily on February 7.
Radnor Street Cemetery 