Swindon house completely transformed by street art tribute to canal

Artists Ed Poster and Mickey Raw impressed William Street homeowner, Nick Underwood, so much with their work during the recent Swindon Paint Fest that he gave his entire house to them as a canvas.

The pair were responsible for the musical mural at the MECA during the weekend-long street art event held in the town center and parts of Rodbourne on October 15 and 16.

The full Wiltshire and Berks canal mural on the William Street, Swindon, home in all its glory (Image: Newsquest)

And now their latest work pays tribute to something a little closer to home as they have taken a historic canal bridge that used to exist as part of Wilts and Berks canal which ran through the centre of town, and has brought it to life on the front. 

The bridge, known as Skew Bridge, is still standing and is now part of South Swindon Parish Council's Green Trail. It was built in 1883 and is known as Skew Bridge because it crossed the canal at a skew.

The artwork has even attracted the attention of the current Wilts and Berks Canal organisation, which is trying to get the canal restored, and responded to a picture of the house posted on Facebook.

It said: "Let’s hope the real thing being restored isn’t too far away!"

Scaffolding goes up for new mural on Swindon home in William Street (Image: Newsquest)

This is the latest in a string of instances recently where street art is being used to brighten up dull buildings, rundown walls, and dim Swindon streets. 

Community art group The Redcliffe Collective took a neglected wall in Redcliffe Street, Rodbourne and, using a number of artists, created a fantastic railway mural and ode to the area. 

This was met extremely positively and spurred on the town's first-ever Paint Fest which saw several top muralists, street artists and graffiti artists descend on the town to create works of art in several places.   

Read More: Paint Fest: See some of the amazing street art painted across Swindon

Swindon Borough Council has even commissioned some artists to help cover up the hoardings around the Kimmerfields site.

A work in progress for new canal mural on William Street home, Swindon (Image: Newsquest)

Helen Salter, who is part of the Redcliffe Collective and helped launch Paint Fest in an effort to make Swindon a nicer place to live and encourage pride in the local area is thrilled at this latest piece.

"The ripple effect of the paint festival and other work in Rodbourne is starting to happen," she said.