The current [2015] special exhibition was about the Swindon works in wartime and how many of the jobs were done by women.....



The usual shiny loco or two on display.......



One of the Great Western's first locos, the North Star from 1837 this replica built at Swindon in 1925. No cabin so the driver and fireman had to endure all the weather......



Next to Malmesbury where this Market Cross has stood for 500 years........



The town is extremely old and was based on an iron age (or earlier) fortified town on a hill. The large abbey (started in 1180) suffered a lightning strike early on and then suffered more so in Henry the 8th time but even in what looks like a ruined state there is an active church carried on inside. For a time it was the tallest building in England, until that lightning hit it....



Inside it is a church, but the end wall at the altar blocked off to isolate the interior from the ruined end.......



The first king of all England has a tomb here (King Athelstan the Glorious, ruled from 924 to 940) and another renowned character was the first man to fly, Brother Eilmer. He leapt off the tower with makeshift wings and flew maybe 200 yards but landed badly and broke both legs, that was in the 11th century.

Anyway, back to being a tourist, here's some old buildings in Malmesbury.........










A shot of a memorial stone recorded in the town museum, misadventure at its best......