Tag: Holy Rood

The Goddard family tomb and Swindon’s first ‘modern’ burial ground

As we put our heads together to plan our cemetery walks for 2025 we hope to make a return visit to the churchyard at Holy Rood Church where burials pre-date those at Radnor Street by more than 700 years…

The Goddard family were Lords of the Manor of Swindon for more than 350 years but you won’t find any of them buried in Radnor Street Cemetery.

The Goddard family home was set in extensive parkland with spectacular views across the Wiltshire country side. Until the early 19th century the property was known as Swindon House after which it received a bit of a makeover and was renamed The Lawn. The family worshipped in the neighbouring parish church where Richard Goddard Esquire was buried on May 20, 1650 according to the wishes expressed in his Will that his body was ‘to be interred and buryed in the parish church of Swindon.’

The ancient parish church closed to general worship in 1851 after which most of it was demolished leaving only the chancel, the 14th century arches, a few chest tombs and the Goddard family tomb.

The Goddard family vault stood beneath the floor of the North Chapel. When this was demolished a mausoleum was built above it. Today the Goddard family tomb is a Grade II listed monument described as made of limestone with sandstone panels and built in the Gothic revival style. In his book The Story of Holy Rood – Old Parish Church of Swindon published in 1975, Denis Bird confirms that the Goddard tomb dates from around 1852 and was constructed on the site of the north chapel. Exposed to the elements and random acts of vandalism during its 169 year history, today the plaques on the side of the tomb are difficult to read.

Following the construction of Christ Church the ruins of Holy Rood came under the watchful eye of the Goddard family. Although the churchyard closed to new burials, interments in existing family graves continued for some years. A drawing dated c1800 shows the churchyard contained numerous headstones. Sadly, these were all repositioned in 1949 and arranged around the churchyard wall.

The last Lord of the Manor to live at The Lawn, Fitzroy Pleydell Goddard died at the family home on Friday August 12th 1927. Major Fitzroy Pleydell Goddard’s dying request was that his funeral service be as simple as possible and that he wished to be buried in a “plain elm coffin made from timber grown on my estate.” The Major’s funeral took place on Monday August 15 at 8pm. Swindon Advertiser headlines read ‘Interred at Sunset’ and ‘Large Attendance.’ As requested the Major’s coffin was made from one of his trees, cut down in Drove Road during road widening work. Covered by a Union Jack flag the coffin was carried from The Lawn to the Parish church on a handbier where Canon C.A. Mayall and Dr. R. Talbot, the Archdeacon of Swindon conducted a simple service in Christ Church. The congregation was estimated to number in the thousands as Swindon marked the end of an era.

The last member of the family to be buried in the Goddard tomb was Charles Frederick Goddard, Rector of Doynton, Gloucestershire who died on May 11, 1942 and is buried alongside his parents Ambrose Lethbridge and Charlotte Goddard.

Bird writes: ‘To say that ten thousand people may have been buried here may be no exaggeration, for although the population of early Swindon may have numbered no more than a few hundred souls at any one time, it was here that nearly all found their last resting place, generation after generation, for perhaps more than 700 years.’

The churchyard at Holy Rood, Swindon’s first ‘modern’ burial ground.

The view from the Goddard mansion in the Lawn.

The Goddard family tomb

A corner of the churchyard and the repositioned headstones

Jessie H. Goddard – animal lover

This photograph was published in Swindon in Old Photographs collected by The Swindon Society in 1988. The pet tombstones were discovered in the grounds of the Goddard family home The Lawn, but it is unlikely they will be there now.

Jessie Henrietta Goddard was born in 1850 at the London home of Ambrose Lethbridge Goddard and his wife Charlotte. She was baptised in Swindon on June 7, 1850 in the old parish church of Holy Rood during a service to bless the building of the new one, Christ Church.

Charlotte Goddard died in 1904 and following a lifetime devoted to her mother, Jessie moved into Tollington House, Faringdon where she would spend her last years surrounded by her pets.

But, the instructions in her will may seem at odds with her reputation as an animal lover.

‘My dogs Jill and Gem, to be put to sleep when I die, and buried with me if possible.’ She added:- ‘I should like Mr Crundell to come and put to sleep my pony Kitty, and my dogs Jill and Gem and Jasper, if he is still here.’

Perhaps Jessie feared for the future of her much loved pets after her death. Who would take care of them? Would they pine for their mistress – perhaps they too were elderly.

Jessie was buried on September 23, 1920. Whether her beloved dogs were buried with her is not known.

Jessie is pictured here with her parents and her four brothers published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.

Sudden Death of Miss Goddard

We deeply regret to announce the death of Miss Jessie Henrietta Goddard, which took place with most painful suddenness at her residence, Tollington House, Faringdon, early on Sunday morning. It was the custom of Miss Goddard, who was a great lover of animals, to rise early in the morning and tend to the needs of her pets, often before the rest of the household was astir. On Sunday morning it was noticed that she had not performed her customary duties and about 8 o’clock, the maids having heard no movement upstairs, entered her room and were horrified to find their mistress lying dead on the floor in front of the bedroom window, which she had evidently been in the act of opening when seized with heart failure, which must have proved instantly fatal. Medical aid was sent for but Dr. Dornford, who was quickly in attendance, pronounced life to have been extinct for about two hours.

Miss Goddard, who was the daughter of Mr Ambrose Lethbridge Goddard, J.P., of “The Lawn,” Swindon, had resided at Tollington House for the past fifteen years and was held in high esteem by a large circle of friends. She was a great lover of nature and besides her animal pets, took a keen and personal interest in her garden, where it gave her much pleasure to welcome her friends and neighbours. A few years ago she took an active and practical interest in the advancement of the effort to encourage home industries, a movement, which it is to be feared, has not materialised, as she, for one would have wished.

The funeral took place at Swindon on Thursday afternoon, when the remains were laid to rest in the family vault in the Old Churchyard, which immediately adjoins the family residence, in the company of numerous relatives and friends.

Extracts from The Faringdon Advertiser, Saturday, September 25, 1920.

There are no members of this branch of the Goddard family buried in Radnor Street Cemetery. They have their own mausoleum at the ancient Holy Rood Church.