4-34, Faringdon Road, Swindon, SN1 5BJ
4-34, Faringdon Road, Swindon, SN1 5BJ
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1023499
- Date first listed:
- 17-Feb-1970
- List Entry Name:
- 4-34, Faringdon Road, Swindon, SN1 5BJ
- Statutory Address:
- 4-34, Faringdon Road, Swindon, SN1 5BJ
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-06-05
- Reference:
- IOE01/04341/33
- Rights:
- © Dr Robert Slade. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreAlso of interest
Official list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1023499
- Date first listed:
- 17-Feb-1970
- List Entry Name:
- 4-34, Faringdon Road, Swindon, SN1 5BJ
- Statutory Address 1:
- 4-34, Faringdon Road, Swindon, SN1 5BJ
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- 4-34, Faringdon Road, Swindon, SN1 5BJ
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Swindon (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- South Swindon
- National Grid Reference:
- SU 14703 84789
Details
This list entry was subject to a Minor Enhancement on 28/04/2020
SU 1484 NE
6/97
SWINDON
FARINGDON ROAD (north side)
Nos 4-34 (even Nos)
17.2.70
GV
II
In order to house the workforce for the new Great Western Railway works, IK Brunel designed a new village to the south of the railway line. Brunel’s early layout drawings of 1840 show a grid similar to the final plan of 12 terraces in six blocks on either side of the High Street (from 1893 Emlyn Square). Construction started in 1842, and by 1855 most of the buildings had been completed. Houses and cottages of different types were built, as well as lodging houses. Brunel himself designed only the first block of 1842 (4-25 Bristol Street); as it was visible from the railway line, this is in a more decorative style than the others.
The financial difficulties of the contractors JD & C Rigby, who undertook to build 300 cottages but only completed 130, delayed the completion of the village until the 1850s. The cottages to the west of Emlyn Square were built first (1842-1843), followed by those on the east side (1845-1847). The end blocks towards Emlyn Square, containing corner shops on the ground floor, were built in 1845-1847, and the remainder, mostly end blocks on the outer ends of the streets, were built in 1853-1855. In 1966, the local authority acquired the cottages from British Rail and restored them. The village is one of Britain’s best-preserved and architecturally most ambitious railway settlements.
Terrace of sixteen cottages, 1846-1847 for Great Western Railway Company. Coursed squared rubble. Ashlar door and window surrounds, coursed rubble rear walls. Slate roofs with brick stacks on party walls. Each dwelling two-storey one-bay with through side passage, two rooms deep. C20 brick lean-to to rear. Low chamfered plinth. C20 fifteen-pane glazed doors with chamfered surrounds and splayed stops. Four-pane sashes in chamfered surrounds. No 34 retains original glazing: twelve-pane sashes with margin lights and beaded plank door. This is now the 'Railway Village Museum' and is maintained as a typical railway- man's house of c.1900. Interior layout modified c.1890 by the replacement of the rear washhouse and WC with scullery and a new WC.
Listing NGR: SU1467284770
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 318759
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Large, F, Swindon Retrospect 1855-1930, (1931)
Peck, A, The Great Western at Swindon Works, (1983)
Silto, J, A Swindon History 1840-1901, ()
Hudson, K, Transport History, ()
Cattell, J, Falconer, K, Swindon: The Legacy of a Railway Town (RCHME), (1995), 44, 54-55, 163
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 08-Jun-2026 at 11:50:44.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.