DISCOVER SWINDON
The original Saxon settlement of Swindon sat in a defensible position atop a limestone hill. It is referred to in the Domesday Book as Suindune, a name 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 remained a small market town, mainly for barter trade, until the mid-1800s. This original market area of Swindon is located on top of the hill in central Swindon and is now known as Old Town.
Swindon is a town in Wiltshire in the South West of England. The town is approximately midway between Bristol (40 miles west) and Reading (40 miles east) and some 81 miles west of London, all on the main rail line using Swindon station.
It was a designated 'Expanded' Town under the Town Development Act 1952, which led to a vast increase in the population of the town. It is in the borough of Swindon, which has been a unitary authority independent of Wiltshire since 1998. In the 2001 census the population of the Swindon urban area was 155,432, whilst around 184,000 lived in the borough.
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.
 TRANSPORT
Lying on the junction of two Roman roads, the town has developed over the centuries with the assistance of the Great Western Railway and the Canals into a transport hub. It has two junctions (15 and 16) onto the M4 Motorway and lies on the GWR mainline to London.
Swindon has two bus operators - Thamesdown and Stagecoach. The local council acknowledges the need for more car parking as part of its vision for 2010.
The town is notable for its roundabouts, to the extent of selling yearly calendars featuring a different roundabout for each month. The best known roundabout is the Magic Roundabout at the junction of Drove Road, Queens Drive and Fleming Way near the County Ground.
The official name of this roundabout used to be County Islands, although hardly anyone other than officials called it by this name. This name was was changed in the late 1990s to match its popular name. It is the subject of a pop song by local band XTC. Locals often refer to it by the colloquial name of "The Tragic Roundabout" due to the car accidents that occur on it, usually caused by drivers not familiar with its operation. Accidents most frequently occur on matchdays for Swindon Town F.C. and at weekends, due to increased traffic.
TOURISM AND RECREATION
- The Brunel Centre and the Parade are shopping areas in the town centre.
- Retail parks include Greenbridge, West Swindon Shopping Centre, Stratton and the Orbital Shopping Park.
- The Steam Railway Museum shows Swindon's part in the history of the Great Western Railway.
- McArthur Glen Designer Outlet is an indoor shopping mall for reduced price designer goods, using the buildings of the disused railway engine works. The Outlet is adjacent to the Steam Museum.
- The Link Centre and the Oasis are leisure centres.
- Broome Manor Golf Complex is a golf course set against the backdrop of the Marlborough Downs.
- Public parks include Lydiard Country Park, Stanton Park, Barbury Castle, Queens Park and Coate Water.
- Shaw Community Forest is being developed on the site of a former landfill site in West Swindon.
- The National Monuments Record Centre is in Swindon, the home of English Heritage.
HISTORY OF SWINDON
The original Saxon settlement of Swindon sat in a defensible position atop a limestone hill. It is referred to in the Domesday Book as Suindune, a name 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 remained a small market town, mainly for barter trade, until the mid-1800s. This original market area of Swindon is located on top of the hill in central Swindon and is 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 then the North Wilts canal in 1819. These two major routes brought trade to the area, and Swindon's population started to rise.
In 1840 Swindon was selected to house the large Swindon railway works for the Great Western Railway by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The works was situated at a point where engines would need to be changed. Eastwards towards London the line was gently graded, while westwards there was a steep descent towards Bath. Swindon was also at the junction of a proposed line to Gloucester.
Construction of the works was completed in 1842. A small railway village was created to house some of the railway workers. This area is now known as New Town (or the Town Centre). The Railway Village houses are still standing and are occupied, and several of the original buildings which comprised the engineering works also remain (though many are vacant). The Steam Railway Museum now occupies part of the old works.
In the second half of the 19th century the new area (Swindon New Town) created by the railway works and the original area from the market trading years (Swindon Old Town) were merged to become Swindon.
During much of the 20th century the railway works was the largest employer in the town. In the late-1970s a large part of the works closed, and the remainder followed in 1986.
In 2002 the New Swindon Company was formed with the remit to regenerate the town centre, reflecting the regional importance of Swindon.
BUSINESS IN SWINDON
Major employers include the Honda car production plant at South Marston, BMW/Mini in Stratton, mobile phone company Motorola, Dolby Labs and the retailer W H Smith which has its distribution centre and headquarters in Swindon. The computer company Intel has its European head office on the south side of the town and Lucent Technologies head office is on the west side. Insurance and financial services companies such as Nationwide Building Society and Zurich Financial Services, and pharmaceutical companies such as Patheon and Cardinal Health also have head offices in the town.
Several of the UK's Science Research Councils have their head offices in Polaris House, adjacent to the rail station. Swindon is also the location of two Tyco Electronics (a division of Tyco International) sites, based in Dorcan and Cheney Manor. The office for the household business of the FMCG supplier Reckitt Benckiser is located in Swindon.
From Wikipedia.org, the Free Encyclopedia
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Horses on Lydiard Park, Swindon
McArthur Glen Designer Outlet, a shopping complex built within the disused Swindon railway engine works
MEDIA IN SWINDON:
Swindon has one main local newspaper, the Swindon Advertiser, with sales of 21,856 per week. Other printed publications include the Swindon Star and the Swindon Link magazine.
Local Radio stations broadcasting to the town include Wiltshire's GWR FM and the more locally-focused Brunel FM in the commercial sector, with BBC Radio Swindon as a publicly funded allternative. An AM station, Classic Gold 936/1161 exists as well, but only includes local programming in the late afternoon.
Up until June 2000 Swindon did have its own local television station Swindon's Local Channel running for 20 years it was closed down when its parent company ComTel was taken over by NTL (Now Virgin Media).
Regional News programs covering Swindon include Thames Valley Tonight and The West Tonight from regional ITV1 stations and South Today (Oxford) and Points West from BBC regional outputs.
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