The original Saxon settlement of Swindon sat in a defensible position atop a limestone hill. It is referred to in the Domesday Book as Suindune, a name believed to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon word swine and British word dun meaning literally pig hill, or possibly Sweyn's hill where Sweyn would be the local landlord. Swindon remained a small market town, used mainly for barter trade, until the mid-1800s. This original market area of Swindon is located on top of the hill in central Swindon and is now known as Old Town.

The industrial revolution was responsible for a great acceleration of Swindon's growth. It started with the construction of the Wiltshire and Berkshire canal in 1810, and then the North Wiltshire canal in 1819. These two major routes brought more trade to the area, and Swindon's population started to rise.

Probably the most significant event in Swindon's history occurred in 1840, when it was selected to house the large Swindon railway works for the Great Western Railway by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Legend has it that Brunel and his assistant were surveying the route of the London to Bristol line, and had stopped on a hillside for lunch. The assistant asked Brunel where he thought the railway works should be built, and Brunel threw a sandwich in the air, declaring that it would be wherever the sandwich landed.

Reality is more mundane. It was situated at a point where engines would need to be changed. Eastwards towards London the line was gently graded, while westwards there was a steep descent towards Bath. Swindon was also at the junction of a proposed line to Gloucester.

Construction of the works was completed in 1842 and the new jobs created brought many people into the town to work. Along with the railway works a small railway village was created to house some of the many railway workers. This area became the present day area known as New Town (or the Town Centre). The original Railway Village houses are still standing and are occupied, and several of the original buildings which comprised the engineering works also remain (though many are vacant). The Steam Railway Museum now occupies part of the old works.

In the second half of the 19th century the new area (Swindon New Town) created by the railway works and the original area from the market trading years (Swindon Old Town) were merged to become Swindon.

This page was last updated: 12 September 2005

Town history extracts are taken from Wikipedia and are licensed under GFDL