Swindon
Encyclopedia
Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon
and ceremonial county of Wiltshire
, in South West England
. It is midway between Bristol
, 40 miles (64 km) west and Reading
, 40 miles (64 km) east. London is 81 miles (130 km) east. In the 2001 census, the population of the Swindon urban area was 155,432, while the wider borough of Swindon had a population of 184,000.
Swindon was named an Expanded Town under the Town Development Act 1952 and this led to a major increase in its population. Swindon railway station
is on the line from London Paddington
to Bristol. Swindon Borough Council, is a unitary authority
independent of Wiltshire Council
since 1997. Residents of Swindon are known as Swindonians. Swindon is home to the Bodleian Library's book depository, which contains 153 miles (246.2 km) of bookshelves.
as Suindune, believed to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon
words swine and dun meaning 'pig hill' or possibly, 'Sweyn's hill', where Sweyn would be the local landlord.
Swindon was a small market town, mainly for barter trade
, until roughly 1848. This original market area is on top of the hill in central Swindon, now known as Old Town.
The Industrial Revolution
was responsible for an acceleration of Swindon's growth. It started with the construction of the Wilts and Berks Canal
in 1810 and the North Wilts Canal in 1819. The canals brought trade to the area and Swindon's population started to grow.
chose Swindon as the site for the railway works he planned for the Great Western Railway
. Eastwards towards London, the line was gently graded, while westwards there was a steep descent towards Bath. Swindon was the junction for the proposed line to Gloucester
.
Swindon Junction station
opened in 1842 and, until 1895, every train stopped for at least 10 minutes to change locomotives. As a result, the station hosted the first recorded railway refreshment rooms. There were three storey
s to the station in 1842, with the refreshment rooms on the ground floor, the upper floors housing the station hotel and lounge. That building was demolished in 1972 and replaced by an office building with a single-storey
modern station under it.
The town's railway works were completed in 1842. The GWR
built a small railway 'village' to house some of its workers. People still live in those houses and several of the buildings that made up the railway works remain, although many are vacant. The Steam Railway Museum
and English Heritage
, including the National Monuments Record, now occupy part of the old works. In the village were the GWR
Medical Fund Clinic at Park House and its hospital, both on Faringdon Road, and the 1892 health centre in Milton Road - which housed clinics, a pharmacy, laundries, baths, Turkish baths and swimming pools - was almost opposite.
From 1871, GWR
workers had a small amount deducted from their weekly pay and put into a healthcare fund – its doctors could prescribe them or their family members free medicines or send them for medical treatment. In 1878 the fund began providing artificial limbs made by craftsmen from the carriage and wagon works, and nine years later opened its first dental surgery. In his first few months in post the dentist extracted more than 2000 teeth. From the opening in 1892 of the Health Centre, a doctor could also prescribe a haircut or even a bath. The cradle-to-grave extent of this service was later used as a blueprint for the NHS
.
The Mechanics' Institute, formed in 1844, moved into a building looking rather like a church and included a covered market, on 1 May 1855. The New Swindon Improvement Company, a co-operative, raised the funds for this path self-improvement and paid the GWR £40 a year for its new home on a site at the heart of the railway village. It was a groundbreaking
organisation that transformed the railway's workforce into some of the country's best-educated manual workers.
It had the UK's first lending library, and a range of improving lectures, access to a theatre and a range of activiies from ambulance classes to xylophone
lessons. A former Institute secretary formed the New Swindon Co-operative Society in 1853 which, after a schism in the society's membership, spawned the New Swindon Industrial Society that ran a retail business from a stall in the market at the Institute. The Institute also nurtured pioneering trades unionists and encouraged local democracy.
When tuberculosis
hit the new town, the Mechanics’ Institute persuaded the industrial pioneers of North Wiltshire to agree that the railway's former employees should continue to receive medical attention from the doctors of GWR
Medical Society Fund, which the Institute had played a role in establishing and funding.
Swindon's ‘other’ railway, the Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway
, merged with the Swindon and Cheltenham Extension Railway to form the Midland & South Western Junction Railway, which set out to join the London & South Western Railway with the Midland Railway
at Cheltenham
. The Swindon, Marlborough & Andover had planned to tunnel under the hill on which Swindon's Old Town stands but the money ran out and the railway ran into Swindon Town railway station
, off Devizes Road in the Old Town, skirting the new town to the west, intersecting with the GWR
at Rushey Platt
and heading north for Cirencester
, Cheltenham and the LMS
, whose 'Midland Red' livery the M&SWJR adopted.
During the second half of the 19th century, Swindon New Town grew around the main line between London and Bristol
. In 1900, Old Swindon, the original market town, merged with its newer neighbour at the bottom of the hill to become a single Swindon.
On 1 July 1923, the GWR took over the largely single-track M&SWJR and the line northwards from Swindon Town was diverted to Swindon Junction
station, leaving the Town station with only the line south to Andover and Salisbury. The last passenger trains on what had been the SM&A ran on 10 September 1961, 80 years after the railway's first stretch opened.
During the first half of the 20th century, the railway works was the town's largest employer and one of the biggest in the country, employing more than 14,500 workers. Alfred Williams (1877–1930) wrote about his life as a hammerman at the works.
The works' decline started in 1960, when it rolled out Evening Star
, the last steam engine to be built in the UK. The works lost its locomotive building role and took on rolling stock maintenance for British Rail
. In the late 1970s, much of the works closed and the rest followed in 1986.
David Murray John, Swindon's town clerk from 1938 until shortly before his death in 1974, had foreseen the decline of the railway works and, with colleagues, had worked to attract other employers to the town. The extent of their success can be judged from the list of current major employers. Swindon's tallest building is named after him
In February 2008 The Times
named Swindon as one of "The 20 best places to buy a property in Britain". Only Warrington
had a lower ratio of house prices to household income in 2007, with the average household income in Swindon among the highest in the country.
In October 2008 Swindon made a controversial move to ban fixed point speed cameras. The move was branded as reckless by some but by November 2008 Portsmouth
, Walsall
and Birmingham
councils were also considering the move.
, the third and final instalment in Swindon's 'Northern Expansion' project, which began with Abbey Meads and continued at St Andrew's Ridge. In 2002 the New Swindon Company was formed with the remit of regenerating the town centre, to improve Swindon's regional status. The main areas targeted are Union Square, The Promenade, The Hub, Swindon Central, North Star Village, The Campus and the Public Realm.
on 1 April 1997, following a review by Local Government Commission for England
. The town is therefore no longer under the auspices of Wiltshire Council.
The borough consists of parished and non-parished areas. Parished areas include Bishopstone and Hinton Parva, Blunsdon St Andrew, Castle Eaton
, Chiseldon
, Covingham, Hannington, Haydon Wick
, Highworth
, Inglesham, Liddington
, South Marston
, Stanton Fitzwarren, Stratton St Margaret
, Wanborough and Wroughton
.
The executive comprises a leader and a cabinet made up from the Conservative Group. The current makeup of the council as of the 2011 election
is:
Swindon is represented in the national parliament
by two MPs. Robert Buckland (Conservative) was elected for the South Swindon
seat in May 2010 with a 5.5% swing from Labour and Justin Tomlinson, also Conservative, represents North Swindon
after a 10.1% swing at the same election. Prior to 1997, there was a single seat for Swindon, although much of what is now in Swindon was then in the Devizes seat.
2001 Boundary Commission Changes:
NORTH SWINDON COUNTY CONSTITUENCY (67,106). Eleven wards of the Borough
of Swindon:- Abbey Meads, Blunsdon, Covingham and Nythe, Gorse Hill and Pinehurst,
Haydon Wick, Highworth, Moredon, Penhill, St Margaret, St Philip, Western.
SOUTH SWINDON COUNTY CONSTITUENCY (70,794). Eleven wards of the Borough
of Swindon:- Central, Dorcan, Eastcott, Freshbrook and Grange Park, Old Town and Lawn,
Parks, Ridgeway, Shaw and Nine Elms, Toothill and Westlea, Walcot, Wroughton and
Chiseldon. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pbc/review_areas/downloads/Wilts_Swindon_PR_PN.pdf
Swindon has a temperate
climate, with roughly equal length winters and summers. The landscape is dominated by the chalk hills of the Wiltshire Downs to the south and east. The hill that makes up what is known as Old Town consists of Purbeck and Portland stone; this was quarried from Roman times up until the 1950s. The area that was known as New Swindon is made up of mostly Kimmeridge clay with outcrops of Corrallian clay in the areas of Penhill and Pinehurst. Oxford clay makes up the rest of the borough. The River Ray forms the town's western boundary, including its tributary of the River Cole.
, about 9 miles (14.5 km) west south west of Swindon town centre. The weather stations elevation is 145 metres, compared to the typical 100 metres encountered around Swindon town centre, so is likely to be marginally cooler throughout the year.
The absolute maximum is 34.9c (94.8f) recorded during August 1990. In an average year the warmest day should reach 28.7c (83.7f) and 10.3 days should register a temperature of 25.1c (77.2f) or above
The absolute minimum is -16.0c (3.0f), recorded in January 1982, and in an average year 45.2 nights of air frost can be expected.
Sunshine, at 1565 hours a year is typical for inland parts in much of Southern England, although significantly higher than most areas further north.
Annual rainfall averages slightly under 720 mm (28 in) per year with 123 days reporting over 1 mm of rain.
It is forecast that there will be a 70,000 (38.9%) increase in Swindon's population by 2026 from the current 180,000, to 250,000. The ethnic make-up of the town was 95.2% white, 1.3% Indian and 3.5% other. 92.4% were born in the UK, 2.7% in the EU and 4.9% elsewhere.
The majority of Swindonians (70.3%) identify themselves as Christian
s. This is followed by those of no religion
(19.2%), Muslims
(1.0%), Sikhs
(0.6%), Hindus
(0.6%), other (0.2%) and Jews
(0.1%). In addition, 8.0% of people chose not to answer this question in the 2001 census.
Swindon is considered to be a microcosm of the whole United Kingdom in its demography. It has thus been used for market research purposes and trials of new products and services including the ill-fated Mondex
electronic money.
In May 2007, 65.3% of households in Swindon had broadband Internet access
, the highest in the UK, up 5.5% from June 2006.
A 2007 report by Endsleigh Insurance
says it was the second safest place to live in the UK after Guildford
, Surrey
. This was based on the number of insurance claims made and burglaries and accidents reported. Endsleigh said: "Swindon is a great example of where local authorities, working hand in hand with the community, have played a key role in bringing down crime."
base about 25 km (15.5 mi) north. Around 1950, some settled in Scotland and others in Swindon rather than stay in the barracks or hostels they were offered.
