 | Located in the county of Wiltshire in southwest England, Swindon is a large town and lies on the 'M4 Corridor' between Bristol and London. The town currently has an estimated population of 180,000 people, making it one of the fastest growing towns in the UK.
Originally a Saxon settlement, Swindon is referred to in the Domesday Book as 'Suindune' and remained a small market town until the mid-19th century.
The town's historic market area is situated on top of the hill in central Swindon and is now referred to as Old Town.
The town began to grow substantially in the mid-1800s thanks to the Industrial Revolution, which led to the construction of the Wiltshire and Berkshire canal in 1810, and the North Wiltshire canal in 1819. These two transport routes brought more trade to the area resulting in a large rise in Swindon's population.
In 1840 there was firther development when Swindon became home to the railway works for the Great Western Railway, which created many new jobs in the area and took two years to complete. To learn more about this great railway check out the Steam Railway Museum, which is housed in part of the old works.
Although the parts of the railway closed down in the 1970s, Swindon was still referred to a the 'boom town' thanks to the number of major companies setting up a base here. They include Honda, Retrac, Intel Corporation, and BMW car factories, telecommunications firms such as Motorola, and financial services companies such as Nationwide Building Society and Zurich.
Postcodes for Swindon begin with the letters SN and as well as Swindon itself the SW postcode includes Chippenham, Marlborough, Faringdon, Calne, Malmesbury, Devizes, Corsham, Pewsey, and Melksham
For sports fanatics there are two leisure centres in the town, along with the County Ground football stadium, which is home to Swindon Town FC. Alternatively you could enjoy the scenery of the town's many public parks including Lydiard Country Park, Stanton Park, Queen's Park and Coate Water.
Visitor attractions in Swindon include delights such as the Museum of Computing, the Richard Jefferies Museum, the Swindon Arts Centre, and the
Swindon Museum and Art Gallery. |
