Swindon is a large town located in Wiltshire in the South West of England. The town is approximately midway between Bristol (64 km / 40 miles west) and Reading (64 km / 40 miles east) and about 130 km (81 miles) west of London. It is located on the main rail line between London and Bristol, and has one main train station which was refurbished in 2005. It was designated an 'Expanded' Town under the Town Development Act 1952, which led to an increase in the population of the town.[1] It is in the borough of Swindon, which has been a unitary authority independent of Wiltshire since 1998. In the 2001 census the population of the Swindon urban area was 155,432, whilst around 184,000 lived in the Borough, which includes the satellite towns of Highworth and Wroughton. A resident of Swindon is known as a Swindonian. Swindon's motto is "Salubritas et Industria" (Health and Industry).
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 words swine and dun meaning 'pig hill', or possibly 'Sweyn's hill' where Sweyn would be the local landlord. Swindon remained a small market town, 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 an acceleration of Swindon's growth. It started with the construction of the Wilts and Berks Canal in 1810, and then the North Wilts canal in 1819. The canals brought trade to the area, and Swindon's population started to grow. In 1840, Isambard Kingdom Brunel chose Swindon as the site for the Swindon railway works he planned for the Great Western Railway. 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. More on Swindon 

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