The 2001 UK Census found that most of the Polish-born people had stayed or returned after serving with British forces during World War II. Swindon and Nottingham were parts of this settlement. Data from that census showed that 566 Swindonians were Poland-born. Notes to those data read: ‘The Polish Resettlement Act
of 1947, which was designed to provide help and support to people who wished to settle here, covered about 190,000 people ... at the time Britain did not recognise many of the professional [qualifications] gained overseas ... [but] many did find work after the war; some went down the mines, some worked on the land or in steel works. Housing was more of a problem and many Poles were forced to live in barracks previously used for POW
s ... The first generation took pains to ensure that their children grew up with a strong sense of Polish identity.’
In 2004, NHS
planners devising services for senior citizens estimated that 5 percent of Swindon's population were not ‘ethnically British’ and most of those were culturally Polish.
The town's Polish ex-servicemen's club, which had run a football team for 40 years, closed in 2007. Barman Jerzy Trojan blamed the decline of both club and team on the children and grandchildren of the original refugees losing their Polish identity.
Major employers include the Honda of the UK Manufacturing
car production plant at an old Vickers factory site on the former World War II RAF base of South Marston, BMW
/Mini
(formerly Pressed Steel Fisher) in Stratton, mobile phone company Motorola
, Dolby Labs, international engineering consultancy firm Halcrow Group Limited
and retailer W H Smith
's distribution centre and headquarters. The electronics company, Intel, has its European head office on the south side of the town. Insurance and financial services companies such as Nationwide Building Society
and Zurich Financial Services
, the energy company RWE (which includes the well known retail brand npower
), the fuel card and fleet management company Arval
, pharmaceutical companies such as Canada's Patheon
and the United States-based Catalent Pharma Solutions and French Vygon have their UK divisions headquartered in the town. Swindon also has the registered Head Office of the National Trust
.
Swindon businesses include banks such as Barclays, Natwest, HSBC
, Lloyds TSB
and Handelsbanken
, all having a commercial presence. The town also has a number of professional legal firms such as Clarke Holt, Thring Townsend, Lemon & Co, together with accountants such as Dennis & Turnbull
and IT companies including Emnico Technologies and iSys Intelligent Systems.
Other employers include all but one of the national Research Council
s, the British Computer Society
, Alcatel-Lucent
, eCommerce provider Shopatron
, divisions of Tyco International
, consumer goods supplier Reckitt Benckiser
and a branch of Becton Dickinson
.
and the canal
s, into a transport hub. It has two junctions (15 and 16) onto the M4 motorway
and is on the ex-GWR main line to London.
Swindon bus operators are Thamesdown and Stagecoach.
The local council acknowledges the need for more car parking as part of its vision for 2010.
Swindon is one of the locations for an innovative scheme called Car share. It was set up as a joint venture between Wiltshire County Council
and a private organization which now has over 300,000 members registered. Despite the name, however, it is a carpool
or ride-sharing rather than a car share
scheme, seeking to link people willing to share transport.
s and there is a calendar featuring a different roundabout each month. The best-known is the 'Magic Roundabout
'. This is not one roundabout but five, the central point of which is a contra-rotational hub, on at the junction of five roads: (clockwise from South) Drove Road, Fleming Way, County Road, Shrivenham Road and Queens Drive. It is built on the site of Swindon wharf on the abandoned Wilts & Berks Canal, near the County Ground
. The official name used to be County Islands, although it was colloquially known as the Magic Roundabout and the name was changed in the late 1990s to match its nickname. The roundabout is the subject of the song "English Roundabout" from the album English Settlement
by local band XTC
. It has also been prominently featured in several TV shows, one notable example being the show Blue Peter.
Print
Swindon has a daily newspaper, the Swindon Advertiser
, with daily sales of about 21,000. Other newspapers covering the area include Bristol
's daily Western Daily Press
and the Swindon Advertisers weekly, the Gazette and Herald
. It's All About and 'The Local Buddy' (both no longer trading), The Wiltshire Ocelot (a free listings magazine), Swindon Star, Hungry Monkeys (a comic), Stratton Outlook, Frequency (an arts and cultural magazine), The Great Swindon Magazine, the Swindon Business News and The Swindon Link (for information on the goings on in Swindon).
and Heart Wiltshire in the commercial sector, with BBC Radio Wiltshire
as a publicly funded alternative. An AM
station, Classic Gold 936/1161
only includes local programming in the late afternoon. A new community radio
station was launched in March 2008, Swindon 105.5
, which is one of the only stations in Swindon to broadcast local content all week. Brunel FM
ceased broadcasting on the 24 March 2010 as it was one of five stations owned by YMC Ltd closed by administrators. Although a new radio station has since opened on the same frequency, 107.7 Total Star FM which in June 2011 rebranded to the current station More FM.
, a community television project run mainly by enthusiasts from the basement of a Radio Rentals
branch on Victoria Road. It was followed by the more commercial Swindon's Local Channel
, which included pay-per-view films. NTL (later Virgin Media
) took over the channel's parent company, ComTel, and closed the station.
Regional news programmes covering Swindon include Thames Valley Tonight
replaced by "Meridian Ton" for the second time in Feb 2009 and The West Tonight
from regional ITV1
stations and South Today (Oxford)
and Points West from BBC One
's regional variants.
and Swindon College
cater for the town's further education
and higher education
requirements, mainly for 16-21 year olds. Swindon College is one of the largest FE-HE colleges in southwestern England, situated at a purpose-built campus in North Star, Swindon.
in Swindon was established in 2000, with its Oakfield Campus in Walcot, east Swindon, although the campus has now closed.
Oxford Brookes University
's Ferndale site is based in Swindon, housing its School of Health and Social Care since 1999.
Swindon is the UK's largest centre of population without its own university (by comparison, there are two universities in nearby Bath, which is half Swindon's size). In March 2008, a proposal was put forward by former Swindon MP, Anne Snelgrove, for a university-level institution to be established in the town within a decade, culminating in a future 'University of Swindon' (with some touting the future institution to be entitled 'The Murray John University, Swindon', after the town's most distinguished post-war civic leader). In October 2008, plans were announced for a possible University of Swindon campus to be built in east Swindon to the south of the town's Great Western Hospital, close to the M4-A419 interchange. However, these plans are currently mothballed.
play at the County Ground
near the town centre. They have been Football League members since joining the then new Third Division
(southern section) in 1920, and won promotion to the Second Division
for the first time in 1963. They won their only major trophy to date, the Football League Cup
, in 1969 beating Arsenal
3-1, at Wembley Stadium
, and won the Anglo-Italian Cup
the following year. They won promotion to the First Division
in 1990, but stayed in the Second Division due to financial irregularities, only to reach the top flight (by then the Premier League) three years later. Their spell in the top flight lasted just one season, and then came a second successive relegation. A brief spite saw them promoted at the first attempt as champions of the new Division Two, but they were relegated again four years later and in 2006 fell back into the fourth tier for the first time since 1986, although promotion was gained at the first attempt. They were relegated again four years later. Notable former players of the club include John Trollope
, Don Rogers
, John Moncur
, Fraser Digby
, Steve White
, Duncan Shearer
, Paul Bodin
, Alan McLoughlin
, Paul Rideout
, Mike Summerbee
, Shaun Taylor
, Jan Åge Fjørtoft
and Phil King
. Notable former managers include Bert Head Danny Williams Lou Macari
, Ossie Ardiles, Glenn Hoddle
, John Gorman
, Steve McMahon
, Jimmy Quinn (a former player of the club), Colin Todd
, Roy Evans
(once former Liverpool manager), Andy King, Iffy Onoura (a former player of the club), Dennis Wise
and Paul Sturrock
.
The town also has two non league clubs: Swindon Supermarine F.C.
, playing in Southern League Premier Division, and Highworth Town F.C.
, based in Highworth
and playing in the Hellenic Football League
.
with two towns http://www.swindon.gov.uk/twintowns: Salzgitter
, Germany
, since 1975 Tampa
, USA Ocotal
, Nicaragua
, since 1990
As part of a competition run by Disney for 2010 Swindon had an official twinning with Walt Disney World Florida
, USA
, since 2009
by Mark Haddon
, and the Thursday Next
novels by Jasper Fforde
. Fforde's Thursday Next novels feature an alternative-universe Swindon that includes a parodic "Seven Wonders of Swindon". Robert Goddard's Into the Blue, Out of the Sun and "Never Go Back" feature the central character of Harry Barnett from Swindon, and all three novels start in the town. Terry Jones
, the former Monty Python
member gave Swindon a backhanded reference in one of the short stories in his 2011 collection, "Evil Machines
". The story "The Lift that Took People to Places They Didn't Want to Go" ends with the section "...But actually... the evil elevator hadn't changed at all. In fact it went on secretly taking people to places they didn't want to go. For every time the lift took the inhabitants of Swindon back down to the ground floor, they stepped out of the department store and onto the streets of Swindon, and so found themselves somewhere they didn't want to be."
Swindon (borough)
The Borough of Swindon is a local government authority in South West England. It is centred on the town of Swindon and forms part of the ceremonial county of Wiltshire...
and ceremonial county of Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, in South West England
South West England
South West England is one of the regions of England defined by the Government of the United Kingdom for statistical and other purposes. It is the largest such region in area, covering and comprising Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. ...
. It is midway between Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, 40 miles (64 km) west and Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
, 40 miles (64 km) east. London is 81 miles (130 km) east. In the 2001 census, the population of the Swindon urban area was 155,432, while the wider borough of Swindon had a population of 184,000.
Swindon was named an Expanded Town under the Town Development Act 1952 and this led to a major increase in its population. Swindon railway station
Swindon railway station
Swindon railway station is in the town of Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The station entrance is on Station Road, to the south of the line.It is approximately from the central bus station and the town centre...
is on the line from London Paddington
Paddington
Paddington is a district within the City of Westminster, in central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965...
to Bristol. Swindon Borough Council, is a unitary authority
Unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
independent of Wiltshire Council
Wiltshire Council
Wiltshire Council is the unitary authority for most of the county of Wiltshire, in the West of England, the successor authority to Wiltshire County Council and to four districts—Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury, and West Wiltshire—all of which had been created in 1973 and were...
since 1997. Residents of Swindon are known as Swindonians. Swindon is home to the Bodleian Library's book depository, which contains 153 miles (246.2 km) of bookshelves.
Etymology
The original Saxon settlement of Swindon sat in a defensible position atop a limestone hill. It is referred to in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
as Suindune, believed to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon
Old English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
words swine and dun meaning 'pig hill' or possibly, 'Sweyn's hill', where Sweyn would be the local landlord.
