Wroughton Science Museum

JUST across the motorway from Swindon, Wroughton is very much a place with its own identity.

Although more than 7,000 people call it home, it retains much of the intimate, comforting atmosphere of a traditional village.

In fact, there are plenty of people who insist it is the largest village in the country, although communities elsewhere have been known to claim the distinction for themselves.

As with so many places in the Swindon area, evidence suggests that the first human beings to live in the vicinity came long before the Romans.

The hilltop site of what we now know as Barbury Castle would have proved difficult to resist in those warlike and dangerous times.

The village is popular among residents, who relish its peacefulness when compared to larger communities. Wroughton is home to many shops and businesses as well as being within easy striking distance of literally thousands more. Once best known in the world at large as the home of RAF Wroughton (which closed some 13 years ago), the village is now associated with one of Britain's greatest collection of national treasures.

When people think about the Science Museum, they tend to think about the site at Kensington in London's museum district. However, the old airfield at Wroughton is also home to a collection of spectacular Science Museum exhibits, many of them incapable of being displayed in London because they are too large.

2:16pm Tuesday 29th April 2008

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