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Top Attractions in Swindon

Chiseldon

Chiseldon is a village and civil parish in the borough of Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It takes its name from the Old English cisel dene, or gravel valley, being noted in the Domesday Book as Chiseldene. The village lies on the edge of the Marlborough Downs, a mile south of junction 15 of the M4 motorway, on the A346 between Swindon and Marlborough. The hamlets of Draycot Foliat, Hodson, Badbury and Liddington are nearby, and the village of Wroughton is around two miles to the west. The village houses a school, the Chiseldon Primary School, which currently has some 158 pupils enrolled, most of them from the village itself. The Holy Cross Church is also located in Chiseldon. The church was built in the thirteenth century along with other local churches in Ogbourne St. George and Ogbourne St. Andrew. The village has a surgery, as well as two hotels one of which is Chiseldon House Hotel, an attractive historic property. It also has an Esso petrol station, two shops and various other businesses. The engineering consultancy firm Halcrow Group Limited, soon to be CH2MHill, operates from Burderop Park, located in the parish. There are two pubs in the village, The Patriots Arms and the Plough Inn. There is also the Social Club. The Elm Tree Pub has now closed down; this was originally a thatched beer house and was constructed in 1845 . The pub was named after the elm tree which was located on the village green until the 1970s. Chiseldon telephone exchange serves 1048 residential and 39 non-residential properties.

Liddington Castle

Liddington Castle, locally called Liddington Camp, is a late Bronze Age and early Iron Age hill fort in the English county of Wiltshire. It is sited on a commanding high points close to The Ridgeway and covers an area of 3ha. Liddington Castle was one of the earliest hill forts in Britain, with first occupation dating to the seventh century BC. The earthworks consist of a relatively simple oval bank of timber and earth fronted by a ditch, with opposing causewayed entrances on the east and west sides. The western entrance was later blocked off and the eastern one may have been lined with sarsen stones. A palisade of wooden posts may have lined the top of the bank. During a later phase the bank and ditch were improved and a rampart of dumped chalk, excavated from the enlarged ditch, increased the height of the bank. Excavation within the hill fort revealed a large pit 1.5m in diameter and at least 2.4m deep. The bottom of the feature was not reached and it was interpreted by the archaeologists who dug it as a ritual shaft. Similar shafts have been recorded at Wapley Hill in Herefordshire and Cadbury Castle in Devon. Finds of pottery suggest Liddington Castle was abandoned during the fifth century BC, with perhaps some later re-occupation during the Roman period. Liddington Castle is sometimes suggested as a possible site of Mount Badon and thus the location of the late fifth century AD Battle of Mount Badon from Gildas. There is, however, no archaeological evidence to indicate activity during this later period. Liddington Castle was the favourite haunt of local writer of natural history and rural life, Richard Jefferies, who spent much of his spare time walking through the wide chalk expanses of the Marlborough Downs. It was on this summit that he relates in The Story of My Heart that his unusual sensitivity to nature began to induce in him a powerful inner awakening a desire for a larger existence or reality. Unlike the neighbouring castles of Uffington and Barbury, Liddington Castle is relatively unvisited in spite of being a clearly visible landmark to the millions who pass along the M4 motorway south of Swindon. While accessible by a permissive footpath and less than a mile from The Ridgeway it is not served by a car park, hence any visitor will usually find themselves quite alone to enjoy its secluded atmosphere. Liddington Castle, at 277 metres , is the highest point in the Borough of Swindon

Swindon Designer Outlet

Swindon Designer Outlet is a covered designer outlet in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The outlet occupies the restored Great Western railway works and is owned by McArthur Glen. Built by Tarmac Construction and opened in March 1997, it is located a few miles from junction 16 of the M4 motorway. Ten million people live within 90 minutes drive of the outlet and 3 million shoppers visit each year. Capacity for parking is 1,850. There are 105 stores, including a John Lewis Home Outlet, LK Bennett, Hobbs, Polo Ralph Lauren, Next Clearance, Tommy Hilfiger, Jaeger, Thorntons, Whittard of Chelsea, Gap Outlet and Superdry In the eating area, a steam locomotive that was built at Swindon is on display. The Severn Valley Railways GWR 7800 Manor Class No. 7819 Hinton Manor has been on display there since 2007 after replacing the railways GWR 4900 Hall Class No. 4930 Hagley Hall.

County Cricket Ground

The County Ground is a cricket ground in Swindon, Wiltshire. The ground is located to the north of the County Football Ground used by Swindon Town. The ground was established in 1866, when Great Western Railway Swindon played Welsh Wanderers. The first Minor Counties Championship match played on the ground was in 1897 between Wiltshire and Glamorgan. From 1897 to 1998 it hosted 84 Minor Counties matches, with the last being against Wiltshire and Wales Minor Counties. In 1967, the ground hosted its only first-class match to date between a combined Minor Counties team and the touring Pakistanis. The first List-A match played on the ground came in the 1970 John Player League between Gloucestershire and Sussex. Gloucestershire used the ground for seven List-A matches from 1970 to 1992. Wiltshire used the ground in two List-A matches against Northamptonshire in the 1983 NatWest Trophy and Leicestershire in the 1984 NatWest Trophy. The ground has also played host to two international matches. Firstly in the 1982 ICC Trophy between Bangladesh and East Africa and secondly between Canada and Gibraltar in the 1986 ICC Trophy. In local domestic cricket, the County Ground is the home ground of Swindon Cricket Club.

