Swindon is a town in Wiltshire in the South West of England. People have lived in the town since the Bronze Age and the town's location, being approximately halfway between Bristol and London, made it an ideal location for the Locomotive Factories of the Great Western Railway in the 19th century.
Swindon has grown from a population of just 1,198 in 1801 to over 150,000 in 2001.
Pre-history The modern town of Swindon is built on and around a hill that stands over above sea-level, now known as Swindon Hill. Its location to the north of the Marlborough Downs and on the southern end of the Vale of White Horse, with access to the River Cole and others, made it suitable for use as farming land.
There have been settlements around the hill since pre-historic times, but no clear evidence of occupation on the hill has been found. Central parts of Swindon Hill and the Old Town have been extensively quarried, especially beds of Purbeck Stone, as is clearly evidenced in the first British Geological Survey for the area. There is no clear evidence of any substantial fortifications.
However, digs around Swindon's former quarry sites and during building works have uncovered limited prehistoric finds, including Bronze Age relics, with suggested burials, flint tools, and pottery. Later Iron Age artifacts have also been found. Overall there is limited survival potential in the area of Old Town, but what remains is locally relevant.
Archaeological excavations around Swindon Hill have revealed pre-Roman farms and an additional Iron Age farm complex was discovered on lowlands to the north of Swindon in the 1970s. There are various monuments and earthworks nearby, including Liddington Castle, Barbury Castle, Avebury and the White Horses of Uffington, Hackpen and Marlborough.
In addition to later prehistoric occupation, Mesolithic activity can be considered as probable on the hill around Old Town, but the evidence is now very likely lost to urbanization. A cluster of Mesolithic and other flint finds are listed (Sites and Monuments Records and Historic Environment Records) along the low ridges formed by the Jurassic outcrop which underlies Old Town, the west end of which was quarried. This includes an area around the public park called The Lawns, which straddles either side of a stream channel, just to the east of Old Town. The finds are from various building works on the higher ground to the south and west of the old stream. Further Sites and Monuments Records show Mesolithic and other prehistoric lithics have been identified in multiple places along the low ridge running south-west from Swindon Hill (at the highest and most westerly part) beyond Coate Water Country Park, in close proximity to the Coate Stone Circle, and to the east of the Dorcan Stream.
A D Passmore, a member of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society and The Prehistoric Society, noted a possible sarsen stone setting somewhere beyond the current northern limit of The Lawns, on the slightly higher ground north of the current public park, but now lost to 19th and 20th century urbanization. He also noted various other stone settings and rows around the area, not all clearly located, but including features around the modern Coate Water Country Park. Archaeological opinion has differed on the status of Passmore's interpretation, with some suggesting that all of the stones were natural, and likely sets of sarsen erratic boulders, presumably derived as a lag deposit from long dissolved chalk and possibly moved by very ancient glaciations. It is, however, noteworthy that the only stones noted by Passmore which have survived urbanization, expedient quarrying, and other destruction, form the Coate Stone Circle. This is protected by English Heritage, and understood to be a stone circle of unknown date. It is unclear whether all the stones actually stood on their longest axis, making the circle potentially akin to a recumbent stone circle, rather than standing stones. The surviving circuit of stones is well buried in the soil, with only low and wide tops showing. There has been very limited field investigation, but this has included a geophysical survey.
To the west and south of Coate Stone Circle, on the slightly higher ground, the Oxford Archaeology Unit and Wessex Archaeology Unit identified and reported in 2006 and 2007 a large spread of Mesolithic finds found through fieldwalking. This is in close proximity to a feature listed as the "Coate Mound" in the Historic Environment Records for Wiltshire. Just to the east of the Coate Stone Circle is the current channeled form of the Dorcan Stream, arising as one of several small but active natural springs from the area around the south, around the hill at Badbury Wick, itself a site of Bronze Age occupation. Beyond the eastern side of the Dorcan Stream, the ground rises, and on the top/edge of the west-facing slope, with a view back over the stream, and towards the area of Coate Stone Circle, a further assemblage of Mesolithic finds was recovered during housing development in 2014, as well as evidence of other prehistoric activity, including Bronze Age cremations and a rock-cut ring ditch.
The Historic Environment Records show further evidence of scattered Bronze Age occupation around the site of the Great Western Hospital. However, clear Neolithic evidence is quite limited for the areas discussed. Iron Age occupation has been identified and excavated in fields to the north of Coate Stone Circle, and a survey of nearby round barrow features has been conducted. Further survey of earthworks immediately to the north of Coate Stone Circle suggests the remains of a medieval settlement of the Deserted Medieval Village type. Additionally, a Romano-British farmstead has been located in the low-lying fields just to the south of Coate Stone Circle.http://www.largeimages.bgs.ac.uk/iip/mapsportal.html?id=1001745
The Romans in Swindon
A Roman town called Durocornovium existed to the east of Swindon from the 1st to 4th centuries, located in present-day Wanborough. It is probable that Swindon began life as a settlement linked to a military encampment in the early days of the Roman occupation. The place that is now Swindon was on the junction of two Roman roads, one leading south from Cirencester towards Marlborough and the other south eastwards to Silchester (see Ermin Way). Evidence exists to show that Swindon's quarries were in use at this time to produce stone for villas and clay from the Whitehill region (now West Swindon) was used to produce Whitehill Ware pottery.