Industrial Revolution
Barter
Barter is a method of exchange by which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. It is usually bilateral, but may be multilateral, and usually exists parallel to monetary systems in most developed countries, though to a...
, until roughly 1848. This original market area is on top of the hill in central Swindon, now known as Old Town.
The Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
was responsible for an acceleration of Swindon's growth. It started with the construction of the Wilts and Berks Canal
Wilts and Berks Canal
The Wilts & Berks Canal is a canal in the historic counties of Wiltshire and Berkshire, England, linking the Kennet and Avon Canal at Semington, near Melksham, to the River Thames at Abingdon. The North Wilts Canal merged with it to become a branch to the Thames and Severn Canal at Latton near...
in 1810 and the North Wilts Canal in 1819. The canals brought trade to the area and Swindon's population started to grow.
Railway town
In 1840, Isambard Kingdom BrunelIsambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
chose Swindon as the site for the railway works he planned for the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
. Eastwards towards London, the line was gently graded, while westwards there was a steep descent towards Bath. Swindon was the junction for the proposed line to Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
.
Swindon Junction station
Swindon railway station
Swindon railway station is in the town of Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The station entrance is on Station Road, to the south of the line.It is approximately from the central bus station and the town centre...
opened in 1842 and, until 1895, every train stopped for at least 10 minutes to change locomotives. As a result, the station hosted the first recorded railway refreshment rooms. There were three storey
Storey
A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...
s to the station in 1842, with the refreshment rooms on the ground floor, the upper floors housing the station hotel and lounge. That building was demolished in 1972 and replaced by an office building with a single-storey
Storey
A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...
modern station under it.
The town's railway works were completed in 1842. The GWR
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
built a small railway 'village' to house some of its workers. People still live in those houses and several of the buildings that made up the railway works remain, although many are vacant. The Steam Railway Museum
Swindon Steam Railway Museum
STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway, also known as Swindon Steam Railway Museum, is located at the site of the old railway works in Swindon, England – Wiltshire's 'railway town'...
and English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
, including the National Monuments Record, now occupy part of the old works. In the village were the GWR
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
Medical Fund Clinic at Park House and its hospital, both on Faringdon Road, and the 1892 health centre in Milton Road - which housed clinics, a pharmacy, laundries, baths, Turkish baths and swimming pools - was almost opposite.
From 1871, GWR
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
workers had a small amount deducted from their weekly pay and put into a healthcare fund – its doctors could prescribe them or their family members free medicines or send them for medical treatment. In 1878 the fund began providing artificial limbs made by craftsmen from the carriage and wagon works, and nine years later opened its first dental surgery. In his first few months in post the dentist extracted more than 2000 teeth. From the opening in 1892 of the Health Centre, a doctor could also prescribe a haircut or even a bath. The cradle-to-grave extent of this service was later used as a blueprint for the NHS
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
.
The Mechanics' Institute, formed in 1844, moved into a building looking rather like a church and included a covered market, on 1 May 1855. The New Swindon Improvement Company, a co-operative, raised the funds for this path self-improvement and paid the GWR £40 a year for its new home on a site at the heart of the railway village. It was a groundbreaking
Groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are often attended by dignitaries such as politicians and...
organisation that transformed the railway's workforce into some of the country's best-educated manual workers.
It had the UK's first lending library, and a range of improving lectures, access to a theatre and a range of activiies from ambulance classes to xylophone
Xylophone
The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...
lessons. A former Institute secretary formed the New Swindon Co-operative Society in 1853 which, after a schism in the society's membership, spawned the New Swindon Industrial Society that ran a retail business from a stall in the market at the Institute. The Institute also nurtured pioneering trades unionists and encouraged local democracy.
When tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
hit the new town, the Mechanics’ Institute persuaded the industrial pioneers of North Wiltshire to agree that the railway's former employees should continue to receive medical attention from the doctors of GWR
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
Medical Society Fund, which the Institute had played a role in establishing and funding.
Swindon's ‘other’ railway, the Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway
Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway
The Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway was one of the constituents of the Midland and South Western Junction Railway. It received Parliamentary approval on 21 July 1873 and construction began in 1875 ....
, merged with the Swindon and Cheltenham Extension Railway to form the Midland & South Western Junction Railway, which set out to join the London & South Western Railway with the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
at Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
. The Swindon, Marlborough & Andover had planned to tunnel under the hill on which Swindon's Old Town stands but the money ran out and the railway ran into Swindon Town railway station
Swindon Town railway station
Swindon Town railway station was on the Midland and South Western Junction Railway at Swindon in Wiltshire. The station was sited in the Old Town area about one-and-a-half miles from the Great Western Railway's Swindon Junction.- History :...
, off Devizes Road in the Old Town, skirting the new town to the west, intersecting with the GWR
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
at Rushey Platt
Rushey Platt railway station
Rushey Platt railway station was on the Midland and South Western Junction Railway at Swindon in Wiltshire. The station opened on 18 December 1883 on the Swindon and Cheltenham Extension Railway line from to the temporary terminus at...
and heading north for Cirencester
Cirencester
Cirencester is a market town in east Gloucestershire, England, 93 miles west northwest of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswold District. It is the home of the Royal Agricultural College, the oldest agricultural...
, Cheltenham and the LMS
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
, whose 'Midland Red' livery the M&SWJR adopted.
During the second half of the 19th century, Swindon New Town grew around the main line between London and Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. In 1900, Old Swindon, the original market town, merged with its newer neighbour at the bottom of the hill to become a single Swindon.
20th century
Swindon railway station
Swindon railway station is in the town of Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The station entrance is on Station Road, to the south of the line.It is approximately from the central bus station and the town centre...
station, leaving the Town station with only the line south to Andover and Salisbury. The last passenger trains on what had been the SM&A ran on 10 September 1961, 80 years after the railway's first stretch opened.
During the first half of the 20th century, the railway works was the town's largest employer and one of the biggest in the country, employing more than 14,500 workers. Alfred Williams (1877–1930) wrote about his life as a hammerman at the works.
The works' decline started in 1960, when it rolled out Evening Star
BR standard class 9F 92220 Evening Star
British Railways Standard Class 9F number 92220 Evening Star, is a preserved British steam locomotive completed in 1960. It was the last steam locomotive to be built by British Railways. It holds the distinction of being the only British main line steam locomotive ear-marked for preservation from...
, the last steam engine to be built in the UK. The works lost its locomotive building role and took on rolling stock maintenance for British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
. In the late 1970s, much of the works closed and the rest followed in 1986.
David Murray John, Swindon's town clerk from 1938 until shortly before his death in 1974, had foreseen the decline of the railway works and, with colleagues, had worked to attract other employers to the town. The extent of their success can be judged from the list of current major employers. Swindon's tallest building is named after him
In February 2008 The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
named Swindon as one of "The 20 best places to buy a property in Britain". Only Warrington
Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
had a lower ratio of house prices to household income in 2007, with the average household income in Swindon among the highest in the country.
In October 2008 Swindon made a controversial move to ban fixed point speed cameras. The move was branded as reckless by some but by November 2008 Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
, Walsall
Walsall
Walsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...
and Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
councils were also considering the move.
21st century
In 2001 construction began on Priory ValePriory Vale
Priory Vale is a community within the Swindon ‘Northern Development Area’. It is made up of the villages Redhouse, Oakhurst and Haydon End. Although not strictly part of Priory Vale, the nearby village of Taw Hill completes this latest instalment in Swindon's northern expansion which began with...
, the third and final instalment in Swindon's 'Northern Expansion' project, which began with Abbey Meads and continued at St Andrew's Ridge. In 2002 the New Swindon Company was formed with the remit of regenerating the town centre, to improve Swindon's regional status. The main areas targeted are Union Square, The Promenade, The Hub, Swindon Central, North Star Village, The Campus and the Public Realm.
Governance
The local council was created in 1974 as the Borough of Thamesdown, out of Swindon Borough and Highworth Rural Councils. It was not initially called Swindon, because the borough covers a larger area than the town and encompasses villages and land. It was eventually renamed to Borough of Swindon in 1997, however. The borough became a unitary authorityUnitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
on 1 April 1997, following a review by Local Government Commission for England
Local Government Commission for England (1992)
The Local Government Commission for England was the body responsible for reviewing the structure of local government in England from 1992 to 2002. It was established under the Local Government Act 1992, replacing the Local Government Boundary Commission for England...
. The town is therefore no longer under the auspices of Wiltshire Council.
The borough consists of parished and non-parished areas. Parished areas include Bishopstone and Hinton Parva, Blunsdon St Andrew, Castle Eaton
Castle Eaton
Castle Eaton is a village and civil parish on the River Thames about northwest of Highworth. It is historically in Wiltshire but since 1997 has been part of Swindon unitary authority...
, Chiseldon
Chiseldon
Chiseldon is a village in the borough of Swindon, Wiltshire, England.The village lies on the edge of the Marlborough Downs, a mile south of junction 15 of the M4 motorway, on the A346 between Swindon and Marlborough...
, Covingham, Hannington, Haydon Wick
Haydon Wick
The Parish of Haydon Wick lies to the north of Swindon in Wiltshire, UK and has an estimated population in excess of 16,000, more than 13,950 of which are registered electors.-Government:...
, Highworth
Highworth
Highworth is a market town in the unitary authority of Swindon in Wiltshire, England, located about north-east of Swindon town centre. At the 2001 census it had a population of 7,996...
, Inglesham, Liddington
Liddington
Liddington is a village near Swindon in Wiltshire, England. The settlement lies south east of Swindon town, close to the M4 motorway, junction 15 of which is about 1.5 kilometres away via the B4192 - known as Purley Road where it passes through Liddington village.The parish as a whole has been an...
, South Marston
South Marston
South Marston is a village in north-east Wiltshire, England. The name Marston derives from the common English village name meaning marsh farm. It is part of the Borough of Swindon. Early in World War 2, a Ministry of Aircraft Production shadow factory and airfield were built for the Phillips &...
, Stanton Fitzwarren, Stratton St Margaret
Stratton St Margaret
Stratton St Margaret is a civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The parish covers north-eastern suburbs of Swindon including Stratton St Margaret itself along with Upper Stratton, Lower Stratton, Nythe and Kingsdown.-History:...
, Wanborough and Wroughton
Wroughton
Wroughton is a large village in Wiltshire, England. It is part of the Borough of Swindon and is south of Swindon.-History:The earliest evidence of human presence in the area is from the Mesolithic period, although this is fairly limited...
.
