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England Wiltshire  Swindon

Guide to Swindon, Wiltshire ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



History
Swindon is a large town, in the ceremonial county of Wiltshire, South West England, midway between Bristol, 35 miles (56 kilometres) to the west and Reading, 35 miles (56 km) to the east. London is 78 miles (126 km) to the east, and Cardiff is 78 miles (126 km) to the west. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 182,441.

The original Anglo-Saxon settlement of Swindon sat in a defensible position atop a limestone hill. It is referred to in the Domesday Book as Suindune, believed to be derived from the Old English words "swine" and "dun" meaning "pig hill" or possibly Sweyn's hill, where Sweyn is a personal name.

Swindon was a small market town, mainly for barter trade, until roughly 1848. This original market area is on top of the hill in central Swindon, 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 the North Wilts Canal in 1819. The canals brought trade to the area and Swindon's population started to grow.

Between 1841 and 1842, Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Swindon Works was built for the repair and maintenance of locomotives on the Great Western Railway(GWR). The GWR built a small railway village to house some of its workers. The Steam Railway Museum and English Heritage, including the English Heritage Archive, now occupy part of the old works. In the village were the GWR Medical Fund Clinic at Park House and its hospital, both on Faringdon Road, and the 1892 health center in Milton Road – which housed clinics, a pharmacy, laundries, baths, Turkish baths and swimming pools – was almost opposite.

From 1871, GWR workers had a small amount deducted from their weekly pay and put into a healthcare fund – its doctors could prescribe them or their family members free medicines or send them for medical treatment. In 1878 the fund began providing artificial limbs made by craftsmen from the carriage and wagon works, and nine years later opened its first dental surgery. In his first few months in post the dentist extracted more than 2000 teeth. From the opening in 1892 of the Health Center, a doctor could also prescribe a haircut or even a bath. The cradle-to-grave extent of this service was later used as a blueprint for the NHS.

On 1 July 1923, the GWR took over the largely single-track M&SWJR and the line northwards from Swindon Town was diverted to Swindon Junction station, leaving the Town station with only the line south to Andover and Salisbury. The last passenger trains on what had been the SM&A ran on 10 September 1961, 80 years after the railway's first stretch opened.

During the first half of the 20th century, the railway works was the town's largest employer and one of the biggest in the country, employing more than 14,500 workers. The closure of the railway works (which had been in decline for many years) was a major blow to Swindon.

Because of this and the major growth in population diversification was continued at a rapid pace and the town now has all the features of a successful urban/rural council in the Outer South East Zone.

Cemeteries (Civil)
Swindon has 3 cemeteries and or crematoria. Information follows:

Whitworth Road Cemetery:


 * Whitworth Rd
 * Swindon SN25 3BG
 * Phone: +44 1793 523081

St Margaret Cemetery


 * Grange Dr
 * Swindon SN3 4JY

Kingsdown Crematorium


 * Kingsdown Ln
 * Swindon SN25 6SG
 * Phone: +44 1793 822259

Parishes
Swindon has a number of Anglican churches, and many of these have attached graveyards. These follow::

All Saints


 * Church Pl
 * Lydiard Millicent
 * Swindon SN5 3NE
 * Phone: +44 1793 772417

Christ Church


 * 26 Cricklade St
 * Swindon SN1 3HG
 * Phone: +44 1793 522832

St Margaret's


 * Stratton St
 * Swindon SN3 4YA

St Peter's


 * Penhill Dr
 * Swindon SN2
 * Phone: +44 1793 721921

St Andrew's


 * Parsonage Farm Hse
 * 21 Church Rd
 * Wanborough, Swindon SN4 0BZ

St Bartholomew's

Royal Wootton Bassett, Swindon SN4 7BQ
 * 1 Church St
 * Phone: +44 1793 853272

St Mark's


 * Church Pl
 * Swindon SN1 5EH

St John's

Haydon Wick, Wiltshire, SN25 4QP
 * Thames Avenue/Westfield Way
 * Phone: +44 1793 726000

St Saviour's


 * Ashford Rd
 * Swindon SN1 3NS

St Mary's Lydiard


 * Lydiard Park
 * Swindon SN5 3PA
 * Phone: +44 1793 874221

St Sampson's

Cricklade, Swindon SN6 6AX
 * Bath Rd
 * Phone: +44 1793 979304

Holy Trinity


 * Shaw Village Centre
 * Ramleaze Dr
 * Shaw, Swindon SN5 5PY
 * Phone: +44 1793 874221

St Luke's


 * Broad Street
 * Swindon, Wiltshire, SN1 2DS
 * Phone: +44 1793 526542

Non Conformists
Swindon is in an older section of the UK, and tends to be more conservative than many other parts of the country. The Anglican church is by far the largest percentage of the community. However there are many other churches, as listed below:


 * Baptist
 * Catholic
 * Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
 * Chinese Christian
 * Evangelical
 * Gateway Church
 * Holy Rood Church
 * Jehovah's Witnesses
 * Methodist
 * Plymouth Brethren

There are a number of communities of non Christian religions including the following:


 * Buddhist
 * Scientology
 * Confucian
 * Jews
 * Muslim
 * Sikh

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes.


 * Brighton and Hove City Council BMD


 * UKBMD: Brighton


 * National Archives BMD

Local Histories

 * localhistories: Brighton


 * Brightonhistory.org


 * A History of Brighton and Hove by Ken Fines


 * Brighton, a very peculiar history by David Arscott

Maps and Gazetteers

 * Google maps: Brighton


 * tourism maps: Brighton


 * oldmapsonline: Brighton and Hove


 * visionofbritain: Brighton Gazetteer


 * brightonhistory: Brighton Gazetteer

Newspapers

 * The Argus


 * The University of Brighton, The Badger


 * The South Coast Leader

Occupations
In 1985, the Borough Council described three "myths" about Brighton's economy. Common beliefs were that most of the working population commuted to London every day; that tourism provided most of Brighton's jobs and income; or that the borough's residents were "composed entirely of wealthy theatricals and retired business people" rather than workers.

Brighton has been an important center for commerce and employment since the 18th century. It is home to several major companies, some of which employ thousands of people locally; as a retail center it is of regional importance; creative, digital and new media businesses are increasingly significant.

Brighton's largest private sector employer is American Express, whose European headquarters are at John Street. As of 2012, about 3,000 people work there. Other major employers include Lloyds Bank, Asda (which has hypermarkets at Hollingbury and Brighton Marina), Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company and call-center operator Inkfish. In 2012, it was reported that about 1,500 of Gatwick Airport's 21,000 workers lived in the city of Brighton and Hove.

Brighton also provides considerable opportunities in the education sector, primarily at the University of Brighton. Its design center is renowned throughout the UK.

Brighton is a popular destination for conferences, exhibitions and trade fairs, and has had a purpose-built conference center—the Brighton Center.

Finally, Brighton has always provided many occupational opportunities in the tourism center. Since the mid-1900's Brighton has marketed itself as the queen of south coast resorts, and thousands of tourists arrive each year to savor the beach, the many arcades, and the beautiful inland countryside.

Societies

 * Sussex Family History Society


 * Brighton and Hove family history


 * Brighton Archaeology Society

Archives

 * Brighton and Howe Archives


 * University of Brighton Design Archives


 * My Brighton and Hove Archives


 * Brighton Museums Archives

Web Sites

 * wikipedia: Brighton


 * Brighton and Hove City Council


 * East Sussex County Council