Swann History - Places of interest in Stevenage, England:-
(Also see the Stevenage Photographs Page)

Updated 2001/10/21 at 17:56:48 (Eastern Australian time).

1. STEVENAGE (South of Cambridge)

Stevenage is two towns in one. The new town was begun about 1950 as a planned community (like Canberra) despite the opposition of the people who lived in the old town. What you want to find is the old town which is buried in the suburbs of the new town.

When traveling along the A1(M) there are at least two main exits to Stevenage (one south, and one north of where you want to go). The basic navigation principles are:-
1. The A1(M) and the railway run north/south. Everything you want is east of the A1(M);
2. The new Town Centre and the Old Town are also east of the railway line;
3. The Old Town is north of the New Town.
4. St. Nicholas' is on the corner of Rectory Lane and Weston Road , NE of the old town.
5. Two other properties of interest are north of the Old Town, but west of the Railway Line.
(i.e. between the A1(M) and the Railway line). Olive's father lived here while Bob & Cicely were born nearby.

I suggest you get a map (Click here), because it is almost impossible to describe how to get to each place of interest. The best thing is to follow any "Town Centre" signs, (this will get you to the new town centre) then purchase a map. Make sure the map shows the one way system of roads in the old town.

What to find:

Old Town, High Street. About halfway along the High Street, a pedestrian lane splits off to the right and parallels the High St. This is called Middle Row. If you walk north along this lane you will come to an Oxfam shop (on the right) on the corner of Middle Row & Baker St.. Turn right into Baker St., look at the second building on the left-hand side of the lane (the one with three second story gable windows). I am fairly sure this is where Sidney, Olive, Bob & Cicely lived when Molly was born. Molly may have been born here - I don't know. Sidney may have operated a small business from this shop. The upstairs rooms are very small with steep pitched ceilings. The supports and beams for the roof are so low an adult has to crouch down to get under them when moving about the room.

The duplicated sheets written in 1978 contain an error:- The Oxfam shop was not "Buckingham Palace" and Olive & Sidney did not live there. However, Olive used to say they "lived behind Buckingham Palace". It turns out the building on the opposite corner to Oxfam (now a hairdressers) was a hotel called the "Palace" and the landlord at the time was "Buckingham" - hence the local name. So, Olive & Sidney did live behind Buckingham Palace - down this lane.

Further north along High Street (you can't drive directly there from the south because all traffic is sent left) you will come to a place called the "Bowling Green" . Just past this on the right you will see a large white building. I believe Sidney worked as a carpenter in the yard at the back of this place.

Somewhere in Stevenage, Sidney had the accident that cut off the fingers of his right hand, ultimately causing his young family to migrate to Australia.

Now you need to cross to the west side of the railway line (but you need a map).

Once you have crossed the line, head north (parallel with the railway line) along "Fairview Rd" . Not long after going under a bridge "Fairview Rd." becomes "Fishers Green Rd". (By the way, the railway signal box where William Pinn worked was located just where this bridge is now.)

You will then come to a short dead end road (on your left) called "Bournemouth Rd." Olive and Sidney lived in this street when Bob & Cicely were born. Bob took a photo of the house in 1956 but it had been demolished and replaced by 1978.

Keep going along Fishers Green Rd and just before the intersection with "Clovelly Way", is the house where Olive's father (William Pinn) lived. The house is still there, opposite a park called Fishers Green (with a board giving the history of the area). The house was originally three residences and William Pinn and his family lived in the one on the right hand end. It was called "West Cottage".

In 1956 the place was dilapidated, but had been restored by 1978 and is now two residences (the middle one was added to Bill's old home) with a garage added to the left hand end. It has a garden containing a number of pines in the front. In 1978 we met the man who had lived in the left hand residence all his life - and he said he could remember "Old Bill" but thought he had no children.

Discussion on churches; At the southern end of the High Street is a is a church the "Holy Trinity". Sidney & Olive may have been married here in 1903 (it seems they are not recorded as being married at St Nicholas'). This conjecture is based on the fact that Bob Swann's 1956 photographs of Stevenage seemed to be exclusively connected to family history - and this church was in the collection. (Nearby is hotel with the name "Swann" somewhere in the name but it has nothing to do with us.) However:- Cicely wrote some time later that her mother (Olive) walked about a mile to church along a long avenue of big trees. An examination of a map of Stevenage shows "The Avenue" running ENE from the "Bowling Green" to St Nicholas church. We now (September 2001) know that Cicely, Joyce, Robert and Molly were all baptized at St Nicholas' and Emma (Olive's mother) and Joyce are both buried at St Nicholas'. William Pinn (Click here) is not buried in the cemetery near St. Nicholas'.

2. TEMPSFORD, is about 20 miles NNW of Stevenage on the very busy A1, past Biggleswade and Sandy. It is now a small and run down collection of buildings with difficult access from the A1. Olive (Click here) was born in the small village of Tempsford, County Bedford, in 1882. Her father was a signalman on the railway. Her mother was Emma Louisa Edmonds.

 Kevin Swann