Swindon

Swindon
	The Mechanics' Institute in the foreground and the Murray John Tower in the background
Coordinates	51 ° 34 ′ N , 1 ° 47 ′ W Coordinates: 51 ° 34 ′ N , 1 ° 47 ′ W
OS National Grid	SU152842
	Swindon
	Swindon
Residents	155,432 (as of 2001)
surface	39.70 km² (15.33 mi² )
Population density:	3915 inhabitants per km²
administration
Post town	SWINDON
prefix	01793
Part of the country	England
Shire county	Wiltshire
Unitary authority	Swindon
British Parliament	North Swindon and South Swindon
Website: www.swindon.gov.uk

Swindon is a British city in the county of Wiltshire in the region of South West England with 155,432 inhabitants (as of 2001). Swindon has been part of the independent Borough of Swindon since 1998 . It is one of the fastest growing cities in the UK . Swindon is the headquarters of the UK Space Agency .

geography

Near Swindon

The city is located in the Thames Valley between London and Bristol and is served by the M4 Motorway , a motorway that connects Wales to London via Heathrow Airport . The municipality covers an area of 39.70 km².

The Swindon area is hilly and green all year round. The forest is not very dense. The climate is quite mild, the rainfall is usually not heavy, but spread over the whole year (an average of 720 mm per year, with July being the driest month with 47 mm and December being the wettest month with 77 mm). Frost in winter is rare.

The River Ray emerges in southwest Swindon.

Wilts and Berks Canal in Swindon

history

First settlement

The history of Swindon goes back to the time of the Romans , who already settled on and around the limestone cliffs . After the Romans, the Saxons settled in this particularly suitable place for defense. It is mentioned as Suindune in the Domesday Book . It is believed that the name comes from either the Anglo-Saxon words swine and dun (pig hill ) or Sweyn's hill (Sweyn was a local landlord ). In 1066 William the Conqueror gave Swindon to his half-brother, Bishop Odo of Bayeux . After Odo's capture, Swindon reverted to the Crown until Henry III. to William de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke . Until the middle of the 18th century Swindon was a small market town, in which mostly barter was carried out. Swindon's historic market square sits on top of the hill and is now called Old Town .

Industrial revolution

With the industrial revolution , Swindon grew rapidly. It began with the construction of the Wilts & Berks Canal in 1810 and the North Wilts Canal in 1819, two canals that boosted trade in the area.

Swindon Railway City

Perhaps the most important event in Swindon's history dates back to 1840. Swindon was chosen by Isambard Kingdom Brunel to be the location of the Great Western Railway's main workshop . Legend has it that Brunel and his assistant traveled the route between London and Bristol and stopped for lunch on the hillside where Swindon is located. The assistant (possibly Daniel Gooch , the first manager of what would later become the Swindon Railway Works locomotive works ) asked Brunel where the Great Western Railway would be located. Brunel tossed a sandwich in the air, explaining that this would be where the sandwich lands. In 1842 work began in Swindon and the need for labor rose sharply. A new residential area for the workers, now called the New Town , was built around the factories and forms the city center. Most of the workers' houses built at the time are still standing today.

In the second half of the 19th century, the area created by the Great Western Railway (Swindon New Town) was merged with the historic area around the market (Swindon Old Town) to form Swindon.

British Rail was the city's largest employer until around 1975 . However, a large part of the manufacturing facilities was then closed. The laid-off workers had to try another job at the numerous newly established companies.

After 1980

Major employers today include Honda , BMW and Intel ; several insurance and financial services companies are also based in Swindon. From 1987 the information technology company Galileo International Corporation was founded and built up in Swindon. Thames Valley is sometimes jokingly referred to as The UK's Silicon Valley (" Silicon Valley of the United Kingdom"). In mid-February 2019, Honda announced that it wanted to close its production facility with 3,500 employees in 2021.

As part of the EU-wide freedom of movement, numerous Indians have moved from Goa since around 2005, who, in addition to Indian citizenship, are also entitled to a Portuguese passport. From this group of people an estimated 20,000 people lived in the village. The city administration proved unable to provide enough classrooms for immigrant children.

traffic

Road sign of the Magic Roundabout in Swindon

Motorway M4 at Swindon

Swindon is located at the junction of the railway line coming east from London in a westerly direction to Bristol and northwards to Cheltenham , Gloucester and continuing to Birmingham . The Swindon train station is in distance and regional traffic from First Great Western operates.

It is also right on the important east-west M4 motorway between London and Bristol. Swindon is known for its many roundabouts. At almost every intersection (even very small ones) there is a roundabout, including "double roundabouts". A well-known curiosity among them is the largest roundabout in the world, the Magic Roundabout , a system of five roundabouts arranged in a ring.

The nearest airport is Bristol International Airport , 80 km away. To London Heathrow Airport , there are 105 kilometers.

Internet supply

Swindon was set to become England's first “digital city” with an investment of £ 400,000. A WLAN with 1400 access points should give residents free access to the internet (limited in time and quantity). Until the bankruptcy of the commissioned company Digital City UK in 2011, however, only the pilot project in the town of Highworth was in operation. Thereupon the project of the company UK Broadband was commissioned, with expansion to a hybrid WLAN / LTE network, but with the abandonment of free access for the residents.

Sports

The sporting flagship of the city is the Swindon Town Football Club , whose County Ground stadium is right on the Magic Roundabout .

The second well-known Swindon team is the Swindon Robins Speedway Team in the Elite League.

Attractions

A North Star series steam locomotive

The Museum of the Great Western Railway , also known as the Swindon Steam Railway Museum or STEAM, is well worth a visit . Until 2000 it was still called the Great Western Railway . It is housed in a former Great Western Railway (one of the largest of its kind in the world) that was in operation between 1843 and 1986.

The collection shows old locomotives (mostly steam-powered) in the original and in perfect condition as well as other rolling stock. Those interested in more detail can also benefit from the archive, which holds an overwhelming amount of books, magazines, photographs, drawings and plans relating to the Great Western Railway .

In the Swindon Designer Outlet on the site of the Great Western Railway Works, exterior shots were made for the series Warehouse 13 , which according to the script was set in France.