Pre-history
The modern town of Swindon is built on and around a hill that stands over 450 ft (140 m) above sea-level, now known as Swindon Hill. Its location to the north of the Marlborough Downs and on the southern end of the Vale of White Horse, with access to the River Cole and others, made it suitable for use as farming land.
There have been settlements around the hill since pre-historic times, but no evidence of occupation on the hill (including no evidence of any fortifications) until the Bronze Age. Digs at Swindon's former quarry sites uncovered the first Bronze Age relics, with burial sites, tools, pottery and later; Iron Age artefacts also found.
Archaeological excavations around Swindon Hill have revealed pre-Roman farms and an additional Iron Age farm complex was discovered on lowlands to the north of Swindon in the 1970s. There are various monuments and earthworks nearby, including Liddington Castle, Barbury Castle, Avebury and the White Horses of Uffington, Hackpen and Marlborough (see Chalk figures in England).
Read more about this topic: History Of Swindon