IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
The Quarries, SWINDON, SN1 4EX

Ordnance Survey cut mark benchmark described on the Bench Mark Database at http://www.bench-marks.org.uk/bm40830

There is an OS benchmark Image on the near corner on the left hand side of the house

A haven of tranquility in the southern part of Swindon.

Up to about the end of the 19th century an area of about 9 hectares in this part of Old Swindon had been used for hundreds of years as a quarry for Purbeck limestone. It is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The layer of sand deposits visible under the limestone is now home to a large member of the weasel family.

The park is heavily populated with Sciurus carolinensis. Most folk seem to like them despite their having decimated the native red squirrel population. It's hardly their fault that they have become such pests. They didn't ask for some misguided 19th century traveller to import them from North America and for someone else even more misguided to release a few into the wild in the latter part of the Victorian era. It isn't illegal to exterminate them but, if you are minded to do so, best keep quiet about it if you don't want the Polis on your doorstep http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1580675

This is a view facing north. The Town Gardens were created about a hundred years ago in a disused stone quarry. They remain popular as a leisure resource for the residents of Swindon. Many of the trees in the park are beeches.

The park was once a limestone quarry. It has been a park since 1894 when the then Council opened the park having purchased it from the owners, the Goddard family, the Lords of the Manor. More here http://www.swindon.gov.uk/leisuresport/parksandgardens/leisure-parkstowngardens.htm

The Mela is an annual celebration of South Asian culture. In this image is an elephant made from flowers. NOTE. This image has a detailed ‘shared description’ which you won’t see by viewing this image on a slideshow. To read it click on the image.

The Mela is an annual celebration of South Asian culture. In this image one of two ladies is about to demonstrate the playing of a veena, a large stringed instrument. It is very heavy. I had a go at playing it. NOTE. This image has a detailed ‘shared description’ which you won’t see by viewing this image on a slideshow. To read it click on the image.

What is now a local wildlife garden was once a limestone quarry that had been worked for centuries until the late 1800s. It is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).