IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Fritillary Court, Fritillary Mews, SWINDON, SN1 2LJ

Approaching the junction on Fleming Way. See Image for an explanation of the roundabout itself.

Fleming Way follows the alignment of the former Wilts and Berks Canal; this is where Graham Street crossed it by a bridge, explaining the level difference between this road and the side streets.

At a time of very high fuel prices (diesel 197.9 p/litre).

The advertising hoarding at the far end is on the side of a building in York Road, beyond Fleming Way which was cut through in the 1960s.

Fleming Way remains, though widened to provide for bus lanes on both sides, but the Garrard factory was demolished in the 1990's. At their peak, Garrard employed 4,500 people in this and two smaller factories. They originally derived from Garrards the Crown Jewellers. Later the record deck etc business in Swindon became independent, but were eventually taken over by Plessey, who used to be a big electronics manufacturer in the town. Finally the business was taken over by the Brazilian firm, Gradiente Electronica, and for the Swindon factory this coupled with the move over to compact discs acclerated its decline. By the time his photograph was taken in 1983, production here had ceased though apparently a few other staff were still based in the premises. Image; Image In this picture can also be seen a Mini-traveller. Although these were made at Oxford, the Pressed Steel Company at Stratton (now the BMW Mini plant) used to supply the Oxford factory with body panels. Another two Mini's can be seen in this view:- Image

Here is the fire station itself https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5904358

Swindon is well-known for its roundabouts.

Early 20th Century terraced housing in Newcastle Street seen here from across Fleming Way. When the houses were originally built, Fleming Way did not exist, its route having previously been that of the Wilts and Berks Canal.

Approaching the Magic Roundabout close to the County ground of Swindon Town FC.

This street runs in a straight line from Newcastle Street to Drove Road, just visible in the distance about 330 metres away. Swindon escaped most of the snow that affected the eastern parts of the UK in the last day or so - being that bit further away from the Urals probably helped in that regard. Nevertheless there was a very light snow shower overnight the legacy of which is ice on the minor roads, some of which can be seen here. The property at the left marked by the orange wheelie-bin is the York Fish Bar which sells the best fish and chips anywhere in the world. The owner, an extremely affable Hong Kong expatriate, is pleased to display a complimentary letter he received not long ago from Hazel Blears MP, the small but perfectly formed member of parliament for Salford and a former Cabinet minister.