St John the Baptist Church

St John the Baptist Church in Inglesham, Swindon, Wiltshire, England, has Anglo-Saxon origins but most of the current structure was built around 1205. Much of the church has not changed since the medieval era. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is now a redundant church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It was declared redundant on 1 April 1980 and was vested in the Trust on 28 October 1981. The church is just above the surrounding water meadows next to the confluence of the River Thames, River Coln and the Thames and Severn Canal. St John's was a particular favourite of John Betjeman an English poet, writer and broadcaster who was a founding member of the Victorian Society and Poets Laureate. Richard Taylor presenter of BBC Four's Churches: How To Read Them picked Inglesham as his favourite of the hundreds of churches he visited for the television programme, saying "It was a totally unassuming building, sat in the middle of the countryside. But, despite its humble appearance, inside, this church told the story of over 1,000 years of religious history from Anglo-Saxon carvings on one wall, to medieval wall paintings on another and then passages from the Bible etched elsewhere from the Reformation." The programme also presented resistance by a local artist, William Morris, a founder of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings against Victorian redevelopment as a story of local campaigning in the 1880s. Much of the fabric of the building is from the 13th century, but includes remains of an earlier church on the site. The interior includes wall paintings spanning over 600 years and often one of top of the other up to seven layers thick. There is also a carving of the Mother and Child which dates from the Anglo-Saxon era. Until 1910 the carving was on the outside of the church attached to the south wall and used as a sundial. There are also historic box pews, pulpit and memorials.

Wilts & Berks Canal

The Wilts & Berks Canal is a canal in the historic counties of Wiltshire and Berkshire, England, linking the Kennet and Avon Canal at Semington, near Melksham, to the River Thames at Abingdon. The North Wilts Canal merged with it to become a branch to the Thames and Severn Canal at Latton near Cricklade. Among professional trades boatmen, the canal was nicknamed the Ippey Cut, possibly short for Chippenham. The 52-mile canal was opened in 1810, but abandoned in 1914 – a fate hastened by the collapse of Stanley aqueduct in 1901. Much of the canal subsequently became unnavigable: many of the structures were deliberately damaged by army demolition exercises; parts of the route were filled in and in some cases built over. In 1977 the Wilts & Berks Canal Amenity Group was formed with a view to full restoration of the canal. Several locks and bridges have since been restored, and over 8 miles of the canal have been rewatered.

Swindon Art Gallery

Swindon Art Gallery is located in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It includes a collection of 20th-century British art, one of the best in the country outside London. The collection was established in 1944 by a local benefactor, H.J.P. Bomford, through a significant donation of artworks. Swindon Museum and Art Gallerys collection focuses on major artists and movements of 20th and 21st century British art, with several works presented by the Art Fund and the Contemporary Art Society. Artists in the collection include Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, Lucian Freud, Graham Sutherland, L S Lowry, Paul Nash, Steven Pippin, Terry Frost, Roger Hilton, Howard Hodgkin, John Hoyland, Richard Hamilton, Gwen John, Augustus John, Maggi Hambling, John Bellany, Tony Bevan, Ivon Hitchens, John Piper, Christopher le Brun, Dennis Creffield, Lisa Milroy, Julie Umerle, David Leach, Lucie Rie and Hans Coper. The media include paintings, photography and studio pottery. Swindon Museum is located next to the gallery. Swindon Museum and Art Gallery is one of the venues for the Swindon Festival of Literature.

Blunsdon railway station

Blunsdon railway station is a heritage railway station serving the village of Blunsdon, north of Swindon in Wiltshire, England. It was one of the last to be opened by the Midland and South Western Junction Railway in 1895 on a railway that had opened in 1883. It was little more than a single-platform halt, and milk was the main traffic. It also had a single siding, used for such traffic as fertiliser and other agricultural requirements. It was also one of the first stations on the route to be closed. Passenger traffic ceased in 1924, though regular trains had stopped calling in 1922, leaving one solitary passenger train service stopping at Blunsdon on a Sunday. Goods traffic ceased in 1937. The site became the headquarters of the Swindon and Cricklade Railway in the late 1970s because it offered the best road access to the trackbed between Swindon and Cricklade. By that time, almost every trace of the original station had gone, and the present structures are all new. Blunsdon station is actually within the boundaries of Purton, and the Purton area probably produced most of its original business. Unsubstantiated tradition says the station was named Blunsdon to avoid confusion with the Great Western station already existing in Purton village. Blunsdon St Andrew village is more than two miles away. Blunsdon station offers a variety of services including the Swindon and Cricklade railway shop, canteen/buffet, toilets and car parking space.
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