100 British Bus Routes: Route 49
Swindon to Trowbridge
10 April 2022
ABOVE: Stagecoach West 15975 (YP14 GZE) arriving at Avebury Red Lion on a run on route 49 to Swindon.
All pictures in this article were taken on Monday 7th March 2022.
All pictures in this article were taken on Monday 7th March 2022.
Operator: Stagecoach West
Runs: Mondays to Saturdays throughout; limited early evening service.
Sundays between Swindon and Devizes only.
Weekday frequency: Hourly
Estimated Peak Vehicle Requirement: 3 buses (might cross-linked with another service)
Off-peak journey time: 90 minutes
Estimated route length: 35 miles
Runs: Mondays to Saturdays throughout; limited early evening service.
Sundays between Swindon and Devizes only.
Weekday frequency: Hourly
Estimated Peak Vehicle Requirement: 3 buses (might cross-linked with another service)
Off-peak journey time: 90 minutes
Estimated route length: 35 miles
Swindon Bus Station is rather run-down, to be honest. Not a nice waiting environment at all and probably very unpleasant after dark. What rescues it is the fact that it sits in the very-rural county of Wiltshire, and has lovely double-decker bus rides spreading out from it in several directions.
One of these is the 49, which crosses Wiltshire in a broadly south-westerly direction to the County Town, Trowbridge. Apart from Swindon itself, which is technically a unitary authority rather than Wiltshire per se, the whole route is in Wiltshire.
It’s Monday morning. My train is just pulling into Swindon a couple of minutes late, at 0858, and the bus I want is due to leave the Bus Station at 0905. Will I make it?
I get to the Bus Station with four minutes to spare. The driver is in the cab but has not yet opened up. As he does so, a Swindon’s Own driver barges on and swipes half of the Metro newspapers.
There are lots of Swindon’s Own double-deckers parked up; most have just undertaken the school run. There’s not a great deal else going on – the rush hour and school run are over and it’s too early for everyone else! Our bus leaves Swindon with eight passengers on board.
I’m not the only one with a camera. The passenger in the other front seat of this Stagecoach Enviro 400 is also thus adorned. This spells out nicely the tourist appeal of this most scenic of routes.
His focus is the scenery in general, rather than the buses. The scenery is delightful, but I long since gave up trying to photograph rolling hills and the like, as the camera just doesn’t do them justice.
We cross the M4 motorway and enter Wroughton, where there’s a B&B called the Check Inn.
It’s a steep climb out of Wroughton and into the open country. We’re driving through typical Wiltshire territory; there are no pavements, no pedestrians and no houses.
ABOVE: A typical rural Wiltshire road, as extensively covered by route 49. This is somewhere between Wroughton and Broad Hinton. The “Science Museum” indicated on the sign is some sort of storage facility, apparently, connected to THE Science Museum in London.
We pass a sign pointing to the village of Berwick Bassett, and I have a sudden hankering for a packet of Liquorice Allsorts for some reason.
Our first major traffic objective is Avebury. Avebury is part of an extraordinary set of Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial sites, with the largest stone circle in Britain (originally around 100 stones) and two smaller circles within. It has turned this small village into a tourist spot, where it’s easy to lose track of time (my brother once got his car locked in one of the car parks here)!
ABOVE: A few of the Avebury Stones. Space prevents me from showing them all!
The bus stops here are very discreet. Our bus stops by a shop, itself a converted house, and the only sign that it’s a stop is a timetable case attached to the building.
ABOVE: Avebury Red Lion – the stop for Trowbridge-bound services
The stop for the other direction is similarly subtle – just a timetable case attached to the sign of The Red Lion pub.
ABOVE: Avebury Red Lion – the stop for Swindon-bound services. You may be able to make out the timetable case underneath the pub sign, where an intending passenger awaits. I doubt he’s been in the pub (unless he’s stayed over), as it’s 9.30 in the morning!
After a few more miles of the main road, without houses or people, we take a scheduled detour through the village of Bishops Cannings, where the roads are very tight. Opposite services are not scheduled to meet here, but I can’t help wondering what happens when they do!
ABOVE: Bit of a squeeze – Bishops Cannings
We’re on the approach to Devizes by now. We pass the smart and extensive Wiltshire Police HQ. On the outskirts of town, a schoolgirl boards. It’s 0950 so I assume she’s a bit late!
There are dedicated bus stop flags for route 49 all along the route but, to be honest, some of them need a clean!
We seem to go round the whole town before we go into the centre. Most people leave here but a few new passengers join.
ABOVE: Devizes Market Place
There’s a brewery at the end of the road – my first thought is that it’s been converted to business use, but a closer inspection reveals that it is still in use for its original purpose (and has been since 1875).
ABOVE: The magnificent Wadworth Brewery building in Devizes
Just outside Devizes, we pass a road sign to Chippenham via Rowde. At this point I wish I had had my camera handy to photograph the road to Rowde!
ABOVE: 10686 (SN66 WHE) on the western side of Devizes
It’s been south-westerly the whole way from Swindon, but we have turned more west-south-west for the last lap into Trowbridge.
Trowbridge itself is quite a large town, and things start to become distinctly more commercial and built-up in its suburb, Hilperton, some time before we reach the edge of the main town itself.
Trowbridge Town Centre is also approached via a large loop. Taking in the Tesco superstore and the very grand County Hall adds about five minutes to the journey in this direction.
ABOVE: County Hall, Trowbridge
In no time at all we’re into the centre of town, where the driver will have but three minutes breathing space before it’s time to embark on the return journey.
This is a lovely rural journey – beautifully scenic and taking you into some very picturesque corners of Wiltshire. Highly recommended.
ABOVE: Journey’s end – 15973 (YP14 GZC) has just deposited me in Manvers Street, Trowbridge at the end of the long run from Swindon.
Read where I went after reaching Trowbridge here.