Thursday 2nd January 2014
Sue Clinch writes ~
Dear Danny,
We are looking into buying The Old Swan in Wylye, and wondered if you knew much about it, and had any photographs? It was converted from a pub to a house some time in the 1970s, and is now known as Old Swan Cottage.
Kind regards.
Danny Howell replies ~
It seems the Swan Inn at Wylye was in business from about 1840 (according to the Tithe Award for Wylye) and certainly appears in trade directories with a succession of landlords from that period onwards. The first reference I have to it in a trade directory is in Kelly’s 1848, when Giles Cornelius is listed as the landlord. Later landlords included: James Mead (1867); George Hayter (1875); George William Snook (1889); Samuel Herring (1899); and William Herring (1907). It was sometimes referred to by locals as The White Swan. It was originally a thatched building, as this photograph, taken in or before 1920 shows:
At about 8.40 p.m. on Thursday 6th December 1923, while the landlord Frederick Johnson and his customers were discussing an election that had been held that day, a fire broke out in a spare bedroom above the kitchen of the pub. Salisbury Fire Brigade were delayed by thick fog and didn’t arrive in Wylye until 10.35 p.m., by which time it was too late. The building was burnt almost to the ground, although the wooden sign outside was not even singed. The building was the property of Messrs. Mathews, brewers of Gillingham, and was valued at £3,000.
It was rebuilt and continued as a pub. The property was extended in 1936. I think the plans for the extension are in the Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office (History Centre) at Cocklebury Road, Chippenham (document reference W.R.O. G11/760/240.) The landlord of the Swan Inn, Wylye, in 1939, was Frederick Still. It seems the Swan closed circa 1975, when the construction of the Wylye Bypass would have undoubtedly led to a diminishment in passing trade.
If you want to purchase some pictures of the Swan, Julian Frost of Wylye Valley Postcards has five different views reproduced from old postcards in various sizes: 6″x4″ £1.50 each or four for £5, 7″x5″ £2.50 each or three for £7, 9″x6″ £3.50 each or three for £10, or 12″x8″ for £10 each.