ENRAPT history buffs heard tales of Swindon’s former faces at a tour of Radnor Street Cemetery.

Around a hundred people turned up on a rain-soaked Sunday afternoon for the packed Old Town cemetery tour.

They spent over an hour learning some of the stories of former residents now buried below ground in the Victorian graveyard.

Among them were James “Raggy” Powell, a rag-and-bone man, who around the time of the First World War donated the land upon which Savernake Street Social Hall now sits.

Irish-born Powell, who died in the 1930s, was good at his job - buying land and saving some of the precious junk that he was given and handing it to the town. He was awarded the "Freedom of Swindon" shortly after the First World War. 

Appropriately, until recently Powell's grave was within spitting distance of one of the cemetery's waste bins. 

Andy Binks, of Swindon Heritage, who organised the walk with Frances Bevan and Noel Beauchamp, said: "We've been doing this Radnor Street Cemetery walk for quite a few years. A lot of people want to know about the people who are buried in there." 

There are around 33,000 people buried in the small green space, described by Andy as "very tranquill". 

They include some of the town's "great and good", said Andy. "Men involved with the Mechanics Institute, people who organised the medical fund, individuals who designed and built things." 

He added: "Among the hundred people who came on the walk there were a good few who had connections to the people buried there." 

After the guided tour of the cemetery, visitors returned to the Savernake Street Social Hall for free tea and cake – baked by charity the Olive Tree Café.

Caroline Davies-Khan, chair of the Eastcott Community Association that manages the hall, said: “It was fantastic, a really positive day.

“This year we’re focussing on the heritage of the centre. It’s a really exciting year for us. There’s so much history, even in such a small area.”

The hall, which last year won a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, is running events throughout the year aimed at exploring the history of the area.

At the end of the year, volunteers will turn the hall into a “British restaurant” – recreating the government organised dinner clubs of the Second World War that aimed to help people save their food ration tokens.

For more, visit: www.facebook.com/SavernakeStreetSocialHall. The next cemetery walk will be held on Sunday, October 8.