IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Gable Close, SWINDON, SN25 4XG

2000s houses in Abbey Mead.

The path marks the southern edge of the northern development area of Swindon. This view is facing west.

The Groundwell residential area sits on rising land north of the established Penhill estate. In this west-facing view out of the square the cycle track enters the image at the right just about on the western gridline of this square.

This is the interface between the 1950s housing estate of Penhill, out of shot to the right, and the 1990s northern development area.

One of a number of local paths and cycleways through grassy or wooded strips of land which have been left in between the housing.

Thresher Drive is part of a fairly new residential development in the northern part of Swindon. In this view we are close to the north-western corner of the square. The houses are in the next square north. The small road the opening of which is just visible at the right is just within this square. The unusual tube structure in the centre of the image is part of Motorola who have a manufacturing facility here. The end of the tube is at SU149893.

The bridge providing the viewpoint is at the northern limit of the 1950s estate but is rather newer. The houses providing the title are those to the right. Out of shot to the left is the southern edge of the northern development area.

Several strips of undeveloped land are to be found in this area. Possibly thought too steep to build on, they provide a bit of open space for local residents.

This is the northern edge of the large municipal housing estate developed in the 1950s. It may not have existed had it not been for a land acquisition problem on the east side of Swindon where the next housing estate was planned, Walcot. This resulted in an 18 month hiatus and, rather than break up the housebuilding machine that had formed to build houses for the Council, the decision was made to extend Penhill further north than had originally been planned. This took up the slack until work started on Walcot in 1955. Rightly or wrongly 'the valley' as it became known gained a reputation as a sink for 'problem families'. An attempt to remove the stigma was made by the Council by trying to rename the area as 'Lower Penhill'. I don't think it caught on.

The avenue is the spine road of 'the valley' area of Penhill, that part of the estate developed last. The entrance to Imber Walk is visible at the left behind the silver car. The pillar box is unlikely to be a Victorian post box or a Georgian post box or an Edwardian post box.