The executive comprises a leader and a cabinet made up from the Conservative Group. The current makeup of the council as of the 2011 election
Swindon Council election, 2011
The 2011 Swindon Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of Swindon Unitary Council in Wiltshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council....
is:
| Party | Councillors | |
| Conservative Party Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
38 | |
| Labour Party Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after... |
17 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 4 | |
Swindon is represented in the national parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
by two MPs. Robert Buckland (Conservative) was elected for the South Swindon
South Swindon
South Swindon is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
seat in May 2010 with a 5.5% swing from Labour and Justin Tomlinson, also Conservative, represents North Swindon
North Swindon
North Swindon is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is located in Wiltshire, South West England.-Boundaries:...
after a 10.1% swing at the same election. Prior to 1997, there was a single seat for Swindon, although much of what is now in Swindon was then in the Devizes seat.
2001 Boundary Commission Changes:
NORTH SWINDON COUNTY CONSTITUENCY (67,106). Eleven wards of the Borough
of Swindon:- Abbey Meads, Blunsdon, Covingham and Nythe, Gorse Hill and Pinehurst,
Haydon Wick, Highworth, Moredon, Penhill, St Margaret, St Philip, Western.
SOUTH SWINDON COUNTY CONSTITUENCY (70,794). Eleven wards of the Borough
of Swindon:- Central, Dorcan, Eastcott, Freshbrook and Grange Park, Old Town and Lawn,
Parks, Ridgeway, Shaw and Nine Elms, Toothill and Westlea, Walcot, Wroughton and
Chiseldon. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pbc/review_areas/downloads/Wilts_Swindon_PR_PN.pdf
Geography
The town has an area of approximately 40 km² (25.33 mi²).Swindon has a temperate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
climate, with roughly equal length winters and summers. The landscape is dominated by the chalk hills of the Wiltshire Downs to the south and east. The hill that makes up what is known as Old Town consists of Purbeck and Portland stone; this was quarried from Roman times up until the 1950s. The area that was known as New Swindon is made up of mostly Kimmeridge clay with outcrops of Corrallian clay in the areas of Penhill and Pinehurst. Oxford clay makes up the rest of the borough. The River Ray forms the town's western boundary, including its tributary of the River Cole.
- Nearby towns and cities: ChippenhamChippenham, WiltshireChippenham is a market town in Wiltshire, England, located east of Bath and west of London. In the 2001 census the population of the town was recorded as 28,065....
, Royal Wootton Bassett, CirencesterCirencesterCirencester is a market town in east Gloucestershire, England, 93 miles west northwest of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswold District. It is the home of the Royal Agricultural College, the oldest agricultural...
, CrickladeCrickladeCricklade is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in north Wiltshire in England, midway between Swindon and Cirencester.On 25 September 2011 Cricklade was awarded The Royal Horticultural Society's 'Champion of Champions' award in the Britain in Bloom competition.Cricklade is twinned with...
, HighworthHighworthHighworth is a market town in the unitary authority of Swindon in Wiltshire, England, located about north-east of Swindon town centre. At the 2001 census it had a population of 7,996...
, Marlborough, Malmesbury and CalneCalneCalne is a town in Wiltshire, southwestern England. It is situated at the northwestern extremity of the North Wessex Downs hill range, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.... - Nearby villages: AldbourneAldbourneAldbourne is a village and civil parish about northeast of Marlborough in Wiltshire, England. It is in a valley in the south slope of the Lambourn Downs, part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
, BadburyBadbury, WiltshireBadbury is a hamlet of the civil parish of Chiseldon in Wiltshire.There is evidence that in 955 King Eadred granted Badbury, then containing twenty-five hides, to Saint Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey. The manor of Badbury was held by the Abbey at the time of the Domesday book, when it was...
, BlunsdonBlunsdonBroad Blunsdon is a village in the Borough of Swindon, England, about north of Swindon itself.Together with the nearby villages of Blunsdon St Andrew and adjoining Lower Blunsdon, the settlement is usually known simply as Blunsdon...
, ChiseldonChiseldonChiseldon is a village in the borough of Swindon, Wiltshire, England.The village lies on the edge of the Marlborough Downs, a mile south of junction 15 of the M4 motorway, on the A346 between Swindon and Marlborough...
, HookHook, WiltshireHook is a small village in England between the town of Royal Wootton Bassett and the village of Purton, just north of the M4 motorway.The village is linked to the large town of Swindon by a congested single-track road that's often used as a 'rat-run' by rush-hour commuters....
, LambournLambournLambourn is a large village and civil parish in the northwestern part of the ceremonial county of Berkshire in England. Its metropolitan district has a population of 4,017, and is most noted for its associations with British National Hunt racehorse training....
, LiddingtonLiddingtonLiddington is a village near Swindon in Wiltshire, England. The settlement lies south east of Swindon town, close to the M4 motorway, junction 15 of which is about 1.5 kilometres away via the B4192 - known as Purley Road where it passes through Liddington village.The parish as a whole has been an...
, Lydiard MillicentLydiard MillicentLydiard Millicent is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about west of the centre of Swindon.The village has a primary school and a parish hall and recreation field...
, PurtonPurtonPurton is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire. The civil parish includes the village of Purton Stoke and the hamlets of Bentham, Hayes Knoll, Restrop and Widham....
, RamsburyRamsburyRamsbury is a village in Ramsbury and Axford civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire. The village is in the Kennet Valley near the Berkshire boundary. The nearest towns are Hungerford about east and Marlborough about west. The much larger town of Swindon is about to the north.The civil...
, South MarstonSouth MarstonSouth Marston is a village in north-east Wiltshire, England. The name Marston derives from the common English village name meaning marsh farm. It is part of the Borough of Swindon. Early in World War 2, a Ministry of Aircraft Production shadow factory and airfield were built for the Phillips &...
, WanboroughWanborough, WiltshireWanborough is a village and civil parish in the borough of Swindon, Wiltshire. The village is about southeast of Swindon town centre. The parish includes the hamlet of Foxhill, southeast of the village.-History:...
, Washpool and WroughtonWroughtonWroughton is a large village in Wiltshire, England. It is part of the Borough of Swindon and is south of Swindon.-History:The earliest evidence of human presence in the area is from the Mesolithic period, although this is fairly limited... - Nearby places of interest: AveburyAveburyAvebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles which is located around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, south west England. Unique amongst megalithic monuments, Avebury contains the largest stone circle in Europe, and is one of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain...
, Barbury CastleBarbury CastleBarbury Castle is an Iron Age hill fort situated in Wiltshire, England. It is one of several such forts found along the ancient Ridgeway route. The site, which lies within the Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, has been managed as a country park by Swindon Borough Council since 1971...
, Crofton Pumping StationCrofton Pumping StationCrofton Pumping Station is a pumping station near the village of Great Bedwyn in the English county of Wiltshire: it supplies the summit pound of the Kennet and Avon Canal with water....
, Silbury HillSilbury HillSilbury Hill is a prehistoric artificial chalk mound near Avebury in the English county of Wiltshire. It is part of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites UNESCO World Heritage Site, and lies at ....
, StonehengeStonehengeStonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
and Uffington White HorseUffington White HorseThe Uffington White Horse is a highly stylised prehistoric hill figure, 110 m long , formed from deep trenches filled with crushed white chalk... - Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Swindon include — Coate Water, Great QuarryGreat Quarry, SwindonGreat Quarry, Swindon is a 0.994 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire, notified in 1951.-Location:The site is in Old Town, in the southern ridge of Swindon. It was formerly named Town Garden Quarries which, with the Old Town Station Cutting, comprised Town Garden...
, Haydon MeadowHaydon MeadowHaydon Meadow known locally as Clifford Meadow is a 6.39 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire, notified in 1999....
, Okus QuarryOkus QuarryOkus Quarry is a 2,500 square metre geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire, notified in 1951.The site was formerly notified under the name "Okus Quarries".-Source:* -External links:*...
, Old Town Railway CuttingOld Town Railway Cutting, SwindonOld Town Railway Cutting is a 1.78 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Swindon, Wiltshire, notified in 1975. It is near the site of the former Swindon Town railway station....
and Lydiard Country ParkLydiard Country ParkLydiard Park is a country park at Lydiard Tregoze, west of central Swindon, Wiltshire, UK near Junction 16 of the M4 .The park contains Lydiard House, the former residence of the St John family, the Viscounts Bolingbroke...
Climate
Swindon experiences a maritime climate type, as with all of the British Isles. This results in comparatively mild winters, and comparatively cool summers compared with what might otherwise be expected of its latitude. The nearest official weather station is RAF LynehamRAF Lyneham
RAF Lyneham is a Royal Air Force station in Wiltshire, England. It was the home of all the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft of the Royal Air Force before they were relocated to RAF Brize Norton.The station was also home to No...
, about 9 miles (14.5 km) west south west of Swindon town centre. The weather stations elevation is 145 metres, compared to the typical 100 metres encountered around Swindon town centre, so is likely to be marginally cooler throughout the year.
The absolute maximum is 34.9c (94.8f) recorded during August 1990. In an average year the warmest day should reach 28.7c (83.7f) and 10.3 days should register a temperature of 25.1c (77.2f) or above
The absolute minimum is -16.0c (3.0f), recorded in January 1982, and in an average year 45.2 nights of air frost can be expected.
Sunshine, at 1565 hours a year is typical for inland parts in much of Southern England, although significantly higher than most areas further north.
Annual rainfall averages slightly under 720 mm (28 in) per year with 123 days reporting over 1 mm of rain.
Demography
The 2001 census shows there were 180,061 people and 75,154 occupied houses in the Swindon Unitary Authority. The average household size was 2.38 people. The population density was 780/km² (2020.19/mi²). 20.96% of the population were 0–15 years old, 72.80% 16-74 and the remaining 6.24% were 75 years old or over. For every 100 females there were 98.97 males. Approximately 300,000 people live within 20 minutes of Swindon town centre.It is forecast that there will be a 70,000 (38.9%) increase in Swindon's population by 2026 from the current 180,000, to 250,000. The ethnic make-up of the town was 95.2% white, 1.3% Indian and 3.5% other. 92.4% were born in the UK, 2.7% in the EU and 4.9% elsewhere.
The majority of Swindonians (70.3%) identify themselves as Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s. This is followed by those of no religion
Irreligion
Irreligion is defined as an absence of religion or an indifference towards religion. Sometimes it may also be defined more narrowly as hostility towards religion. When characterized as hostility to religion, it includes antitheism, anticlericalism and antireligion. When characterized as...
(19.2%), Muslims
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
(1.0%), Sikhs
Sikhism
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...
