{"id":47002,"date":"2026-06-09T16:06:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=47002"},"modified":"2026-06-08T10:55:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T09:55:53","slug":"ihbc-features-heritage-from-the-doorstep-safety-fears-after-youths-break-into-historic-building-in-swindon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=47002","title":{"rendered":"IHBC features \u2018Heritage from the doorstep\u2019: Safety fears after youths &#8216;break into&#8217; historic building in Swindon"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Swindon_Mechanics%27_Institute#\/media\/File:Swindon-view.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"475\" src=\"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/500px-Swindon-view.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-47003\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/500px-Swindon-view.jpg 500w, https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/500px-Swindon-view-300x285.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-gray-color has-text-color has-link-color has-small-font-size wp-elements-1cd27b1d9e1357ecc3b54a18fe08f00d wp-block-paragraph\"><em>image for illustration:<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Category:GWR_Mechanics_Institute,_Swindon#\/media\/File:Swindon-view.jpg\"> Mechanics Institute, Swindon via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Major safety concerns have been raised after youths were seen allegedly trying to trespass inside a historic building in Swindon just a month after it was set on fire, <em>The Swindon Advertiser<\/em> reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><u>The Swindon Advertiser<\/u><\/em> writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Firefighters raced to the Mechanics&#8217; Institution at around 6:18am on Friday, April 10, following reports of a blaze&#8230; Days before the incident, there were reports of people entering the site and Wiltshire Police confirmed they were treating the fire as arson and appealed for anyone with information to contact them\u2026 since then, teenagers have been seen attempting to trespass into the derelict building and loitering in the vicinity of the Mechanics&#8217; Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The organisation looking to restore the Grade II listed building, Swindon Heritage Preservation, say an incident took place on Sunday, May 17\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A spokesperson for Wiltshire Police said that trespass is a civil matter and as it isn&#8217;t a criminal matter, it is not something they can investigate\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk\/news\/26117230.concern-youths-trespassing-historic-swindon-building\">Read more here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>image for illustration: Mechanics Institute, Swindon via Wikimedia Commons Major safety concerns have been raised after youths were seen allegedly trying to trespass inside a historic building in Swindon just a month after it was set on fire, The Swindon &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=47002\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[29,698,450,668],"class_list":["post-47002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ihbc-newsblog","tag-heritage","tag-historic-buildings","tag-ihbc","tag-listed-buildings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47002"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47004,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47002\/revisions\/47004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}