Place:Swindon, Wiltshire, England

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NameSwindon
Alt namesSwindon St. Barnabassource: ecclesiastical parish from 1907
Old Swindonsource: part of town
New Swindonsource: part of town
Swindon New Townsource: altenate name for above
Gorsehillsource: hamlet within original parish
Penhillsource: hamlet within original parish
West Swindonsource: 20th century built-up area (possibly New Swindon)
TypeParish (ancient), Civil parish, Borough (municipal)
Coordinates51.567°N 1.783°W
Located inWiltshire, England
See alsoHighworth Cricklade and Staple Hundred, Wiltshire, Englandhundred in which it was located
Thamesdown District, Wiltshire, England1974-1997
Swindon District, Wiltshire, Englandunitary authority since 1997
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog
source: Family History Library Catalog


the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Swindon is a large town in Wiltshire in the southwest of England, between Bristol, 35 miles (56 kilometres) to the west, and Reading, the same distance east. London is 71 miles (114 km) to the east, Cardiff 60 miles (97 km) to the west and Oxford 26 miles (42 km) northeast. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 182,441, an increase of 16.2% since 2001.

The larger Borough of Swindon has a population of about 209,000, including the small town of Highworth and the large village of Wroughton. Swindon Borough Council is a unitary authority independent of Wiltshire Council since 1997. Residents of Swindon are known as Swindonians.

Swindon was named an Expanded Town under the Town Development Act 1952 and this led to a major increase in its population. Swindon railway station is on the line from London Paddington to Bristol. Swindon is home to the Oxford University Bodleian Library's book depository, which contains 153 miles (246 km) of bookshelves. It also is the location of the English Heritage National Monument Record Centre and the headquarters of the National Trust, which is on the site of the former Great Western Railway works, an earlier large industry in the town. The town and wider borough also has the headquarters of the large financial institution, Nationwide Building Society, and a Honda car manufacturing plant.

History

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Swindon. The middle section entitled "Railway Town" describes 19th century Swindon.

For a description of the Unitary Authority formed in 1997, which covers a much wider area, see Borough of Swindon.

Research Tips

Although the present local government arrangement separates Swindon from the rest of Wiltshire, the Wiltshire and Swindon Archives appears to cover both areas from their headquarters in Chippenham.

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Swindon. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.