Golden Lion/ Regent Street Bridge

Image credit: Swindon Library
Historic Map

Our next stopping off point is the famous Golden Lion Bridge, there is so much to say about this bridge that it would make a story all of its own

The first Bridge was built out of wood in 1800 to connect two muddy fields and was called Bridge Lane, later Bridge Street, one end of which joined Fleet Way which later became Fleet Street, the second was built by the old town traders in 1863 at a cost of £600 and was very ornate, before this most of the shops were on the Bridge Street side of the canal, which had not only shops in it but also three places of worship and seven pubs

The bridge itself had to be wound up and down by two men one on each pillar, but one of the pillars started to slip into the canal and it had to be closed down again after just nine months for repairs, the third and undoubtedly the most famous was the beautiful pedestrian bridge built it was said so the factory workers could not claim to be late because the bridge was up, this Bridge cost £94 to construct and would you believe it when they pulled it down no one knows what happened to it

For those who do not know the Golden Lion name came from the public house close by, with a Golden Lion itself was over the top of the entrance to the door, this Pub closed its doors for the last time on March the 15th 1956

It was the tradition in those days to name pubs after heraldic Shields thus in Britain we have many Red Lions and white lions but few golden lions, the Golden Lion was the crest on the shield held by Richard the lionheart of England who it is said added the third lion laying down on the top of his shield so that his men could pick him out in battle

The lion we see here today is not the original one that was taken down from the top of the pub, when the tram lines were repaired, someone noticed that each time a tram went by the lion wobbled, so he was put on the ground and he was surrounded by a fence, some say the fence was to stop children from sitting on his back and pulling his ears, but I prefer to believe it was to stop that lion from escaping

During the second World War the railings were removed for the war effort, then sometime later the lion himself was taken away by the council and put into storage, in the winter of 1963 that was the big freeze, someone decided that poor old lion might get cold so they put a tarpaulin in over the top of him and they tied it down, that line had stood up to everything that the weather could throw at him for over a hundred years, but he could not stand sweating under that tarpaulin and when it was removed many months later the stone had crumbled and his nose his ears and his feet had all fallen off, our lion was dead

When the Brunel was built it was thought a good idea to get another Golden Lion and put in his place, on February 25th 1977 the new lion was unveiled to Mark the Queen's silver jubilee and a teacher of a local school came up the idea of his class putting a box of all the things they used to use underneath the lion for him to protect, what will they find in that box I wonder when the lion is next removed

Narrator - Roy Cartwright