Swindon is a large town in Wiltshire which is strongly linked to the development of the Great Western Railway among other things. Its growth accelerated with the Industrial Revolution particularly when two canals were built nearby in the 1810s and the Great Western Railway's Swindon Works was built between 1841 and 1842.

During the second half of the 19th century, Swindon New Town grew around the main line between London and Bristol. In 1900, the original market town, Old Swindon, merged with its new neighbour at the bottom of the hill to become a single town.

There are a number of surviving properties from the Victorian period, including the terraces of Victoria Road and Hunt Street and the estate containing Ashford, Kent, Hythe, Maidstone, and Folkstone Roads.

In the period between the two World Wars the town expanded to the north, and the large corporation housing scheme at Pinehurst was built in the 1920s which was also when Rodbourne Cheney started developing as a residential suburb. Many semi-detached and terrace houses were built.

The 1930s saw estates of private houses being built in 5 main areas; Rodbourne Cheney, off Cricklade Road, east of Drove Road, off Marlborough Road and south of Kingshill Road. There were more detached homes built in these areas alongside the semi-detached and terrace dwellings.

Recent regeneration has occurred in the areas of Union Square, The Promenade, The Hub, Swindon Central, North Star Village, The Campus and the Public Realm.

New build developments include the detached houses in Lady Lane, the semi-detached houses in Blunsdon and the low-rise flats in Redhouse.

Wiltshire is a county in South West England and its county town is Trowbridge. It has high downland and wide valleys and is arguably most notable for the Stonehenge and Avebury ancient stone circles found on Salisbury Plain. It also contains a number of well known country houses including Longleat and Stourhead. The landlocked county borders Dorset, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Berkshire.

Originally Wiltshire's county town was Wilton but the county council is now based in Trowbridge. Salisbury is the county's only city although Swindon, which has five times as many people as Salisbury (around 210,000), is its most populated built-up area.

The M4 is the one motorway going through the county and the main transport hub is Swindon, which has regular direct trains to London Paddington and other major conurbations. The nearest major airport is Southampton.

There are three universities in Wiltshire, all located in Swindon. These are; Cranfield University, a postgraduate-only institution, which has strong links with industry and the business world; the University of the West of England and the University of Bath in Swindon.

Wiltshire has many attractions, some of which are very quirky, including Burlington, a huge nuclear bunker which can accommodate 4,000 people, Longleat Safari Park, the Kennet & Avon Canal Museum in Devizes, the Swindon and Cricklade Railway and Salisbury Cathedral.

Swindon also hosts the Magic Roundabout, which has been voted the UK's scariest road junction.