SWINDON is one of the elite group of British communities to have been mentioned in the Domesday Book.

Most historians believe the town's name derives from its official description in those days - "a hill where pigs are kept".

That hill, of course, now mostly forms what we call Old Town, and for centuries Old Town was regarded as the centre of Swindon.

These days, when we talk of the town centre we refer to the area beyond the bottom of Victoria Road, which holds much of the town's commercial activity. As most people here know, this shift happened after the arrival of Brunel's railway in the 19th Century, when the growing workforce and the growing need to cater for their housing and other needs locally began to shift the balance.

Like most large town and city centres of that era, Swindon's initially developed along traditional Victorian lines, and stayed much the same until around the middle of the last century. With the end of the Second World War, there was a widespread movement to improve our town centres with newer and brighter buildings and more open and more healthy spaces.

By the 1970s, much of our town centre had been redesigned along these lines. Not everybody was a fan of 1960s and 1970s architecture, especially as time went on.

That is why there have been constant improvements and why there will continue to be constant improvements - not least the radical redesign currently in preparation.

Whatever the architecture though, some things never change - our town centre has always been and still is home to a truly satisfying range of shops and other attractions.

Swindon is steeped in history - something we often forget because of our association with the cutting edge of technology.

A spirit of enterprise and innovation prevails, with countless local businesses catering to just about every need a person could have.

For centuries Swindon was dwarfed in economic importance by near neighbour Wootton Bassett.

In fact, it wasn't until the 19th Century and the coming of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his railway line between London and the south west that Swindon's prosperity really kicked into high gear.

With the establishment of the Railway Works, the town became one of the main manufacturing hubs of the British Empire.

Other industries came, attracted by widespread awareness of how hardworking its people were.

But by the mid-1980s, the railways had long since taken second place to the road network.

The Railway Works closed, heralding what has perhaps been the most spectacular chapter of Swindon success.

Where other towns might have given up the ghost and submitted to despondency, Swindon reinvented itself as a hotbed of high technology industries and entrepreneurism, as well as becoming a magnet for companies looking for headquarters.

Whatever happens, the story is not finished yet.

2:25pm Tuesday 29th April 2008

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