(0.6%), Hindus
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
(0.6%), other (0.2%) and Jews
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
(0.1%). In addition, 8.0% of people chose not to answer this question in the 2001 census.
Swindon is considered to be a microcosm of the whole United Kingdom in its demography. It has thus been used for market research purposes and trials of new products and services including the ill-fated Mondex
Mondex
Mondex is a smart card electronic cash system which was originally developed by National Westminster Bank in the United Kingdom and subsequently sold to MasterCard International. Mondex launched in a number of markets during the 1990s, expanding from an original trial in Swindon, UK to Hong Kong,...
electronic money.
In May 2007, 65.3% of households in Swindon had broadband Internet access
Broadband Internet access
Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just "broadband", is a high data rate, low-latency connection to the Internet— typically contrasted with dial-up access using a 56 kbit/s modem or satellite Internet with inherently high latency....
, the highest in the UK, up 5.5% from June 2006.
A 2007 report by Endsleigh Insurance
Endsleigh Insurance
Endsleigh Insurance is a Cheltenham-based UK insurance intermediary specialising in the student and graduate markets. It is the preferred insurer for several unions and professional associations....
says it was the second safest place to live in the UK after Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. This was based on the number of insurance claims made and burglaries and accidents reported. Endsleigh said: "Swindon is a great example of where local authorities, working hand in hand with the community, have played a key role in bringing down crime."
Polish community
After the end of World War II, Polish refugees were temporarily housed in barracks at Fairford RAFRoyal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
base about 25 km (15.5 mi) north. Around 1950, some settled in Scotland and others in Swindon rather than stay in the barracks or hostels they were offered.
The 2001 UK Census found that most of the Polish-born people had stayed or returned after serving with British forces during World War II. Swindon and Nottingham were parts of this settlement. Data from that census showed that 566 Swindonians were Poland-born. Notes to those data read: ‘The Polish Resettlement Act
Polish Resettlement Act 1947
The Polish Resettlement Act 1947 was the first ever mass immigration legislation of the British parliament. It offered British citizenship to over 200,000 displaced Polish troops on British soil who had fought against Nazi Germany and opposed the Soviet takeover of their homeland...
of 1947, which was designed to provide help and support to people who wished to settle here, covered about 190,000 people ... at the time Britain did not recognise many of the professional [qualifications] gained overseas ... [but] many did find work after the war; some went down the mines, some worked on the land or in steel works. Housing was more of a problem and many Poles were forced to live in barracks previously used for POW
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
s ... The first generation took pains to ensure that their children grew up with a strong sense of Polish identity.’
In 2004, NHS
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
planners devising services for senior citizens estimated that 5 percent of Swindon's population were not ‘ethnically British’ and most of those were culturally Polish.
The town's Polish ex-servicemen's club, which had run a football team for 40 years, closed in 2007. Barman Jerzy Trojan blamed the decline of both club and team on the children and grandchildren of the original refugees losing their Polish identity.
Economy
Honda of the UK Manufacturing
Honda of the UK Manufacturing is a subsidiary of the multinational automotive company Honda based in the United Kingdom. HUM operates a number of manufacturing plants at a site in Swindon, which include casting, engine assembly, pressing, welding, painting and car assembly activities...
car production plant at an old Vickers factory site on the former World War II RAF base of South Marston, BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
/Mini
Mini
The Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout influenced a generation of car-makers...
(formerly Pressed Steel Fisher) in Stratton, mobile phone company Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
, Dolby Labs, international engineering consultancy firm Halcrow Group Limited
Halcrow Group Limited
Halcrow Group Limited is an engineering consultancy company, based in the United Kingdom.Halcrow is one of the UK's leading consultancies, with a pedigree stretching back to 1868. The UK-based consultancy specialises in the provision of planning, design and management services for infrastructure...
and retailer W H Smith
W H Smith
WHSmith plc is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It is best known for its chain of high street, railway station, airport, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, and entertainment products...
's distribution centre and headquarters. The electronics company, Intel, has its European head office on the south side of the town. Insurance and financial services companies such as Nationwide Building Society
Nationwide Building Society
Nationwide Building Society is a British building society, and is the largest in the world. It has its headquarters in Swindon, England, and maintains significant administration centres in Bournemouth and Northampton...
and Zurich Financial Services
Zurich Financial Services
Zurich Financial Services AG is a major financial services group based in Zurich, Switzerland.-History:The Company was founded in 1872 as subsidiary of the Schweiz Marine Insurance Company under the name Versicherung Verein...
, the energy company RWE (which includes the well known retail brand npower
Npower (UK)
RWE Npower plc is a UK-based electricity and gas supply generation company, formerly known as Innogy plc. As Innogy plc it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index...
), the fuel card and fleet management company Arval
Allstar (fuel card)
Allstar, is a brand British fuel card, owned by Arval UK Limited a part of BNP Paribas. It permits fleet operators to fuel securely without having to carry cash or general credit cards, and provides the necessary accounting information to satisfy the details of recording Value Added Tax payments...
, pharmaceutical companies such as Canada's Patheon
Patheon
Patheon Inc. is a contract pharmaceutical company, based in Ontario, Canada. The company undertakes development, manufacturing and packaging of pharmaceutical products, both prescription and over the counter , for a plethora of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies, at sites...
and the United States-based Catalent Pharma Solutions and French Vygon have their UK divisions headquartered in the town. Swindon also has the registered Head Office of the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
.
Swindon businesses include banks such as Barclays, Natwest, HSBC
HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...
, Lloyds TSB
Lloyds TSB
Lloyds TSB Bank Plc is a retail bank in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1995 by the merger of Lloyds Bank, established in Birmingham, England in 1765 and traditionally considered one of the Big Four clearing banks, with the TSB Group which traces its origins to 1810...
and Handelsbanken
Handelsbanken
Svenska Handelsbanken AB is a Swedish bank.-History of Svenska Handelsbanken:The history of Svenska Handelsbanken goes back to 1871 when a number of prominent companies and individuals in Stockholm's business world founded Stockholms Handelsbank...
, all having a commercial presence. The town also has a number of professional legal firms such as Clarke Holt, Thring Townsend, Lemon & Co, together with accountants such as Dennis & Turnbull
Dennis & Turnbull
Dennis & Turnbull are a firm of Chartered Accountants in Swindon, Wiltshire. The firm was established in the 1990s.The firm operates in a number of specialist sectors including the franchise industry and the tuition industry....
and IT companies including Emnico Technologies and iSys Intelligent Systems.
Other employers include all but one of the national Research Council
Research Council
The UK Research Councils, of which there are currently seven, are publicly-funded agencies responsible for co-ordinating and funding particular areas of research, including the arts, humanities, all areas of science and engineering...
s, the British Computer Society
British Computer Society
The British Computer Society, is a professional body and a learned society that represents those working in Information Technology in the United Kingdom and internationally...
, Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent is a global telecommunications corporation, headquartered in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It provides telecommunications solutions to service providers, enterprises, and governments around the world, enabling these customers to deliver voice, data, and video services...
, eCommerce provider Shopatron
Shopatron
Shopatron is an American eCommerce technology company based in California that provides eCommerce solutions to branded manufacturers and retailers of consumer goods products...
, divisions of Tyco International
Tyco International
Tyco International Ltd. is a highly diversified global manufacturing company incorporated in Switzerland, with United States operational headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey...
, consumer goods supplier Reckitt Benckiser
Reckitt Benckiser
Reckitt Benckiser plc is a global consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest producer of household products and a major producer of consumer healthcare and personal products...
and a branch of Becton Dickinson
Becton Dickinson
Becton, Dickinson and Company , is an American medical technology company that manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems and reagents. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, BD does business in nearly 50 countries and has 28,803 employees worldwide. In...
.
Transport
At the junction of two Roman roads, the town has developed over the centuries, with the assistance of the GWRGreat Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
and the canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
s, into a transport hub. It has two junctions (15 and 16) onto the M4 motorway
M4 motorway
The M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...
and is on the ex-GWR main line to London.
Swindon bus operators are Thamesdown and Stagecoach.
The local council acknowledges the need for more car parking as part of its vision for 2010.
Swindon is one of the locations for an innovative scheme called Car share. It was set up as a joint venture between Wiltshire County Council
Wiltshire County Council
Wiltshire County Council was the county council of Wiltshire in the South West of England, an elected local Government body responsible for most local government services in the county....
and a private organization which now has over 300,000 members registered. Despite the name, however, it is a carpool
Carpool
Carpooling , is the sharing of car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car....
or ride-sharing rather than a car share
Carsharing
Car sharing or Carsharing is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. They are attractive to customers who make only occasional use of a vehicle, as well as others who would like occasional access to a vehicle of a different type than they use...
scheme, seeking to link people willing to share transport.
Roundabouts
The town is notable for its roundaboutRoundabout
A roundabout is the name for a road junction in which traffic moves in one direction around a central island. The word dates from the early 20th century. Roundabouts are common in many countries around the world...
s and there is a calendar featuring a different roundabout each month. The best-known is the 'Magic Roundabout
Magic Roundabout (Swindon)
The Magic Roundabout in Swindon, England was constructed in 1972 and consists of five mini-roundabouts arranged in a circle. It is located near the County Ground, home of Swindon Town F.C. Its name comes from the popular children's television series The Magic Roundabout...
'. This is not one roundabout but five, the central point of which is a contra-rotational hub, on at the junction of five roads: (clockwise from South) Drove Road, Fleming Way, County Road, Shrivenham Road and Queens Drive. It is built on the site of Swindon wharf on the abandoned Wilts & Berks Canal, near the County Ground
County Ground, Swindon
The County Ground is a stadium located near the town centre of Swindon, England. It is home to Swindon Town Football Club and has been for over a century.The current capacity is 15,728, all-seated...
. The official name used to be County Islands, although it was colloquially known as the Magic Roundabout and the name was changed in the late 1990s to match its nickname. The roundabout is the subject of the song "English Roundabout" from the album English Settlement
English Settlement
English Settlement is the fifth studio album by British alternative rock band XTC, released on 12 February 1982. The album reached No. 5 on the UK Album Chart and No. 48 on the Billboard 200 album chart....
by local band XTC
XTC
XTC were a New Wave band from Swindon, England, active between 1976 and 2005. The band enjoyed some chart success, including the UK and Canadian hits "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Senses Working Overtime" , but are perhaps even better known for their long-standing critical success.- Early years:...
. It has also been prominently featured in several TV shows, one notable example being the show Blue Peter.
