Brief History of St Saviour's Church

On 20 August 1889 the Vicar and Churchwardens of St Mark's purchased seven plots of land on the east side of a newly formed road, called Ashford Road, for the sum of £100.  However the owner of the land, Mr William Sheppard stipulated in writing that he was foregoing the actual payment of the money.  On Whitsunday, 9 June 1998, the Vicar preached a sermon with the text of "Build me an ark": he pointed out that there were no funds to build a new church, and suggested that the men of St Mark's and its District Church of St John's should themselves erect a wooden building, working as volunteers in their spare time.

The future first Anglican Bishop of Korea removed the first shovel of earth and on 12 August 1889 the foundation stone was laid.  The date of 11 January 1890 was set for the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol for the Licensing and Dedication of the church, which as it was a temporary structure could not be consecrated.  There was a meeting  at which it was finally decided that, as the church was to be opened immediately after Christmas, there could be no more suitable name than that of St Saviour, the opening and dedication coming in a season when the minds of many would be full of the thought of the birth of the Saviour of the world.  In May 1904 it was decided that the building should be replaced by a larger church, built on the existing site.

In 1983 the Church was licensed for weddings.

For further reading see:

"Build Me an Ark" A history of St Saviour's Church in Ashford Road, Swindon (1890-1996) by Frederick Fuller, published 1996 by Crossfire Publishing, printed by Swindon Press Ltd