In 1840, Isambard Kingdom Brunel 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 storeys 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 now occupies 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.^[2][3]

The Mechanics' Institute (http://www.new-mechanics.com/), formed in 1844, moved into a building looking not unlike a church, although including a covered market, on May 1, 1855. The New Swindon Improvement Company, a co-operative, raised the funds for this cathedral to self-improvement, and paid the GWR £40 a year for its new home on a commanding 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.^[4] Some claim that GWR Chief Engineer Daniel Gooch had got the railway to fund the Institute.^[5]

It offered the aspiring poor the UK's first lending library,^[6] and a range of improving lectures, access to a theatre and worthy pastimes 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.^[7]

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.^[8]

Swindon's ‘other’ railway, the Swindon, Marlborough & 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. The Old Town, the original market town, merged with its newer neighbour at the bottom of the hill to become a single Swindon.

Geography and climate

The town has an area of approximately 40 km² (25.33 mi²).

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.

• (51°33′51″N 1°46′15″W / 51.56417°N 1.77083°W / 51.56417; -1.77083)
• grid reference SU150850
• Nearby towns and cities: Chippenham, Wootton Bassett, Cirencester, Cricklade, Highworth, Marlborough, Malmesbury, Calne
• Nearby villages: Aldbourne, Blunsdon, Chiseldon, Hook, Lambourn, Liddington, Lydiard Millicent, Purton, Ramsbury, Wanborough, Wroughton
• Nearby places of interest: Avebury, Barbury Castle, Crofton Pumping Station, Silbury Hill, Stonehenge, Uffington White Horse
• Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Swindon include - Coate Water, Great Quarry, Haydon Meadow, Okus Quarry, Old Town Railway Cutting and Lydiard Country Park

Demographics

At the census of 2001 there were 180,061 people and 75,154 occupied houses in the Swindon Unitary Authority.^[18] 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.

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.

It has been 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.^[19] Swindon's sizeable population and large urban expanse has raised the question as to whether it should be granted city status.

Swindon is considered to be a microcosm of the whole United Kingdom in its demographic make-up, to the extent that it has been used for market research purposes and trials of new products and services. One example was the ill-fated Mondex electronic money.

Religious communities include Church of England, Catholic, Mormon, and one of the largest Sikh temples in the UK. More people have joined the Hare Krishna movement in Swindon than in any other English town^{[citation needed]}.

In May 2007 65.3% of households in Swindon had broadband Internet access, the highest in the UK, up 5.5% from June 2006.^[20]

A 2007 report by Endsleigh Insurance concluded that the town was the second safest place to live in the UK, second only to Guildford in Surrey.^[21] This was based on the number of insurance claims made in the region and the incidence of burglaries and accidents reported. Endsleigh commented that "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.

Business

Major employers include the Honda 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; and retailer W H Smith's distribution centre and headquarters. The computer 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 Cardinal Health have their UK divisions headquartered in the town. Swindon also has the registered Head Office of the National Trust

Other employers include several of the national Research Councils, the British Computer Society, Alcatel-Lucent, eCommerce provider Shopatron, divisions of Tyco International, consumer goods supplier Reckitt Benckiser and a branch of Becton Dickinson

Transport

The Magic Roundabout

Main article: Transport in Swindon

At the junction of two Roman roads, the town has developed over the centuries, with the assistance of the GWR and the canals, 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.^[28]
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.

Roundabouts

The town is notable for its roundabouts and there is even a calendar featuring a different roundabout each month.^[29]

The best-known roundabout is the 'Magic Roundabout', which is not one roundabout but five,^[30] on at the junction of five roads including Drove Road, Queens Drive and Fleming Way. 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.

Tourism and recreation

Events

• Swindon was chosen to be the host of Radio 1's Big Weekend in 2009. The event was held in Lydiard Park over the weekend of 9 and 10 May 2009.
• The town has a live music scene, venues such as The Beehive, Riffs Bar, The 12 Bar and The Victoria attract local acts as well as touring national acts and host Swindon's annual music festival the Swindon Shuffle.^[31][32]. The Oasis Leisure Centre and the County Ground are also used for some of the more major events.
• The Arts Centre, located in Old Town, is a 212 seater theatre which features all types of music, professional and amateur theatre, nationally-recognised comedians, films, children's events, and one-man shows.
• The Wyvern Theatre features events in areas such as film, comedy, and music.
• Swindon hosts festivals such as the Swindon Festival of Literature and the annual Swindon Mela "An all day celebration of south indian arts and culture" in the Town Gardens (an event which attracts up to 10,000 visitors each year)

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 Canal (where an original canal milepost can still be seen).

