It's about 500AD that Swindon begins to appear in the record books. Was it pig keepers who fed their animals locally who were responsible for the first Swinedown?

At least Swindon had an identity. The oldest part of modern Swindon is that part of the town standing on the hill-top. Many skeletons have been discovered there from Saxon times giving the proof that the old hill was a fortified area.

Swindon, the largest town in the area, almost a small city. Often regarded as just factories and office blocks it does have a well preserved history, as well as being a good base to explore the surrounding countryside.

Once the centre of the development of the railways in this area, the railway works of Brunel were busy for over 150 years and now restored as offices and shops.

The town has developed quickly over the last few years, mainly due to its location close to the motorway, with new factories, shops, and homes.

Swindon is strategically situated at the heart of the M4 corridor, and is Wiltshire's largest town and principal economic centre, and has been identified as one of Europe's fastest growing business locations. The catalysts for this growth have been its excellent infrastructure and communications which have established the town as an important corporate head-quarters location (including facilities for some sixty American, European and Far Eastern companies) and distribution point for the West and South West regions.

The Old Town is still there today to wander around, south of the modern area. The modern shopping area, now pedestrianised, has shopping centres including the Brunel Centre, The Parade, and The Big Top Market Place, with car parking. There are restaurants, cinemas, clubs and pubs, and 3 leisure centres, as well as parks, museums and the Wyvern Theatre.

Just outside the town there are houses, gardens and parks to enjoy, and small villages to explore. Swindon became known through the Great Western Railway, Village and Workshops.

The railway village is still much the same as when first built. The whole village is listed and well looked after. The workshops and sidings have gone, all have been redeveloped. Much of the area has now become the 'Designer Outlet Village'. All the retail outlets being within the covered area all accessible from the adjacent car park area.

Swindon is in the centre one of the rapidly growing industrial regions of Great Britain, which lies west of London, along the M4 motorway. The M4 motorway was opened in December 1971, and links London with South Wales and the West Country, making journeys between the capital and Bristol to Cardiff much easier and quicker.

Patterns of travel have changed significantly and it is now possibly to live in the local countryside and be able to commute to the capital daily. Various high-tech firms and major business companies have been attracted by the magnet of the M4 motorway and easy train travel along the western corridor industrial development.

The attraction of these major travel links, allow modern footloose industries not to be bound to a specific location and have easy access to the chief british market in London. London's Heathrow Airport and Bristol Airport are conveniently close to the M4, so business journeys to the USA, Europe and other major markets are made more acceptable. Microelectronic companies have also located their business on the western corridor to attract highly skilled scientific staff, who are easily recruited from the universities of London and the south.

Great Western Railway 1913 Bygones
Here we see workers leaving the Great Western Railway yard, which at one time employed 12,000 people. The sheer size of the building indicates the importance of the railway to the town.

The Great Western Railway had its locomotive works here; some of England’s most famous steam engines were made in this factory. As railway services contracted, a major rationalisation in the 1980s saw the unthinkable happen - the Swindon works closed