History – Page 19 – Radical Stroud

“No Pasaran!”

by Stuart Butler | 14th October 2026 | Counter-Heritage, History, Walks | 0 Comments

“Where Are the Faces We Seek?” This extract from a contemporary poem gives a flavour of the 1930s. You’ll hear about the Means Test which was, in essence, a vicious attack on the unemployed living on the dole during the Great Depression when unemployment as a national average reached 25%. The extract shows how domestic and foreign policies were intertwined, ‘Where are the faces we seek, the British faces? Let the living answer the roll call of the dead … Where are those who tramping on Means Test marches Knew that the road they had taken against oppression Led to the front in Spain The shouts in Trafalgar Square of “No Pasaran!”’ Narration: The rise of Hitler in 1933 and his aggressive foreign policy led socialists and communists and liberals and men and women of all persuasions that a stand had to be taken when Franco led a fascist revolt against the democratically elected Spanish government in 1936. There was a belief that if fascism could be stopped in Spain, then that united front would show fascist powers such as Italy and Germany that war would not pay. In short, victory against fascist aggression in Spain could deter further wars. Working women and men, the unemployed and the intelligentsia began to make their way to Spain in the face of opposition and disapproval from British government. Many without passports walked the Pyrenees and made their way to the universal front that separated freedom from oppression and the rise of European fascism. The British government refused to heed the warnings from Spain. Ignoring German and Italian aggression in Spain,...

Blackbeard and Stonehouse

by Stuart Butler | Jun 24, 2025 | Events, History | 0 Comments

Blackbeard the Pirate and Stonehouse? (Edward Thache aka Blackbeard) When you next visit Stonehouse on the train, Take a walk down to beautiful St Cyr’s Church: Take a seat there by the Stroudwater Canal, And ponder on these intriguing questions: Could the Revd Thomas...

Sir Topham Hatt

by Stuart Butler | Jun 24, 2025 | Events, History | 0 Comments

Sir Topham Hatt (aka The Fat Controller) And Swindon 2025 sees the 80th anniversary of the first of the Rev Awdry’s stories that have become linked with Thomas the Tank Engine. The first story was entitled The Three Railway Engines: the tale of ‘Edward, Gordon...

19th Century Railway Investment

by Stuart Butler | Jun 24, 2025 | Events, History | 0 Comments

19th Century Railway Investment You can see the deceptive bounty Derived from West Indies plantations In classical, elegant Clifton, And the Regency spa splendour In the streets of Bath and Cheltenham: The honey-stone Age of Enlightenment, Sweet reason, proportion and...

Miles and Furlongs and Chains and Springs

by Stuart Butler | Jun 24, 2025 | Events, History | 0 Comments

Miles and Furlongs and Chains and Links and Springs Have you ever looked at the distance posts along the railway line from your carriage window or ever studied the measurements painted on a railway bridge? We all know what a mile is – but a chain? There are, as many...

Trainspotting

by Stuart Butler | Jun 24, 2025 | Events, History | 0 Comments

Do you remember that lazy afternoon? Back in August 1958? Well, I bloody well do mate. We were sitting on the bunker At the end of platform four, Just by the giant semaphore signal, When 5050 ‘The Earl of St Germans’ Came steaming, Brunswick green and brass dome...

Trains and Stroud Scarlet

by Stuart Butler | Jun 24, 2025 | Events, History | 0 Comments

Stroud, the Five Valleys and the Globe A painting from about 1785 shows Stroud scarlet cloth stretched out on tenterhooks in Rodborough Fields – these fields lie just beyond platform two. Stroud scarlet cloth links this area’s history with that of the world in...

« Older Entries

Next Entries »