Retail parks include Greenbridge, West Swindon Shopping Centre, Stratton and the Orbital Shopping Park.

McArthur Glen Designer 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 Museum.In Late 2008 The Swindon Designer Outlet opened its doors to extended opening hours!

Craft shops within Studley Grange Craft Village, inside Blooms Garden Centre, just off Junction 16 of the M4.

Small specialist shops within BSS House in Cheney Manor Industrial Park and Basepoint Business Centre.

Green spaces

• Public parks include Lydiard Country Park, Stanton Park, Barbury Castle, Queens Park, Town Gardens and Coate Water.
• Shaw Community Forest is being developed on the site of a former landfill site in West Swindon.

Sporting facilities

• Two leisure centres, the Link Centre and the Oasis.
• Broome Manor Golf Complex is a golf course set against the backdrop of the Marlborough Downs.
• The Highworth Rec is also a fantastic swimming destination
• Milton Road health hydro boasts an impressive competetitve training pool at 33m that is used for both casual and club swimming.

Other

• The National Monuments Record Centre, the public archive of English Heritage is based in Swindon.

Film and television location

• Swindon was used as a backdrop to a 1994 commercial for Benylin cough medicine. The advert featured a shot of Britain and then zoomed in and cut to aerial views of Swindon, stopping at a bathroom window at number 29 Falconscroft, Covingham.

• The long-running television series Casualty has used Swindon locations for two of its episodes. The Oasis Leisure Centre featured in the 1994 episode "Only The Lonely", and Wroughton Airfield was used to recreate a huge motorway crash in the 1997 episode "The Golden Hour".

• In 1999 a television advertising campaign for the Honda Civic was shot in the town. The adverts were aired during July/August. Locations included Covingham, West Swindon, Lydiard Park, the town centre, and Lawn Junior School.

• In 1985 Norman Foster's Renault building in West Swindon appeared in the James Bond film A View to a Kill.

• In 1999 the Motorola Building in North Swindon was used as a filming location for the James Bond film The World is Not Enough

Further education

New College 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.

University-level education

The University of Bath in Swindon was established in 2000, with its Oakfield Campus in Walcot, east Swindon, although the campus will soon close.

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 the MP for Swindon South, Anne Snelgrove, for a university-level institution to be established in the town within a decade, culminating in a future 'University of Swindon'. 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.

Museums and cultural institutions

National Museum of Science & Industry, Wroughton

Railway Village Museum

Richard Jefferies Museum is dedicated to the memory of one of England's most individual writers on nature and the countryside.

Steam Railway Museum

Swindon Arts Centre is a theatre and cinema venue, gallery, and meeting place for arts-related activities.

Wyvern Theatre is the town's principal stage venue

Swindon Museum and Art Gallery

Sports

Football

Swindon Town F.C., play in League One (third tier) at the County Ground near Swindon 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. 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. 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 and Phil King. Notable former managers include Lou Macari, Ossie Ardiles, Glenn Hoddle, John Gorman, Steve McMahon, Jimmy Quinn (a former player of the club), Colin Todd, Andy King, 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 League 

Motor sports

Main article: Swindon Robins

• Swindon Robins - Speedway team competing in the Elite League. The team has operated at the Abbey Stadium, Blunsdon since the middle of 1949. Proposals to redevelop the Abbey Stadium are under consideration. Speedway operated at a track in the Gorse Hill area of Swindon in the early days of the sport (late 1920s/early 1930s).
• Foxhill, an internationally renowned motocross circuit is six miles south east of the town. The circuit has staged Grand Prix events, and has been cited as the venue for the British Motocross Grand Prix in 2008.

Other sports

• Swindon Wildcats,Swindon Top Cats and Swindon Panthers - Ice hockey teams who play at the 6000 capacity Link Centre ice rink
• Swindon Flames - Roller Hockey team who train at Croft Sports Centre.
• Swindon Sonics - Basketball team who compete at the Link Centre.
• Swindon St George ARLFC - Amateur Rugby League club.
• Swindon RFC - Amateur Rugby Union club.
• Swindon Hockey Club - Amateur field hockey club.
• Swindon Road Club - Cycling club.
• There are gliding clubs at Sandhill Farm near Shrivenham and Aston Down airfield near Cirencester.
• Swindon Badminton Club is based at Isambard Kingdom Brunel school and plays matches at New College.

