ARTEFACTS from Swindon’s agricultural heritage are being thrown onto the scrap heap, it was discovered yesterday.

Around 20 agricultural implements and ploughs, some dating back to the 19th century, were spotted at Swindon Metal Recycling by a local heritage engineer.

The artefacts had been kept in storage at the site of Swindon’s Agricultural Museum at Coate. A New Year’s Eve fire destroyed much of the old building which was demolished in 2017.

Many of the objects survived intact and were being kept at the STEAM Hawksworth storage unit until the end of the month. Swindon council say that the majority of items have gone to new homes and only items of little monetary value and with not link to Swindon had been sold for scrap.

The enthusiast who verified the historic objects said: “They’re assets that belong to Swindon council tax payers. I know they didn’t want to pay for rent on the storage unit at Hawksworth but they could have offered them out to interested groups. They chose not to do that and now they’ve thrown them away, it’s really disgusting. Those items have been lost for ever now.”

“In my personal view they’re only worried about their grandiose heritage schemes when they can’t look after the heritage they’ve got. They need to buck their ideas up and not just try and sell it off or scrap it.

“The Conservatives who still control Swindon say that heritage is at the heart of their policies, well it’s a complete and utter lie. They’ve done nothing for heritage in Swindon, they haven’t supported it at all.”

The items included a red and yellow horse-drawn mower from c.1890, a steerage hoe from 1920 deemed to be in working order, a mangel crusher used to make fertilizer, as well as a carriage jack used to lift heavy train carriages for repair at Swindon’s historic Great Western Railway.

Mike Pringle, director of the Richard Jefferies Museum, who recently accepted around a dozen items from the former collection, said: “It just seems such a shame. To see historical artefacts literally going to the scrap heap is really hard to imagine. Knowing that they used to be in a museum. Swindon which needs so desperately needs more promotion of it’s heritage and we’ve lost the museum and the artefacts as well.”

“It’s not only Swindon that’s struggling with this, it’s museums all over the country at the moment. None of that makes it feel any nicer when these things go to the scrap heap. I have a funny feeling there will be a bit of outrage when people realise what’s happened.”

A Swindon Borough Council spokesman said: “These comments are extremely disappointing because our heritage team have worked tremendously hard to ensure that as many of the items available were found new homes.

“The individual in this case was able to express an interest in the items and, as a result, his organisation is now in possession of 12 items from the collection including two tractors from the former Agricultural Museum Store.

“Our agricultural curator has worked with specialist auctioneers, buyers, sellers, restorers and collectors across the country to try to find home for the items.  We have even given one item to a local pub and another is likely to go to a farm shop.

“We have offered items nationally, with first preference going to accredited museums, and the website referred to in the story is open to everyone, including members of the public. In total, there are eight different non-museums that are taking items from the Agricultural Museum Store.

“Any items that have been sent to metal recycling had little or no monetary value and also had no connection to Swindon. Any items with a Swindon provenance have gone to Swindon Museum and Art Gallery.”