History and Heritage

“Swindon is steeped in history, with some wonderful Victorian architecture and gorgeous countryside” (Jonathan Glancey – Guardian Architecture correspondent)

Small town origins

Although the town dates back to the Roman times, Swindon's most significant event took place in 1840, when Isambard Kingdom Brunel chose the town to house the large railway works for the Great Western Railway.

Up until the mid-19th century, Swindon was a small market town, used mainly for the barter trade, The original market area ‘Old Town’, located on top of Swindon Hill, was the a bustling Wiltshire town, no larger than and in many ways far less important than nearby Highworth, Malmesbury and Marlborough. Today you will find a vibrant mix of traditional shops and pubs alongside modern outlets and stylish cafes and bars as ti has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years. It was the advent of the railways that drove Swindon’s massive expansion over the past 150 years.

The Legend of Brunel

So it is said, in 1840, Brunel and his assistant had stopped for lunch on a hillside whilst surveying the London to Bristol line and when asked by his assistant where the railway works should be, Brunel threw a sandwich into the air, declaring that the works would be built wherever the sandwich came to rest. The legacy is that Swindon became a leading centre for engineering - a place where the finest, fastest and most advanced locomotives were built anywhere in the world.

With the arrival of the Great Western Railway, William Dean, George Jackson Churchward and Charles Collett designed and built their magnificent City, Star and King locomotives. As workers flocked to Swindon and the industrial age expansion took hold, a whole new town was created between the new railway works and Swindon Hill. Over time, this area became and remains a thriving and bustling new town centre.

Architectural heritage

Much of the original features of the railway village remain intact, providing a contrast to the twentieth century modernisation. In fact the railway works is just one of Swindon’s 28 conservation areas, which together with some very interesting buildings – listed or not? - demonstrate the town’s rapid growth, functionalism and industrial heritage.

Tomorrow's heritage today

But as you’ll read elsewhere on this site, Swindon has never stopped growing, nor re-developing and re-inventing itself. Swindon people take pride in their heritage. As a place where the finest, fastest and most advanced machines of their time were designed and built, there is still much of that history in the veins of the townsfolk. The story of the Swindon Mechanics Institute is a great example of that awareness.

But, Swindon keeps moving on. It has always been a town of hard work and inspiration – the keys to all success. And today’s expansion, both economically and demographically, bring new and varied perspectives to the town’s view across the world.