The Works transformed Swindon from a small 2,500 population market town into a bustling railway town.
Built to the north of the main town centre, the works had need to build locally accessible housing and services for the workers.
The development of the railway village was on the lines of similar Victorian-era socially-encompassing lifestyle concepts, such as that at Bournville, but architect/builder Rigby's were given license to create a commercially viable development by the GWR.
The completed village provided to the town medical and educational facilities that had been sorely lacking, plus St Mark's Church and the Bakers Arms public house, all completed before 1850.


The terraced two-storey cottages were built on two blocks of four parallel streets, not dissimilar in appearance to passing trains.
Each road was named after the destinations of trains that passed nearby: Bristol, Bath, Taunton, London, Oxford and Reading among them.
Built in the nearby open area, named Emlyn Square after GWR director Viscount Emlyn (later known as John Campbell, 1st Earl Cawdor), was the Mechanics Institute, paid for via subscription by the workers.
Designed and constructed by Edward Roberts, it was completed in 1855, containing the UK’s first lending library and provided health services to workers.
Enlarged in 1892-93, Nye Bevan, mastermind of the National Health Service later said: 
There was a complete health service in Swindon.
All we had to do was expand it to the country.

In the 1960s, Swindon Borough Council applied to demolish much of the village, but poet and railway enthusiast Sir John Betjeman led a successful campaign to preserve it.
Today much of the village is a conservation area, and many structures within it are listed buildings.
The Works transformed Swindon from a small 2,500 population market town into a bustling railway town. Built to the north of the main town centre, the works had need to build locally accessible housing and services for the workers. The development of the railway village was on the lines of similar Victorian-era socially-encompassing lifestyle concepts, such as that at Bournville, but architect/builder Rigby's were given license to create a commercially viable development by the GWR. The completed village provided to the town medical and educational facilities that had been sorely lacking, plus St Mark's Church and the Bakers Arms public house, all completed before 1850.

The terraced two-storey cottages were built on two blocks of four parallel streets, not dissimilar in appearance to passing trains. Each road was named after the destinations of trains that passed nearby: Bristol, Bath, Taunton, London, Oxford and Reading among them. Built in the nearby open area, named Emlyn Square after GWR director Viscount Emlyn (later known as John Campbell, 1st Earl Cawdor), was the Mechanics Institute, paid for via subscription by the workers. Designed and constructed by Edward Roberts, it was completed in 1855, containing the UK’s first lending library and provided health services to workers. Enlarged in 1892-93, Nye Bevan, mastermind of the National Health Service later said: 
There was a complete health service in Swindon. All we had to do was expand it to the country.
In the 1960s, Swindon Borough Council applied to demolish much of the village, but poet and railway enthusiast Sir John Betjeman led a successful campaign to preserve it. Today much of the village is a conservation area, and many structures within it are listed buildings.
Swindon Works