Walk the Works Heritage Trail
January 1 - December 31
The Works Heritage Trail guides you around Swindon’s beautifully preserved Railway Village, through the Tunnel and around the former GWR Works – the original industrial heart of Swindon.
In the 1840s, the Great Western Railway chose to site its locomotive repair works here, in open countryside mid-way between Bristol and London. That decision changed Swindon forever. The first railway workers, and the generations that followed them, forged Swindon’s character and pioneered its evolution into a dynamic and prosperous industrial centre in the south-west of England.
The Heritage Trail tells Swindon’s story of pioneering ideas, community initiatives and societal change through three themes:
Industry, Community and Health
The Trail follows a circular route, starting and ending at Swindon Station.
It is approximately two miles (3.2km) long. The route is mostly flat, with one short slope at the Tunnel.
Join the Trail at any point – find your location on the trail map. Labelled circles indicate the corresponding information panel titles listed in this guide.
Look out for bronze discs in the pavements that help direct you from point to point.
The design of the bronze pavement discs illustrate the Trail’s three themes: a rail track for industry; a needle and thread for community, and the traditional serpent-and-staff symbol for medicine and health. The directional arrows meet at a mirrored pair of GWR motifs.