Events
- Swindon hosted Radio 1's Big Weekend in May 2009 at Lydiard Park
- The town has a live music scene, venues such as The Beehive, Riffs Bar, The 12 Bar, The Furnace and The Victoria attract local acts as well as touring national acts and host Swindon's annual music festival the Swindon Shuffle. The Oasis Leisure CentreOasis Leisure CentreThe Oasis Leisure Centre is an entertainment and sports complex, situated outside Swindon town centre. It has many facilities available, such lagoon swimming pool, gym, bar and concert hall....
and the County GroundCounty Ground, SwindonThe County Ground is a stadium located near the town centre of Swindon, England. It is home to Swindon Town Football Club and has been for over a century.The current capacity is 15,728, all-seated...
are used for some major events. MECA is a new 2,000-capacity music venue in the former Mecca bingo hall. - The Arts CentreSwindon Arts CentreSwindon Arts Centre is a 200-seat entertainment venue located in the Old Town of Swindon, Wiltshire, England.The centre features all types of music, professional and amateur theatre, nationally recognised comedians, films, children's events, and one-man shows....
is a theatre in Old Town which seats 200 and has music, professional and amateur theatre, comedians, films, children's events, and one-man shows. - The Wyvern TheatreWyvern TheatreThe Wyvern Theatre in Swindon, Wiltshire is named after the mythical wyvern which was once the emblem of the Kings of Wessex. It was opened on 7 September 1971 by Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Philip....
has film, comedy, and music. - Swindon hosts festivals such as the Swindon Festival of LiteratureSwindon Festival of LiteratureSwindon Festival of Literature is an annual literature festival held in Swindon, Wiltshire, England.The 2010 Festival is due to last for two weeks, from 3–15 May 2010.- External links :*...
, the nationally known Swindon Invincible festival, the annual Swindon Mela (an all-day celebration of South IndiaSouth IndiaSouth India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
n arts and culture) in the Town Gardens — an event which attracts up to 10,000 visitors each year. The Big Arts Day is an annual celebration of the arts, that started in 2010, and is set to continue year on year. Held at Lydiard Park in July it attracted more than 20,000 people. - In 2012 'Swindon: The Opera' will be staged at Steam in Swindon by the Janice Thompson Performance Trust, after a successful 2011 Jubilee People's Millions Lottery bid. It will chart Swindon's history since 1952 until the present day and be written by Betty Roe MBE and Matt Fox.
Shopping
- The Brunel Centre and the Parade are shopping areas in the town centre, built along the line of the filled-in Wilts and Berks CanalWilts and Berks CanalThe Wilts & Berks Canal is a canal in the historic counties of Wiltshire and Berkshire, England, linking the Kennet and Avon Canal at Semington, near Melksham, to the River Thames at Abingdon. The North Wilts Canal merged with it to become a branch to the Thames and Severn Canal at Latton near...
(where a canal milepost can still be seen). - Swindon Tented Market located in the Town Centre, close to the Brunel Centre, was built in 1994. It reopened in October 2009, having been closed for several years.
- Retail parks include Greenbridge, West Swindon Shopping Centre, Stratton and the Orbital Shopping Park with shops ranging from M&S to Comet and Mothercare. Food outlets include KFC, McDonalds and Pizza Hut as well as Frankie and Bennies and Starbucks Coffee.
- McArthur Glen Designer OutletSwindon Designer Outletthumb|right|Swindon Designer Outlet, a shopping complex built within the disused Swindon railway engine works.thumb|right|A Swindon-built locomotive on display in the eating area of the Outlet...
is an indoor shopping mall for reduced price goods (mainly clothing), using the buildings of the disused railway engine works. The outlet is adjacent to the Steam MuseumSwindon Steam Railway MuseumSTEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway, also known as Swindon Steam Railway Museum, is located at the site of the old railway works in Swindon, England – Wiltshire's 'railway town'...
and the National TrustNational Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural BeautyThe National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
headquarters. - Craft shops within Studley Grange Craft Village, inside Blooms Garden Centre, just off junction 16 of the M4 motorway.
- Small specialist shops within BSS House in Cheney Manor Industrial Park and Basepoint Business Centre.
Green spaces
- Public parks include Lydiard Country ParkLydiard Country ParkLydiard Park is a country park at Lydiard Tregoze, west of central Swindon, Wiltshire, UK near Junction 16 of the M4 .The park contains Lydiard House, the former residence of the St John family, the Viscounts Bolingbroke...
, Stanton Park, Barbury Castle, Queens ParkQueens Park, SwindonQueens Park is a public park, located near the Regent Circus area of Swindon town centre.It is about in size, with a lake of around , and contains a diverse range of ornamental trees and shrubs....
, Town Gardens and Coate WaterCoate Water Country ParkCoate Water is a country park situated to the southeast of central Swindon, near Junction 15 of the M4. It takes its name from the main feature, a reservoir originally built to provide water for the Wilts and Berks Canal....
. - Shaw Country Park currently being developed in West Swindon.
Other
- The National Monuments Record Centre, the public archive of English HeritageEnglish HeritageEnglish Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
, is based in Swindon.
Swindon Advertiser
The Swindon Advertiser is a daily tabloid newspaper, published in Swindon. The newspaper was founded in 1854, and had a circulation in 2006 of 22,321....
, with daily sales of about 21,000. Other newspapers covering the area include Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
's daily Western Daily Press
Western Daily Press
The Western Daily Press is a regional newspaper covering parts of South West England , mainly Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset as well as the metropolitan areas of Bath and North East Somerset and the Bristol area. It is published Monday to Saturday in Bristol, UK...
and the Swindon Advertisers weekly, the Gazette and Herald
Gazette and Herald
The Gazette and Herald is a local weekly paid-for newspaper, established in 1816. Published every Thursday. It serves the areas and communities of Devizes, Calne, Chippenham, Wootton Bassett, Swindon, Marlborough, Malmesbury, Corsham, Box and other areas in North Wiltshire.Originally the Devizes...
. It's All About and 'The Local Buddy' (both no longer trading), The Wiltshire Ocelot (a free listings magazine), Swindon Star, Hungry Monkeys (a comic), Stratton Outlook, Frequency (an arts and cultural magazine), The Great Swindon Magazine, the Swindon Business News and The Swindon Link (for information on the goings on in Swindon).
Radio
Local radio stations include More Radio (Swindon)More Radio (Swindon)
More Radio is a radio station which broadcasts on 107.7 MHz FM in Swindon in Wiltshire, England and is owned by More FM Ltd...
and Heart Wiltshire in the commercial sector, with BBC Radio Wiltshire
BBC Radio Wiltshire
BBC Wiltshire is the BBC Local Radio station and BBC Online service for the English county of Wiltshire. The station marked its 20th anniversary in 2009.-BBC Wiltshire Sound :...
as a publicly funded alternative. An AM
AM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
station, Classic Gold 936/1161
Brunel Classic Gold
Gold is a regional AM station in the west of England.The station carries the Gold programming, except for a local 4-hour afternoon programme from 12pm to 4pm, which is different in the stations two sub-regions.-Programmes:* Breakfast...
only includes local programming in the late afternoon. A new community radio
Community radio
Community radio is a type of radio service, that offers a third model of radio broadcasting beyond commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting. Community stations can serve geographic communities and communities of interest...
station was launched in March 2008, Swindon 105.5
Swindon 105.5
SWINDON 105.5 is a community radio station for Swindon, Wiltshire fully licensed by media and communications regulator Ofcom. The station is run by volunteers and obtains its funding by donations from the public and local companies and from Ofcom grants...
, which is one of the only stations in Swindon to broadcast local content all week. Brunel FM
Brunel FM
Brunel FM was a UK commercial radio station broadcasting to the town of Swindon and outside areas of close proximity.-Overview:Brunel FM was owned and operated by YMC Ltd, however it was a company in its own right....
ceased broadcasting on the 24 March 2010 as it was one of five stations owned by YMC Ltd closed by administrators. Although a new radio station has since opened on the same frequency, 107.7 Total Star FM which in June 2011 rebranded to the current station More FM.
Television
Between 1973 and June 2000, Swindon had its own cable television channel. It was called Swindon ViewpointSwindon Viewpoint
Local programming in Swindon began life as Swindon Viewpoint on the 11 September 1973 as an experiment in community cable television, or Public-access television. It was managed initially by Richard Dunn, who later went on to become Head of Thames Television. This experiment started with EMI...
, a community television project run mainly by enthusiasts from the basement of a Radio Rentals
Radio Rentals
Radio Rentals was formed in 1932 to rent out radio sets by Percy Perring-Thoms with a turnover in the first year of £780. It later moved into televisions and ultimately video recorders. In 1965 it merged with RentaSet, Joseph Robinson's similarly formed company...
branch on Victoria Road. It was followed by the more commercial Swindon's Local Channel
Swindon Cable
Swindon Cable was Swindon's local television channel. It closed permanently in 2000 after 16 years of putting out mostly local programming on the Wiltshire industrial town's radio and television relay cable network.-Swindon Viewpoint:...
, which included pay-per-view films. NTL (later Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
) took over the channel's parent company, ComTel, and closed the station.
Regional news programmes covering Swindon include Thames Valley Tonight
Thames Valley Tonight
Thames Valley Tonight was a regional news programme broadcast to part of the ITV Network in the Thames Valley area of southern England. The Thames Valley news region was launched on Monday 4 December 2006 and ceased to exist on 8 February 2009....
replaced by "Meridian Ton" for the second time in Feb 2009 and The West Tonight
The West Tonight
The West Tonight was the flagship news programme in the ITV West region. It was broadcast at 6pm every weeknight. It launched in 1968 as Report West and ceased broadcasting on 15 February 2009.-History:...
from regional ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
stations and South Today (Oxford)
South Today
South Today is the BBC's regional television news programme for East Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Berkshire, West Sussex and the western fringes of Surrey...
and Points West from BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
's regional variants.
Education
Swindon has 53 primary schools, 11 secondary schools and two purpose built sixth-form colleges. Two secondary schools also have 6th forms.- St. Joseph's Catholic CollegeSt. Joseph's Catholic CollegeSt. Joseph's Catholic College is a secondary school in Swindon. It is a Roman Catholic school but is open to other religions. It is a mixed sex school of approximately 1200 pupils. The schools uniform includes a red jumper for girls and a grey jumper for boys also have to wear a tie with school...