Twin towns

Swindon is twinned with:

• Salzgitter, Germany, since 1975^[35]
• Ocotal, Nicaragua, since 1990^[35][36]
• Toruñ, Poland, since 2003^[35]
• Chattanooga, USA, since 2006^[37]

In popular culture

• Books set in Swindon include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon, the Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fforde, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's detective, Sherlock Holmes, who ate lunch in the town in the short story The Boscombe Valley Mystery. Fforde's Thursday Next novels feature an alternative-universe Swindon that includes a parodic "Seven Wonders of Swindon", . Fforde makes the city a character in the fiction.

• Robert Goddard's Into the Blue, Out of the Sun and most recently "Never Go Back" feature the central character of Harry Barnett from Swindon, and all three novels start in the town. The TV detective series A Touch of Frost starring David Jason is often set in or around Swindon (called "Denton" in the series) and early episodes feature briefings of the detective team in front of maps of the Swindon area.

• The British television comedy series The Office contains many references to Swindon, as Swindon was home to a newly absorbed part of Wernham-Hogg's Slough office after significant downsizing.

• The town was referred to heavily in a 1998 episode of The Comic Strip titled "Four Men in a Car" in which Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmundson et al. attempt to get to Swindon for a sales conference. and featured Mayall's frequent lament "I just want to get to Swindon".

• The British television series Red Dwarf makes a reference to the town in series seven, in the episode Epideme. The character Dave Lister dies and is brought back from the dead. Upon being asked what death was like, he replies "Have you ever been to Swindon?"

• The father of The Nice Family (a caricature of a strictly disciplined, dull family) in Channel 4's "Absolutely" exclaims "By Swindon, this is an inspiring tale!" during a particularly boring presentation by a travelling salesman.

• Comedian Eddie Izzard typically uses Swindon as the base of a fictitious 1960s British moon landing attempt that uses a series of ladders. In his live recording Dress to Kill, the San Francisco-based audience fails to recognise the reference and he makes light of this:

There should be a bigger laugh for that joke, I think.

Yeah, I can't quite understand it; I thought it was really funny. Swindon, a knackered, kind of Fresno town.

They don't seem to be going for it.

They're obviously bastards.

—Eddie Izzard, Dress to Kill (1999)^[38]

• Actress Diana Dors was born in Swindon in 1931

James Bond

• James Bond author Ian Fleming is buried in the Borough at Sevenhampton.
• Two James Bond films have used Swindon for scenes.^[39]
  • The former Renault building in West Swindon was used in A View to a Kill (released 1985).^[40]
  • The futuristic Motorola production plant in Abbey Meads was used for a setting of a Turkish Oil refinery in The World Is Not Enough (released 1999).

In music

The rock band XTC, formed in 1977, are from Swindon, as are members of the related act Shriekback. XTC's co-founder guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and graphic artist Andy Partridge still lives in the town.

Liam Gallagher, frontman of the rock band Oasis chose the name of the band after seeing Swindon's Oasis swimming pool and leisure centre on a poster for Inspiral Carpets, whilst his brother Noel Gallagher worked as a roadie for a band.

Supertramp keyboard player and singer Rick Davies comes from Swindon. The sleeve art for Breakfast in America shows the band's members in an American diner reading their hometowns' newspapers, Davies is reading Swindon's Evening Advertiser (since renamed as the Swindon Advertiser).

Moody Blues' vocalist, lead guitarist and songwriter Justin Hayward is from Swindon. He wrote their biggest hit Nights in White Satin.

Electronic music outfit Meat Beat Manifesto were formed in Swindon in 1987.

1970s novelty act The Barron Knights released The Swindon Cowboy as the B-side of their 1980 single Never Mind the Presents. Written after the band played a gig in town, it gently mocks the Swindon accent.

Actress and singer Billie Piper was born in Swindon in 1982.

Alex Yeoman, better known as the bass player from Captain (or as his current alter-ego, the YouTube sensation 'Antan Debt'), is from Swindon.^[41][42]

9 and 10 May 2009 will see Swindon hosting the BBC Radio1 Big Weekend at Lydiard Park - [2]

Former Take That and now solo artist Robbie Williams lives just outside the town in the same county of Wiltshire.