Brunel Way, named for the giant of Victorian engineering, is a GreenSquare development of 34 affordable homes, comprising of 4 one bedroom appartments along with 29 two, three, and four bedroom houses[1].
Brunel was suggested as the name for this street as it is off Stanier Road. Sir William Stainer, was born in Swindon, where his father worked for the GWR[2], which was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel - thereby making the connection between the two street names.
The GWR branch line to Calne was required because Brunel's choice of route missed Calne on the way to Chippenham. More than half of the funds required to build the railway came from the Harris family, who needed it to transport good from their factory.
The Calne branch saw its last passenger train on 18 September 1965 (freight traffic had ceased in 1964) and was dismantled two years later.
In addition to his visionary work on the GRW, Brunel is known for many other projects, which include the Clifton Suspension Bridge and three shops, Great Western, Great Britain and the iron sailing steamship, SS Great Eastern[3].
References:
[1] Giant Peach Design - giantpeach.agency. 2019. GreenSquare Group: New
home is 'dream come true' for Calne family. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.greensquaregroup.com/news/new-home-is-dream-come-true-for-calne-family2. [Accessed 18 September 2019].
[2] Wikipedia. 2019. William Stanier - Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stanier. [Accessed 18 September 2019].
[3] Wikipedia. 2019. Isambard Kingdom Brunel - Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isambard_Kingdom_Brunel. [Accessed 18 September 2019].
