Lechlade Road - Faringdon History Website

The Lechlade Road, one of the roads that made Faringdon the important five-way road junction of the past, starts at the roundabout along Gloucester Street and Gravel Walk. Gloucester Street and Lechlade Road form part of the A417, an ancient trade route from Reading on the River Thames via Wantage and Faringdon to Lechlade, Cirencester and Gloucester.

Also see our house by house tour of Lechlade Road in the Year 2000.

See Faringdon Streets for an indexed list of all streets in Faringdon.

Views of Lechlade Road in the 1900s

1982. Lechlade Road at junction with Gravel Walk (left) and Gloucester Street (behind). Aunties Emporium at #1 (more below), then private houses, followed by the Duke of Wellington public house (closed 2012), Enterprise Garage at the BP sign (demolished 1988) then Faringdon Infant School on the corner of Canada Lane.

1995. The other side of Lechlade Road. Gloucester Street is to the right and Gravel Walk is behind. The building opposite the roundabout is #2 Renaissance Hair & Beauty Salon at this time. Later it was renamed Junction 3 and now called Coco Hair & Beauty Salon. Back in 1973 it was RAC Electrical. The entrance to #4 the Quaker Chapel is to the left of it.

1982. Lechlade Road looking back towards the junction with Gloucester Street and Gravel Walk. On left is the entrance to the Quaker Chapel at #4. The large showroom window on the right at #1 was originally the site of Arthur E. Baker & Sons (est. 1907 – to at least 1973), builders & decorators, blacksmiths, wheelwright, funeral directors, monumental masons, and private chapel of rest. The last blacksmith was Cecil Drew and the last mason was Ken Baker. It became a car showroom, then a pine furniture shop and finally an antique centre, Auntie’s Emporium. The next house #3 is the Llott family home at this time. The small building in between (see below) was once a small sweet shop run by the family.

There was also a business advertising fertilizers for sale and owned by W. Indge somewhere around here in 1919.

1920s. Back at this time, #3 was the Hunt family home. At the side of the house was the small sweet shop mentioned above. It was run by Mrs. Ruth Hunt and followed in 1948 by her daughter Hilda Llott (née Hunt). In the 1980’s, the shop was converted into a kitchen extension.

c1900. Outside the family business, Hunt’s Dairy (location as yet unknown). Ruth Hunt is third lady from the left in this photo, standing with the family’s horse and cart. Photos with thanks from Hilda’s daughter Sally Hamilton (née Llott).

Duke Of Wellington — On the left side of the Lechlade Road, The Duke of Wellington, near the beginning of the road and before the infants school. Closed 2012 and now a private house.

Lechlade Road3 1988 — 1988. Building on the site of the Enterprise Garage to the right of the Duke of Wellington pub.

Lechlade Rd Quaker Chapel 2000 — 2000. On the other side of the road is the Friends meeting house or Quaker Chapel at #4 Lechlade Road.

Lechlade Road5 1982 — 1982. Cottages opposite Duke of Wellington just beyond Quaker Meeting House, looking away from town.

Lechlade Road 1910 — c1910. Lechlade Road looking back towards the junction with Gloucester Street and Gravel Walk. Duke of Wellington on the right. Blind Alley is between the house and the hedge. The white roof is a carpenter’s workshop with saw pit inside and the black building is blacksmith’s shop – both demolished – now Aunties Emporium.

Lechlade Road3 1982 — 1982. Further up and looking back, the big tree is in the infant school grounds. Just past Canada Lane, which turns off to the right, is the Enterprise Garage (BP sign), just in front of the Duke of Wellington pub (tall building). The garage was demolished in 1988.

Lechlade Road4 1953 — 1953 Built in 1872, the British School, which at this time had become Faringdon Primary School on the right, looking back towards the junction with Gloucester Street and Gravel Walk. The small pointed roof on left is the Quaker Meeting House.

Lechlade Road Up 1953 — 1953. Further out of town, having risen steadily up the valley from the river at Lechlade the road climbs steeply on entry into Faringdon. Behind the wall on the left are fields belonging to Faringdon House. Garden allotments are on the right.

Two miles down the Lechlade Road there is a turning on the right to a small village on the banks of the River Thames called Eaton Hastings. A mile further, on the left is the entrance to Buscot House & Park, which is now owned by the National Trust. Another half mile, and on the right is the turning to Buscot village and Buscot Lock. These places were the subjects of an article in the Faringdon Advertiser 17th August 1962. Further on you cross St.John’s Bridge and arrive at the ancient riverside town of Lechlade.

Trade Adverts in Local Media

The following shops and businesses were advertising as Lechlade Road, Faringdon in the years stated:

AUNTIES EMPORIUM, antiques, 1 Lechlade Road, FCC 2006. #1
BAKER ARTHUR E., carpenter, wheelwright, undertaker, Lechlade Rd, est. 1907, FA 1914, 1915, FV 1972, 1973, FDS 1987, 1988, 1989 (Robert Baker), now Aunties Emporium. #1
COCO Hair & Beauty Salon, 2 Lechlade Road, Google 2021. #2
DUKE OF WELLINGTON, Lechlade Road, FDS 1988, 1989
ENTERPRISE GARAGE, R.A. Price, Lechlade Road, cars, service, FA 1931, FV 1972, 1973.
INDGE W., Lechlade Rd, fertilizers, FA 1919.
JUNCTION 3 Hair & Beauty Salon, 2 Lechlade Road, photo 2000, FCC 2006. #2
RAC Electrical, 2 Lechlade Road, electrical retailers, FV 1973. #2
RENAISSANCE Hair & Beauty Salon, 2 Lechlade Road, photo 1995, Google 2011??. #2

Media Key: FA = Faringdon Advertiser; FDS = Faringdon Dramatic Society; FV = Faringdon Venture; FF = Faringdon Folly; FCC = Faringdon Chamber of Commerce 2006.

Reference:

The Changing Faces of Faringdon and Surrounding Villages – Bk1 p18. By Rosemary Church, Jim Brown, Millie Bryan and Beryl Newman. Robert Boyd Publications. Now out of print.

Researched by Ian Lee, December 2019.