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Modern Swindon is very much the result of the arrival of the Great Western Railway (GWR) in the mid-19th century which built New Swindon alongside its railway track to the north of the village on the hill which gives the place its name.
Old Swindon was a small market town which suffered from poor transport links with the rest of the country and its principal industry was quarrying. The arrival of the Wilts. & Berks. Canal through the northern, low-lying, part of the parish in 1804, the better communications benefitted the economy of the town. The GWR's line ran just to the north of the canal and the easy access this offered to Somerset coal could not have failed to influence Brunel's decision to site the locomotive works in this north-eastern corner of Wiltshire.
The GWR established extensive workshops in 1843 alongside its mainline track some eighty miles from London near its juntion with the Cheltenham & Great Western Union Railway branch and the railway dominated the town for some one hundred and fifty years. New Swindon, as the railway town became known, grew rapidly to swamp its ancient neighbour on the overlooking hill but the were not united until 1900 when the Borough of Swindon was created.
The original GWR works which came into operation in January 1843 were intended as a repair and maintenance facility for the railway. Only three years later, the construction of locomotives began at Swindon under the influence of Daniel Gooch, the GWR's Locomotive Superintendent. In 1868, the company chose to site its Carriage and Wagon Works at Swindon as well and everything from locomotive to baggage barrows and station signs and even road vehicles was made in the town.
After 1870, Swindon saw the arrival of an ever-increasing number of Brunel's seven foot guage locomotives and rolling stock for breaking up. The main line itself was eventually converted to standard guage in May 1892 and this brought neary two hundred locomotives, seven hundred and forty eight passenger cars and almost three and a half thousand goods wagons to Swindon for rebuiding or dismantling.
In the years which followed the turn of the 20th century a string of new and powerful locomotives were produced at the Swindon Works under the influence of George Jackson Churchward, the GWR's Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent, which secured the Work's unrivaled reputation in Britain.
The railways were nationalized in 1948 and the GWR became the Western Region of British Railways.
After much deliberation, the unthinkable happened and the Swindon Works were closed by British Rail in 1986.
When the GWR built its Works on the greenfield site, a new community rapidly grew rapidly in its vicinity. With no tradition of heavy industry in NE Wiltshire, the company had to find much of its workforce from others areas. In the case of skilled artisans, these were found in the areas where railways had already become established such as the north of England and Scotland. The company arranged for the building of what later became known as the Railway Village to the south of the railway main line. Althought the estate of cottages was well-built by the standards of the time, it suffered from a combination of poor sanitation, overcrowding and a dubious water supply.
Further new housing was erected in the fields surrounding the railway settlement by speculative developers to house the GWR's workers. New Swindon grew to overshadow Old Swindon on its hill and the two were amalgamted formally when the Borough of Swindon was created in 1900.
MECHANICS INSTITUTE
This was established in 1843, the same year as the establishment of the GWR Works themselves. It was founded around a library of books which had been eitherpurchased or donated by interested members such as Sir Daniel Gooch (the GWR's Locomotive Superintendent). It became the social, cultural and educational centre of New Swindon. In the initial years, the Institute's events were held at the Works themselves. Later it acquired its own building on land leased from the company at a nominal rent. The new bulding and the market were opened in 1855.
New Swindon, grew rapidly around the GWR Works to swamp its ancient neighbour on the overlooking hill but the were not united until 1900 when the Borough of Swindon was created. GJ Churchyard, the GWR's Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent, became the new borough's first mayor.
see also:
SWINDON BOROUGH COUNCIL's web-site
MIDDLE STONE AGE
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NEW STONE AGE
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A large quantity of Roman coins have been recovered from Swindon ranging in date up to fourth century AD.
see also: Roman Wiltshire
RICHARD FARMER
The memorial to Jane Scholes (d.1733) of Wroughton by Richard Farmer of Swindon in the parish church of St. Mary the Virgin in Marlborough is a particularly good example of its kind.
SWINDON
WILTSHIRE
Towns & Villages of Wiltshire
GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY
Recommend a Book for this Page
Swindon and the GWR
by Richard Tomkins & Peter Sheldon, 1990, Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd., Stroud, Gloucestershire ISBN 0-86299-790-9
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