“SWINDON, an industrial town of 82,000 population and growing, is set in the green countryside between the upper Thames and the Wiltshire Downs. It is historically a fusion of three towns.”

These are the opening words of Swindon In The County Of Wiltshire, a guide published 53 years ago by the old Swindon Borough Council to commemorate its Diamond Jubilee.

The 70-page paperback is a fascinating window on the Swindon of 1960, a place with less than half the population of the 2013 version but plenty of familiar features.

The three towns said by the unnamed author to make up Swindon are the Old Town dating back to at least Saxon times, the New Town founded in the 19th Century and the expansions of the 1950s.

A chapter called Swindon Today is headed: “A roving reporter comments on the town.”

“A gust of rain,” the unnamed writer recalls, “drove me into the Reference Library to collect basic facts for my voyage of discovery. Swindon, about three miles by five, population 80,000 plus; about 25,000 houses.

“The sun drew me out to stroll around the circus. Ugly buildings, relieved by pleasant floral beds and floral baskets hanging from brackets on lamp standards.”

The writer next heads for the Railway Works: “I was on the raised footwalk when the road beneath me became like a river in spate, filled with hundreds of cyclists. The railwaymen were dashing home for their mid-day meal.”

Then comes Old Town on market day: “High blue sky, cold spring sunshine, spirited young heifer shouldered me; I tried to look unconcerned. Air thick with Wiltshire dialect. ‘Main bit on foine stock yurabouts, I reckon,’ one leather-legginged man confided in me.”

Another day saw a visit to Moredon playing fields: “Glittering afternoon, sunny but ice cold... Hundreds of youths and girls in a dozen games in bright shirts of red, yellow, blue, like confetti strewn on green baize.”

There are plenty of photographs showing both old and new parts of the town. Number 42 Cricklade Street is proudly captioned with a quote from future Poet Laureate John Betjeman: “One of the most distinguished houses in Wiltshire.” It still stands and has been converted into flats, although it was once a police station.

Another photograph shows what was then one of the newest buildings in one of the newest parts of Swindon, St Andrew’s Church in Walcot. A Ford Popular parked outside adds to the shot’s period atmosphere. The building was later demolished due to structural problems, and houses now stand on the site. The former church hall next door is these days the St Andrew’s Church Centre. Still another picture shows the old Gaumont Cinema in Regent Circus, which was later a bingo hall and is now the Swindon MECA entertainment venue.