In 1876 Gooch and Armstrong’s expansion of the railway works had ensured that it really was the “go ahead present” – the recession had passed Swindon by.

In the new works the GWR was content with Joseph Armstrong’s stewardship and Sir Daniel Gooch was sitting comfortably at the head of the boardroom table.

He had ensured that any new housing requirements for workers had been taken care of, when he Armstrong and Samuel Carlton, RL White and William Ellis had formed The Swindon Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society.

For the last 10 years or so this society had been able to fund the expansion of New Swindon housing.

As a burgeoning town it had long passed Old Town and as it was blossoming into a real community.

Though the GWR had now provided housing for its workers, it still kept to its Methodist work ethic and did not want its workers spendings their wages as quickly as they earned them.

It sold almost 17 acres of land it owned, known as Great Culvery Field, to the Swindon Permanent Building Society for £4,250.

It was divided into 180 plots and The GWR encourage workers to buy shares and save in the society so that they could buy their own house on this grand development just south of Swindon station.

This inducement was a great success as workers realised they could afford to buy their houses as an alternative to renting and, in the long run, would be better off.

This was a real bargain as the brick-built properties had piped water and piped sewage.

They also had three bedrooms and had a copper in the scullery for washing clothes, along with a large range for cooking on. And they were cheaper to buy than rent.

There were also shops and a pub, the Great Western Hotel.

It was built for the Arkell family and designed by Lansdown. Apart from the pub, all the buildings on this estate were later demolished to build office blocks.

The Oxford Building Company got in on the act and built on a field to the east of the development known as Briary Close. They had 108 plots laid out on a four street principle named after Oxford Colleges.

Merton Street contained larger houses and Mill Street and Haydon Street were slightly smaller. Despite all of this there was still chronic overcrowding in New Swindon and no matter how loud the cry for more bricks and mortar, it never seemed enough!

Just like the railways had done one day there was a field, the next railway tracks, Swindon was the same, one day a field, the next day a street was being laid out.