About the area:
Swindon is a large town in Wiltshire in the South West of England, midway between Bristol (64 km / 40 miles west) and Reading (64 km / 40 miles east). London is 130 km / 81 miles east. It is on the rail line between London and Bristol, and has one railway station. It is in the borough of Swindon, which has been a unitary authority independent of Wiltshire since 1998. A resident of Swindon is known as a Swindonian. Swindon's motto is "Salubritas et Industria" (Health and Industry).
Swindon was named an Expanded Town under the Town Development Act 1952 and this led to a major increase in its population. 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.