Burial grounds dating to the 4th century have been found in Purton, but the most substantial find was made in 1996, when contractors developing an area of Groundwell Ridge uncovered the buried walls of Roman buildings. Described as "a site of great importance, with a large complex of buildings, a hypocaust (a system of under-floor heating, usually found as part of Roman bath houses), walls covered with painted plaster and a carefully designed and constructed water supply.", the area is now owned by Swindon Borough Council and English Heritage, and is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. On 28 and 29 June 2003 the site was featured as parts of Channel 4's archaeological television programme Time Team in its 'Big Dig' weekend.
The Anglo-Saxons
With the recall of the legions to Rome in the 5th century, the Roman settlements around Swindon declined rapidly. Although Germanic settlers may have been present earlier, the West Saxons advanced from the south coast in the 5th century and brought Swindon under their control after the Battle of Beranburgh, reportedly at Barbury Castle in 556.
There is some possibility of another battle fought against the native Romano-Britons at Wanborough in 591. Claims have been made that a further battle was fought at Wanborough in 717 between Ceolred, King of Mercia, and Ine, King of Wessex, and the area was still in dispute in 825 as demonstrated by the Battle of Ellandun
The West Saxons built a farming community based on the top of Swindon Hill, with remains of wood-framed and Plaster huts found near to Market Square. Anglo-Saxon pottery and cloth finds suggest the town was still occupied throughout the 6th and 7th centuries.
The Anglo-Saxons left many lasting marks on the landscape and surroundings, including names for local places and features and ultimately the future name of Swindon, possibly derived from the words "Swine" for "Pig" and "Down" for "Hill".
Medieval Swindon
Recorded in the Domesday Book as both Suindone and Suindune in 1086, the settlement was assessed at 12¾ hides and divided into five holdings. The largest holding, under the ownership of Miles Crispin and Odin the Chamberlain, was later known as the manor of High Swindon. Five hides, known as the manor of Nethercott, were owned by Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, Earl of Kent, and half-brother of King William the Conqueror. Other holdings recorded in the Domesday Book are at West Swindon, where 2 hides were held by Ulward and 1½ by Alvred of Marlborough. Smaller estates at Walcot, Even Swindon and Broome are also noted.
Following the imprisonment of Odo for having planned a military expedition to Italy, High Swindon reverted to the Crown until the reign of Henry III in the 13th century who gave it to William de Valence, Earl of Pembroke. Under the ownership of William de Valence it is recorded that, in 1259, the first documented market was held in Swindon.
The first recorded members of parliament for Swindon are John Ildhelfe and Richard Pernaunt, who were elected to the Model Parliament of King Edward I in 1295. Swindon became part of the constituency of Cricklade in 1660.
In 1334 there were 248 poll tax payers in the town.
The oldest recorded street in the town is Newport Street, near the cattle market (dated 1346), originally called Nyweport Street meaning 'New Market'. The cellars of some houses in modern-day Newport Street are thought to date back to this era.
During the 14th century, the manor of High Swindon was known as Hegherswyndon. High Swindon has perhaps seen the least development of all the manors, remaining largely unchanged until the 19th century.
During the period from 1086 onwards, the boundaries of High and West Swindon were re-arranged into Over and Nether Swindon, which became known as West and East Swindon in the 16th century. Nethercott became the manors of Eastcott and Westcott in the same century. Eastcott was bought by the Vilett family in the 18th century (now marked by Eastcott Hill in today's town) and Westcott was purchased by the Goddard family in the 18th century. In 1563, the manor of Swindon (East and West Swindon) was purchased by Thomas Goddard. At the time of the purchase, Swindon's economy revolved around agriculture, with sheep farms to the south, pigs and cattle to the north, supported by trades such as tanners and woolmongers in the town.
The 1700s An Ecclesiastical Count (a type of 'guess census', an estimation of growth from 25 years previous performed by the Christian Church) was undertaken in 1705. The figures for Swindon show – 600 men, women, children and 26 freeholders. With the Goddard's now owning the Manor of Swindon in its entirety, and being by right Lords of the Manor – their income from rent, leases and taxation increased. In 1717, the Michaelmas Day assizes for rent due to the Lord of Manor show 45 tenants and 34 Leaseholders (rent due on Michaelmas and Lady Day for leases). One record from the time shows – 'Richard York, paying eight pence a year for "his house late a barn"'.
The main sources of revenue for the town were now from agriculture, livestock and quarrying with the Purbeck Stone quarries being worked to provide stone for minor expansion and housebuilding.