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Queens Drive, SWINDON, SN3 1AW

This is the Queen's Drive (A4259) side of the funeral directors and monumental stonemasons premises. The main entrance is from Dudmore Road.

Although the postal address of this long-established firm is as in the title, the actual entrance is from Dudmore Road, visible in the foreground. The firm began operating in Swindon in the 1880s nearer the centre of the town and moved to this location in the 1960s.

Next to the famous 'Magic Roundabout'.

Located opposite the Magic Roundabout, which contains 5 mini-roundabouts.

Taken in February 1982, this is a photo of one of the original road signs at the approach to the Magic Roundabout in Swindon. The roundabout was then named County Islands, being next to the County Ground football stadium, but was eventually officially re-named the Magic Roundabout after being called that for years by locals who had to negotiate it. The present name is a reference to a children's TV programme. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Roundabout All five original signs were designed and made by Colin Forward, who worked at the Swindon Borough Council workshop in Barnfield Road. He told me how difficult it had been because of course in those days the design was done without the aid of computers and involved a lot of careful measurement to make the separate panels of the signs line up exactly. The letters were pre-cut, but the other features had to be cut by hand and were then printed on metal using a heat process.

It seems locals know how to drive through the Magic roundabout.

Queen’s Drive runs, as part of the A4259, for about 1½ miles and provides a fast route into the centre of Swindon off the M4 from the east. The Post Office is at the northwestern end, №2 in fact, alongside Image

Near the famous 'Magic Roundabout'.

Waiting to hit the Magic roundabout.

Entrance off Shrivenham Road onto the Magic Roundabout. The Magic Roundabout was built in 1972 and although at a high level it might be thought of as a single roundabout, in practice it is a series of 5 mini roundabouts arranged in a circle enabling drivers to use the shortest route between their entry and exit point. Prior to construction, the site was a standard roundabout with 3 exits - its expansion followed the construction of Queen's Drive and Fleming Way adding to the number of roads using the junction.