IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Newport Street, SWINDON, SN1 3DP

Looking up to the junction with Devizes Road.

Pub in Old Town, Swindon

This is a view to the south-east along what is the A361 at this point. The impressive-looking brick frontage is the Bible Institute and Church, a movement that believes the Bible is literally true. Behind the frontage is a large prefabricated building with a corrugated asbestos roof.

The building was erected by the Midland and South Western Junction Railway in the 19th century and stood by the station approach road which sloped down to Swindon Town Station, also known as Old Town Station. The M&SW wasn't exactly popular with the Great Western when it opened a line [very slowly] from Cheltenham via Swindon towards Southampton with the intention of moving goods from Midland factories to the port on the south coast. Eventually the GW acquired this line, which never saw much traffic, either goods or passengers. The site of the station is now a small industrial park.

Public house in Old Town, Swindon

The Royal Oak public house is early 19th century with the glazed tiles added circa 1900. Listed, grade II, with details at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1023508 Old Town, on its hill above the 'new' railway town, is the cultural heart of Swindon. The old and the new combined into a single town in 1900.

Three pubs at the junction of Newport Street and Devizes Road. On the far left is The Wheatsheaf Alehouse, opened in 1820. In the centre is The Royal Oak, also early 19th Century. Grade II listed - see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1023508?section=official-list-entry. The building to the left of it is its associated restaurant, the Choptank, acquired in 2019. On the far right is The Plough, said to be the oldest pub in Swindon. According to the pub's website, the earliest deeds for the building date from 1836 when it was a cottage, but an offer for sale in 1866 described it as a parlour and taproom. For close up see Image

The subject is the building in the background. It was built in the late 19th century as the head office of the Midland and Southwestern Junction Railway. Fortunately it escaped demolition and had a variety of occupiers after the line closed in 1961. It appears to have been comprehensively restored and is now home to a firm of accountants.

Buildings on Devizes Road. Nos 17 - 20, on the right, are a row of date from the mid 19th Century while the church (originally known as the Bible Institute and Church) is more recent, dating from around 1920.

Pub on Devizes Road, said to be the oldest in Swindon. According to the pub's website, the earliest deeds for the building date from 1836 when it was a cottage, but an offer for sale in 1866 described as a parlour and taproom. Beyond is another pub, the Royal Oak.