, a Business & Enterprise College, holds specialist status. It houses an inbuilt 6th form, submitting up to 150 students. - Churchfields SchoolChurchfields SchoolChurchfields School is a secondary school located in Swindon, Wiltshire, England.-History:Churchfields School was founded in 1964. It's a comprehensive school for pupils aged 11 to 16. There are approximately 987 pupils on roll. It has been awarded the title: Science College, Mathematics and...
holds dual specialist Science CollegeScience CollegeScience Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, science and mathematics...
and Maths and Computing College status. - Commonweal School holds specialist Arts CollegeArts CollegeArts Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, the performing, visual and/or media arts...
status. - Greendown Community SchoolGreendown Community SchoolGreendown Community School is a mixed sex comprehensive secondary school for pupils aged between 11 and 16 years. It is situated in the Grange Park area of Swindon, United Kingdom, adjacent to Lydiard Country Park. The school has been awarded dual specialist status as a Sports College and Maths and...
holds dual specialist Sports CollegeSports CollegeSports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, PE, sports and dance. Schools that successfully apply to the Specialist Schools Trust and become Sports...
and Maths and Computing College status. - Nova Hreod CollegeNova HreodNova Hreod College is a comprehensive school in Swindon, Wiltshire, educating children between the ages of eleven and sixteen. The school is a dual specialist Science College and Mathematics and Computing College, designated as such in September 2006....
holds dual specialist Science CollegeScience CollegeScience Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, science and mathematics...
and Maths and Computing College status. Nova Hreod is planning to open a sixth form college in 2012. - Dorcan Technology CollegeDorcan Technology CollegeDorcan Technology College is a Technology College in Swindon, Wiltshire.The headmaster is Scott Sissons....
holds specialist Technology CollegeTechnology CollegeTechnology College is a term used in the United Kingdom for a secondary specialist school that focuses on design and technology, mathematics and science. These were the first type of specialist schools, beginning in 1994. In 2008 there were 598 Technology Colleges in England, of which 12 also...
status. - Kingsdown SchoolKingsdown SchoolKingsdown School is a comprehensive school in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It is a specialist Technology College....
holds specialist Technology CollegeTechnology CollegeTechnology College is a term used in the United Kingdom for a secondary specialist school that focuses on design and technology, mathematics and science. These were the first type of specialist schools, beginning in 1994. In 2008 there were 598 Technology Colleges in England, of which 12 also...
status. - Isambard Community School was opened in September 2007 with an intake of only Year 7 (11-12 year olds) now taking up to year 11. The school is a Performing Arts College.It is situated within the mass housing development of Priory ValePriory ValePriory Vale is a community within the Swindon ‘Northern Development Area’. It is made up of the villages Redhouse, Oakhurst and Haydon End. Although not strictly part of Priory Vale, the nearby village of Taw Hill completes this latest instalment in Swindon's northern expansion which began with...
. - Swindon AcademySwindon AcademySwindon Academy is a non-selective co-educational school within the English Academy programme, in Swindon. It caters for children aged 3-19 and has approximately 1479 pupils on roll.-History:...
was established in 2007 and holds specialist status in Science and Business & Enterprise. - The Ridgeway School and Sixth Form College, situated in the nearby village of Wroughton, holds Science Specialist Status. The school converted to Academy status in September 2011.
Further education
New CollegeNew College, Swindon
New College is a further and higher education institution, founded in 1983 and located in Swindon, England. The latest OFSTED report rated the college as good stating that: "This is a good college with outstanding features and good capacity to improve.." and that: "Achievement and standards are...
and Swindon College
Swindon College
Swindon College is a further education college in Swindon, England. Its campus is at North Star, just outside the town centre. The college has HNC/Ds and Foundation Degrees, through to BA courses and a postgraduate programme....
cater for the town's further education
Further education
Further education is a term mainly used in connection with education in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is post-compulsory education , that is distinct from the education offered in universities...
and higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
requirements, mainly for 16-21 year olds. Swindon College is one of the largest FE-HE colleges in southwestern England, situated at a purpose-built campus in North Star, Swindon.
University-level education
The University of BathUniversity of Bath
The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....
in Swindon was established in 2000, with its Oakfield Campus in Walcot, east Swindon, although the campus has now closed.
Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University is a new university in Oxford, England. It was named to honour the school's founding principal, John Brookes. It has been ranked as the best new university by the Sunday Times University Guide 10 years in a row...
's Ferndale site is based in Swindon, housing its School of Health and Social Care since 1999.
Swindon is the UK's largest centre of population without its own university (by comparison, there are two universities in nearby Bath, which is half Swindon's size). In March 2008, a proposal was put forward by former Swindon MP, Anne Snelgrove, for a university-level institution to be established in the town within a decade, culminating in a future 'University of Swindon' (with some touting the future institution to be entitled 'The Murray John University, Swindon', after the town's most distinguished post-war civic leader). In October 2008, plans were announced for a possible University of Swindon campus to be built in east Swindon to the south of the town's Great Western Hospital, close to the M4-A419 interchange. However, these plans are currently mothballed.
Museums and cultural institutions
- Artsite Ltd. The Post Modern gallery.Contemporary art organisation providing affordable studio space, exhibitions, workshops, education and support for creative people.
- National Museum of Science & IndustryScience Museum SwindonThe Science Museum at Wroughton, near Swindon, England, is the large-object store of the Science Museum . It is part of the National Museum of Science and Industry.-Overview:...
, WroughtonWroughtonWroughton is a large village in Wiltshire, England. It is part of the Borough of Swindon and is south of Swindon.-History:The earliest evidence of human presence in the area is from the Mesolithic period, although this is fairly limited...
. - Railway Village Museum.
- Richard Jefferies MuseumCoate Water Country ParkCoate Water is a country park situated to the southeast of central Swindon, near Junction 15 of the M4. It takes its name from the main feature, a reservoir originally built to provide water for the Wilts and Berks Canal....
, dedicated to the memory of one of England's most individual writers on nature and the countryside. - Steam Railway MuseumSwindon Steam Railway MuseumSTEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway, also known as Swindon Steam Railway Museum, is located at the site of the old railway works in Swindon, England – Wiltshire's 'railway town'...
. - Swindon Collection, Central Library. Extensive local studies and family history archive.
- Swindon Arts CentreSwindon Arts CentreSwindon Arts Centre is a 200-seat entertainment venue located in the Old Town of Swindon, Wiltshire, England.The centre features all types of music, professional and amateur theatre, nationally recognised comedians, films, children's events, and one-man shows....
, a 212-seat entertainment venue located in the Old Town of Swindon. - Wyvern TheatreWyvern TheatreThe Wyvern Theatre in Swindon, Wiltshire is named after the mythical wyvern which was once the emblem of the Kings of Wessex. It was opened on 7 September 1971 by Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Philip....
, the town's principal stage venue. - Swindon MuseumSwindon MuseumSwindon Museum is located in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The museum has displays of local archaeology, geology, and history. These present Swindon's geological Jurassic history, its association with the Roman Empire, and the town's social history....
and Swindon Art GallerySwindon Art GallerySwindon Art Gallery is located in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It includes a collection of 20th-century British art, one of the best in the country outside London. The collection was established in 1944 by a local benefactor, H.J.P...
, next to each other. - The Museum of ComputingMuseum of ComputingThe Museum of Computing in Swindon, England is dedicated to preserving and displaying examples of early computers. It was the first United Kingdom museum exclusively dedicated to the history of computing and opened in February 2003.-Aims:...
the first computer museum in the UK.
Sports
Football
Swindon Town F.C.Swindon Town F.C.
Swindon Town Football Club are a team based in Swindon, Wiltshire. Currently in League Two, Swindon have been managed by Paolo Di Canio since 23 May 2011...
play at the County Ground
County Ground, Swindon
The County Ground is a stadium located near the town centre of Swindon, England. It is home to Swindon Town Football Club and has been for over a century.The current capacity is 15,728, all-seated...
near the town centre. They have been Football League members since joining the then new Third Division
Football League Third Division
The Football League Third Division was the 3 tier of English Football from 1920 until 1992 when after the formation of the Football Association Premier League saw the league renamed The Football League Division Two...
(southern section) in 1920, and won promotion to the Second Division
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
for the first time in 1963. They won their only major trophy to date, the Football League Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
, in 1969 beating Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
3-1, at Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
, and won the Anglo-Italian Cup
Anglo-Italian Cup
The Anglo-Italian Cup is a defunct European football competition that was played intermittently between 1970 and 1996 between clubs from England and Italy. Founded by Gigi Peronace in 1970, following the success of the Anglo-Italian League Cup, it was played as a professional tournament until 1973...
the following year. They won promotion to the First Division
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
in 1990, but stayed in the Second Division due to financial irregularities, only to reach the top flight (by then the Premier League) three years later. Their spell in the top flight lasted just one season, and then came a second successive relegation. A brief spite saw them promoted at the first attempt as champions of the new Division Two, but they were relegated again four years later and in 2006 fell back into the fourth tier for the first time since 1986, although promotion was gained at the first attempt. They were relegated again four years later. Notable former players of the club include John Trollope
John Trollope (footballer)
Norman John Trollope MBE is a former footballer, manager and coach who served Swindon Town for twenty years.A Swindon Town legend, Trollope holds the record for the number of league appearances made for one club - turning out for the Town in 770 games between 1960 and 1980, an achievement which...
, Don Rogers
Don Rogers (footballer)
Donald Rogers is an English former footballer who has often been seen as the most exciting player to pull on a Swindon Town shirt; his principal rival in this respect being Harold Fleming...
, John Moncur
John Moncur
John Moncur is an English former footballer. He played in midfield for Tottenham Hotspur, Swindon Town and West Ham United...
, Fraser Digby
Fraser Digby
Fraser Charles Digby is a retired goalkeeper who spent much of his career with Swindon Town, for whom he played in the Premier League...
, Steve White
Steve White (footballer)
Steve White is a retired professional football forward and manager. His son, Joe White, currently plays for Bristol Rovers, having signed his first professional contract in the summer of 2008.-Playing career:...
, Duncan Shearer
Duncan Shearer
Duncan Nichol Shearer is a former Scottish footballer and the brother of fellow former player Dave Shearer. He played shinty as well as football as a youth.-Playing career:...
, Paul Bodin
Paul Bodin
Paul John Bodin is a former Wales international footballer. A left-back, Bodin's domestic career is probably best remembered for his two spells at Swindon Town.-Career:...
, Alan McLoughlin
Alan McLoughlin
Alan Francis McLoughlin is a former Irish coach, and former professional footballer, playing as a midfielder.-Career:...
, Paul Rideout
Paul Rideout
Paul Rideout is a retired English professional football player who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He is a youth coach with Sporting Kansas City, heading their U-16, U-17 and U-18 teams.-Playing career:...
, Mike Summerbee
Mike Summerbee
Mike Summerbee is an English former footballer, who played in the successful Manchester City side of the late 1960s and early 1970s....
