Great West Way® Travel Magazine | Issue 01

The Scot was the brains behind the completion of the
canal, and its network of locks, which opened in 1810 and
meant that goods could be transported between London
and Bristol rather than by the often hazardous sea route.
Cross the border into Oxfordshire, close to the White
Horse at Uffington, and you’ll find Garrard’s Farmhouse
where poet John Betjeman (1906-1984) lived with his wife
Penelope between 1934 and 1945.
Knighted in 1969 and appointed Poet Laureate in 1972,
lines from his short poem, Uffington, were set into the
floor at London St Pancras station (which he helped save)
- “Imprisoned in a cage of sound/ Even the trivial seems
profound”.
The great diarist Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) is most
associated with the City of London, but he travelled widely,
hence a blue plaque in Marlborough, Wiltshire.
He stayed for a night with his wife at the Hart Inn in
1688 after a tour of the West Country. The inn no longer
exists, but a plaque can be found on the north side of the
High Street next to a doorway. He wrote: “Before night,
come to Marlborough, and lay at the Hart; a good house,
and a pretty fair town for a street or two...”
The London to Bristol route via Bath through Wiltshire,
was described by Pepys as one of England’s finest coaching
routes. You’ll find the town of Swindon about 12 miles
from Marlborough. Home to the “Magic Roundabout”
(which features five mini-roundabouts arranged around a
sixth central, anticlockwise roundabout), it was also the
birthplace of actress Diana Dors, who was seen as the
British Marilyn Monroe back in the 1950s.
Born Diana Mary Fluck, she died in 1984 aged 52 and a
blue plaque celebrating her can be seen at 61 and 62 Kent
Road SN1 - once the Haven Nursing Home.
The market town of Chippenham is 10 minutes west of
Swindon by train. Before you leave the station, walk over to
a nondescript single-storey building in the forecourt where
you’ll see a plaque commemorating Isambard Kingdom
Brunel - the creator of the Great Western line. The building,
which is still in use today, was Brunel’s site office and its
styling echoes the original 1841 station.
There’s also a fascinating footnote to the history
of rock’n’roll in Chippenham because it was here that
American star Eddie Cochran (1938-1960) was killed when
the taxi carrying him from a show in Bristol crashed en
route to London.
Popular and hugely influential among fellow musicians,
his hits included Summertime Blues and C’mon Everybody.
His plaque at Rowden Hill (the scene of the accident), is
mounted on three stone steps, each inscribed with lyrics
from his posthumous UK No 1 - Three Steps To Heaven.
Head west by road via the A4 and you’ll come to the
picture postcard town of Bradford on Avon – home to
British Olympic gold medal winner Ed McKeever. The
35-year-old won the men’s 200m (K-1 200m) kayak sprint
“Nipper featured on hundreds of
millions of records produced by the
His Master’s Voice label for more
than a century.”
at the London 2012 games and the Royal Mail marked
his achievement with a special stamp and a gold-painted
postbox which can still be seen in The Shambles.
A 10-minute train ride takes you from Bradford on Avon
to Bath which was founded by the Romans as a thermal
spa and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Writer
Jane Austen (1775-1817) is arguably Bath’s best known
former resident, though she only lived in the city from
1801 to 1806. It did, however, provide the inspiration for
Northanger Abbey. You can see her bronze plaque at 4
Sydney Place.
There’s another bronze plaque a short walk away at 19
New King Street honouring astronomer William Herschel
(1738-1822). Born in Hanover, he migrated to Britain at
the age of 19 and was later joined by his sister Caroline
(1750–1848) - also a noted astronomer.
It was from this house, using a telescope of his own
design, that he discovered the planet Uranus in 1781. Their
former home is now the site of the Herschel Museum of
Astronomy.
The last leg of our Great West Way blue plaque tour
takes us to Bristol where Hollywood movie legend Cary
Grant (1904-1986) was born Archibald Alec Leach. The star
of North by Northwest and To Catch a Thief is celebrated in
the biennial Cary Grant Comes Home Festival in Bristol and
his blue plaque can be found at 15 Hughenden Road where
he was born.
Finally, we celebrate one of the most recognised dogs in
the world. Known as the HMV dog, Nipper the terrier cross
was painted sitting with his ear to a wind-up gramophone
and featured on hundreds of millions of records produced
by the His Master’s Voice label for more than a century.
Head to the corner of Park Row and Woodland Road BS1 to
see a blue plaque devoted to Nipper (1884-1895) and his
master Mark Berraud.
18 GreatWestWay.co.uk