Talk:Swindon/Archive 1

Archive 1

Initial text

"The exact location of Swindon": exactly which part of Swindon does this refer to :-)

The 'Magic Roundabout' sounds like the one at Hemel Hempstead - same designer perhaps? - http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A381089 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.149.37.196 (talk) 11:23, 13 October 2002 (UTC)

...

What museum is it on Bath Road (at the top of Victoria Hill) ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.9.80.64 (talk) 23:42, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

My (Very) Minor Edit

I rectified the misspelling of 'located' in the following sentence. This is here purely for academic purposes!

"Pagoda Palace is the largest Chinese restaurant in Britain, and unique since it is built in traditional Far Eastern style and colours to create a authentic heavenly temple style. It is loacted next to the Peatmoor Lagoon in West Swindon."

To answer the question above: according the website (link below), the museum is called the 'Swindon Museum and Art Gallery'

http://www.steam-museum.org.uk/heritage/bathroad.htm -- allthesestars 23:03, 6 Aug. 2005

Swindonian

This name WAS used locally and was the name of at least 2 different local periodicals. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.75.236.71 (talk) 17:51, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Bullet Points Overload

There seems to be way too many bullet points in this article. I think the completely bulleted sections need to be actually written into something. Don't get me wrong, bullet points are a good tool for the internet but maybe not for so much of an encyclopedia article ;o)

Acidic water

Is it true that the water is the most acidic in the country? Has someione got a link of this? A pH of 4.3 would not kill you, it is similar to that of beer, as seen here; PH Marky-Son 10:01, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Personally I would think it is untrue, seeing that the surrounding area is all chalk

The water there is very hard so i can't see how it can be acidic. 145.253.108.22 12:05, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

largest town

i have never heard this before & i have lived in Swindon all my life. i think this needs deleting.

True - I've deleted it. I wonder if it's the largest in England or the UK though, will check popn tables. MarkThomas 13:25, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

It's not the largest, the town and borough of Milton Keynes is much bigger and the urban area of Reading is bigger still. Marky-Son 15:01, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Confirmed. 2004 National Statistics tables 1 show Swindon as 155,432 total, Reading as 369,804 (although that includes Wokingham) and Milton Keynes as 184,506. Problem of course with all these figures is they relate to arbitrary local authority boundaries and not always to build up areas. I'm not sure if the built up area of Swindon significantly exceeds the local authority definition area. Maybe all those large southern overspill areas like Wroughton are not included? MarkThomas 08:15, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

The local authority of Swindon has about 180,000, whereas the 155,432 is just for the urban area itself, although this has increased by a few thousand since 2001 of course. Marky-Son 12:04, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Expanded Town

Apparently Swindon was a designated "Expanded Town", whatever that is. note to self: research. Morwen - Talk 16:05, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

Dun

Dun is a Brythonic word, not an Anglo-Saxon one. If it is Anglo-Saxon, it is adopted into Old English from British. Enzedbrit 10:34, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure which of the following meanings the Domesday used (as it appeared both as Suindone and Suindune (see History of Swindon)), Dun meaning fort (Brythonic) as opposed to the Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) Don meaning hill (see List of generic forms in British place names and Place name origins). Don, possibly derived from the use of Dun as hill fort, is a fair bet for the correct meaning - Swindon has never been a hill fort. Anyway, it's not really important to the direction of the article but it's amazing what makes you think Foxhill 13:59, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

The '-don' in Swindon is generally taken in topographical works to be from Old English dūn = 'hill', Modern English 'down' as in 'South Downs' and the adverb. It is a common English place-name element. The Celtic element meaning 'fort' (Goidelic 'dun', Brythonic 'din, dinas') is a separate word. Celtic settlement-names are generally rare in England (except in a few pockets). Those who want the article to say we have a Celtic name here really need to give a reference, because it is not the conventional view. Oaken 16:24, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

History

From memory, Swindon new and old towns were merged in 1900, not late 20th c as implied by the article Rob Burbidge 13:13, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

Have fixed this vandalism that had remained un-noticed since the beginning of this month, thanks a lot for pointing this out. Foxhill 19:34, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

Oasis

This snippet

"Noel Gallagher, the lead singer of the rock band Oasis chose the name of his band after visiting Swindon's Oasis swimming pool and leisure centre in 1993, while working as a roadie for a band, Inspiral Carpets, which had been performing at the centre)."

2 things. I have never heard of the oasis center being used a rock venue, and certainly not for the Inspiral Carpets in 1993. Secondly, Oasis was formed in 1991 according to the Wikipedia entry..... so this does not make sense.

I think this should be removed?

Apacheeng lead 22:40, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

The Oasis has been used by a number of bands for concerts as the large sports hall is (possibly) one of the largest venues available in the town, see [1] and [2] for forthcoming concerts. The Inspiral Carpets played there on April 28, 1991.[3] 86.21.74.40 22:47, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Further - [4], the dodgy date actually comes from bad reporting on the SwindonWeb page on this at [5] 86.21.74.40 22:50, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Oasis definitely got their name from Swindon's Oasis Leisure Centre. I heard Noel Gallagher explain this in a Radio One interview some years ago. I can't find any offical evidence on the net though. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stfctim (talk • contribs) 11:57, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

Good to know.....

As an aside I have added Diana Dors and Billie Piper. There was a band, some one like 10CC (but not 10CC) came from Swindon. Apacheeng lead 23:07, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

See Swindonian, XTC and a few other musicians (including Gilbert O'Sullivan) have connections to the town. 86.21.74.40 23:12, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Roundabout Research

In the 1980's my father was a property developer in Swindon. During this time he and his collegues talked about the DoT Road Research Laboratory using 2 towns to try out new rundabouts. The Magic Roundabout is the most famous, but the town used to have dozens of 'weird' roundabouts. The other twon was Bracknell in Berks.

Does anyone else know anything about this?

Apacheeng lead 23:07, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Evening Paper

Although the paper used to be published in the evening as "The Evening Advertiser" it's been a morning publication for some years now, probably at the same time that it moved to morning printing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.153.160.240 (talk) 13:40, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Railway town

"The cradle-to-grave extent of this service was later used as a blueprint for the NHS.[2][3]"

This is highly debatable, as it's considered that Aneurin Bevan used the Tredegar Medical Aid Society where he served as a committee member during the 1920's as the model for the NHS. Bevan is quoted as saying “All I am doing is extending to the entire population of Britain the benefits we had in Tredegar for a generation or more. We are going to ‘Tredegar-ise’ you.”

The GWR Medical Fund / Health Centre is at best just one of several institutions that was used to model the NHS. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.6.138.65 (talk) 21:57, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Magic Roundabout Graphic

Could someone who knows German translate the graphic describing the Magic Roundabout into English? Lucifer-oxy (talk) 20:21, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm not good at editing graphics, but here's a translation... Einkaufzentrum = Shopping centre; Fahrspur = Lane; Vorfahrt achten = Give way (line); Straßenbegrenzung = Edge of the road; Haus/Gebäude = House/Building; Grünfläche = Grassed area.

130.246.135.176 (talk) 19:01, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

I've produced a new graphic that does not need language-specific elements. I think it is equally clear without explaing the elements. --Hk kng (talk) 19:17, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

Geography

In Geography section it is claimed that the area of Swindon is 40 square Km (25.33 square miles). This can't be true since 40 square Km = 15.6 square miles. Please remember that Square mile = 2.56 square km, while 1 mile = 1.6 Km.

Now we have to check whether the 40 or the 25.33 number is the wrong one, (possibly both numbers are wrong). --Wisamzaqoot (talk) 06:28, 19 January 2011 (UTC)