, Shaun Taylor
Shaun Taylor
Shaun Taylor is an English former professional footballer who made more than 500 appearances in the Football League and Premier League, playing for Exeter City, Swindon Town and Bristol City.Taylor was born in Plymouth...
, Jan Åge Fjørtoft
Jan Åge Fjørtoft
Jan Aage Fjørtoft is a former Norwegian footballer. A powerful centre forward with netting ability , he played professionally in Norway, Austria, England and Germany...
and Phil King
Phil King (footballer)
Philip Geoffrey King is an English former professional footballer. He represented England at Under-21 level and in a B international. He was born in Bristol....
. Notable former managers include Bert Head Danny Williams Lou Macari
Lou Macari
Luigi "Lou" Macari is a Scottish former footballer and football manager of Italian descent.-Playing career:...
, Ossie Ardiles, Glenn Hoddle
Glenn Hoddle
Glenn Hoddle is an English former footballer and manager who played as an attacking midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, AS Monaco, Chelsea and Swindon Town and at international level for England....
, John Gorman
John Gorman (footballer)
John Gorman is a Scottish former football player and coach. He is currently Assistant Manager at MK Dons in the English League One....
, Steve McMahon
Steve McMahon
Stephen Joseph McMahon is an English former football midfielder who most notably played for Liverpool in the late 1980s...
, Jimmy Quinn (a former player of the club), Colin Todd
Colin Todd
Colin Todd is an English football manager and former player. As a player, he made more than 600 appearances in the Football League, playing for Sunderland, Derby County, Everton, Birmingham City, Nottingham Forest, Oxford United and Luton Town, and also played in the North American Soccer League...
, Roy Evans
Roy Evans
Roy Evans CBE was a Liverpool football player who eventually rose through the coaching ranks to become team manager.-Career:...
(once former Liverpool manager), Andy King, Iffy Onoura (a former player of the club), Dennis Wise
Dennis Wise
Dennis Frank Wise is an English former football manager and player, and former Executive Director at Newcastle United....
and Paul Sturrock
Paul Sturrock
Paul Whitehead Sturrock is a Scottish football manager who, since July 2010, is the manager of Southend United. Until this appointment, Sturrock had most recently been at English League 1 club Plymouth Argyle in a business support role, having been relieved of his managerial duties, until he quit...
.
The town also has two non league clubs: Swindon Supermarine F.C.
Swindon Supermarine F.C.
Swindon Supermarine F.C. are a football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. Currently they are members of the Southern League Premier Division...
, playing in Southern League Premier Division, and Highworth Town F.C.
Highworth Town F.C.
Highworth Town FC is a football club based in Highworth, Wiltshire, England. They joined the Hellenic League Division One in 1984 and won the Hellenic League Premier Division in 2004-05. Dave Webb is the manager. Ritchie Saunders is the first team captain. Kev Coles is the reserve team...
, based in Highworth
Highworth
Highworth is a market town in the unitary authority of Swindon in Wiltshire, England, located about north-east of Swindon town centre. At the 2001 census it had a population of 7,996...
and playing in the Hellenic Football League
Hellenic Football League
The Hellenic Football League is an English football league covering an area including the English counties of Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, southern Buckinghamshire, southern Herefordshire, western Greater London, and northern Wiltshire. There is also one team from Hampshire.The league...
.
Motor sports
- Swindon RobinsSwindon RobinsThe Swindon Speedway team, also known as the Swindon Robins, are an English Motorcycle Speedway team established in 1949 that competes in the Elite League....
— a speedway team competing in the Elite League. The team has operated at the Abbey Stadium, Blunsdon since the mid-1949. There are proposals to redevelop the stadium. Speedway operated at a track in the Gorse Hill area of Swindon in the early days of the late 1920s and early 1930s. - Foxhill motocross circuit is 6 miles (9.7 km) south east of the town and has staged Grand Prix events.
Other sports
- Swindon WildcatsSwindon WildcatsThe Swindon Wildcats are a professional ice hockey team based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. They are member of the English Premier Ice Hockey League . Since their inception, the Wildcats have played their home games at the 2800 capacity Link Centre. The club was founded in 1986, as the Swindon...
, Swindon Top CatsSwindon Top CatsSwindon Topcats are a ladies ice hockey club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, United Kingdom. They are located at the Link Centre in Swindon. They are managed by Michael Armstrong and coached by Rebecca Hargreaves, with captain Lynn Taylor and assistant manager John Hallett.- Overview :The club...
and Swindon Panthers are ice hockey teams who play at the 1250 capacity Link CentreLink CentreThe Link Centre is a leisure centre in Swindon, England. The building was designed to be as energy efficient as possible with heat generated by the ice rink refrigeration system being used to warm its internal areas. Swindon Wildcats, an English Premier Ice Hockey League team, use the ice rink and...
ice rink. - Swindon Rail Road Rebels - Swindon Roller Derby. Swindon and Wiltshire's first and only roller derby league, established January 2011. Training at The Link Centre, Oasis and Highworth Recreation Centre.
- Swindon Flames is a roller hockey team who train at Croft Sports Centre.
- Swindon Sonics is a basketball team who compete at the Link Centre.
- Swindon St George ARLFC—Amateur Rugby League club.
- Swindon RFC—Amateur Rugby Union club.
- Supermarine RFC - Amateur rugby union club
- Swindon Hockey Club—Amateur field hockey club.
- Swindon Road Club—cycling club.
- GlidingGlidingGliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s...
clubs are at Sandhill Farm near ShrivenhamShrivenhamShrivenham is a large village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England, close to the boundary with Wiltshire. It is in the Vale of White Horse, between Swindon and Faringdon. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.-Character:Shrivenham features many...
and Aston DownCotswold Gliding ClubThe Cotswold Gliding Club is based at Aston Down airfield, between Cirencester and Stroud in Gloucestershire, South West England. The Club maintains a fleet of aircraft for training purposes, and is a centre for cross-country gliding and competitions....
airfield near CirencesterCirencesterCirencester is a market town in east Gloucestershire, England, 93 miles west northwest of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswold District. It is the home of the Royal Agricultural College, the oldest agricultural...
. - Swindon BadmintonBadmintonBadminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...
Club is based at Isambard Kingdom Brunel school and plays matches at New College. - Two leisure centres, the Link CentreLink CentreThe Link Centre is a leisure centre in Swindon, England. The building was designed to be as energy efficient as possible with heat generated by the ice rink refrigeration system being used to warm its internal areas. Swindon Wildcats, an English Premier Ice Hockey League team, use the ice rink and...
and the OasisOasis Leisure CentreThe Oasis Leisure Centre is an entertainment and sports complex, situated outside Swindon town centre. It has many facilities available, such lagoon swimming pool, gym, bar and concert hall....
. - Broome Manor Golf Complex is a golf course set against the backdrop of the Marlborough Downs.
- Milton Road Health Hydro has a 33m pool and a 20m pool both used for casual and club swimming.
- Swindon ASC - The 3rd oldest swimming club in the country
- Swindon Dolphin Amateur Swimming Association
- Swindon Tigersharks Swimming Club
- Wroughton ASC Swimming Club
- Sx3 a joint swimming club combining swindon Tigersharks with Wroughton ASC, Highworth ASC, Wootton Bassett ASC and Swindon ASC clubs. formerly including Swindon Dolphins
Twin towns
Swindon has been twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with two towns http://www.swindon.gov.uk/twintowns: Salzgitter
Salzgitter
Salzgitter is an independent city in southeast Lower Saxony, Germany, located between Hildesheim and Braunschweig. Together with Wolfsburg and Braunschweig, Salzgitter is one of the seven Oberzentren of Lower Saxony...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, since 1975 Tampa
Tâmpa
Tâmpa may refer to several villages in Romania:* Tâmpa, a village in Băcia Commune, Hunedoara County* Tâmpa, a village in Miercurea Nirajului, Mureş County* Tâmpa, a mountain in Braşov city...
, USA Ocotal
Ocotal
Ocotal is the capital of the Nueva Segovia Department in Nicaragua, Central America.-Description:Ocotal is the capital of the Nueva Segovia Department in Nicaragua with light industry and crafts. The main agricultural production is coffee. The city, which has a population of 31,932 , is located...
, Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
, since 1990
As part of a competition run by Disney for 2010 Swindon had an official twinning with Walt Disney World Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, since 2009
In popular culture
Books set in Swindon include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-timeThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a 2003 novel by British writer Mark Haddon. It won the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year and the 2004 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book...
by Mark Haddon
Mark Haddon
Mark Haddon is an English novelist and poet, best known for his 2003 novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.- Life and work :...
, and the Thursday Next
Thursday Next
Thursday Next is the main protagonist in a series of comic fantasy, alternate history novels by the British author Jasper Fforde. She was first introduced in Fforde's first published novel, The Eyre Affair, released on July 19, 2001 by Hodder & Stoughton. , the series comprises six books, in two...
novels by Jasper Fforde
Jasper Fforde
Jasper Fforde is a British novelist. Fforde's first novel, The Eyre Affair, was published in 2001. Fforde is mainly known for his Thursday Next novels, although he has written several books in the loosely connected Nursery Crime series and begun two more independent series: The Last Dragonslayer...
. Fforde's Thursday Next novels feature an alternative-universe Swindon that includes a parodic "Seven Wonders of Swindon". Robert Goddard's Into the Blue, Out of the Sun and "Never Go Back" feature the central character of Harry Barnett from Swindon, and all three novels start in the town. Terry Jones
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator, and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....
, the former Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
member gave Swindon a backhanded reference in one of the short stories in his 2011 collection, "Evil Machines
Evil Machines
Evil Machines is a 2011 book of fantasy stories written by Monty Python's Terry Jones. The book has a cover design and illustrations by Ryan Gillard and Keira Kinsella....
". The story "The Lift that Took People to Places They Didn't Want to Go" ends with the section "...But actually... the evil elevator hadn't changed at all. In fact it went on secretly taking people to places they didn't want to go. For every time the lift took the inhabitants of Swindon back down to the ground floor, they stepped out of the department store and onto the streets of Swindon, and so found themselves somewhere they didn't want to be."
Further reading
- Swindon, Mark Child, Breedon Books, 2002, hardcover, 159 pages, ISBN 1-85983-322-5
- Francis Frith's Swindon Living Memories (Photographic Memories S.), Francis Frith and Brian Bridgeman, The Frith Book Company Ltd, 2003, Paperback, 96 pages, ISBN 1-85937-656-8
External links
- Swindon.gov.uk Borough Council website
- Visit Swindon Official tourism website