Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire

Historical Description

Sawbridgeworth (popularly Sapsworth), a small town and a parish in Herts. The town stands near the river Stort, and near the G.E.R., on which it has a station, 4 miles S of Bishop Stortford, and 24 from London. It carries on a considerable trade in malt, had formerly a weekly market, and now has a head post office (R.S.O.) and fairs on 23 April and 20 Oct. There are extensive nursery grounds, and a model and experimental farm of 450 acres. The parish comprises 6639 acres; population of the civil parish, 3025; of the ecclesiastical, 2150. One manor belonged to Geoffrey Magnaville, and passed to the Says, the Bourchiers, and others. Great Hyde Hall, the property of the Earl of Eoden, and Pishobury are chief residences. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St Albans; net value, £245 with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of St Albans. The church is a building of flint and stone partly in the Early English and partly in the Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, S porch, and a western tower. It contains many ancient and interesting brasses and memorials, a large piscina under a foliated canopy, and a stained E window. High Wych is an ecclesiastical parish which was formed out of the mother parish in 1862. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St Albans; net value, £300 with residence, in the gift of the Vicar of Sawbridgeworth. The church, erected in 1861, is a building of flint and stone in the Early English style. There are also a mission church at Alien's Green and a Congregational chapel. There are three unendowed almshouses, a cottage hospital, and some small charities. Allen's Green, Tednambury, Tharbee's End, and Spellbrook are adjacent hamlets.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

Findmypast, in association with the Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies have the Baptisms, Banns, Marriages, and Burials online for Sawbridgeworth

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Sawbridgeworth from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Sawbridgeworth (St. Michael))

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Hertfordshire is online.

Maps

Online maps of Sawbridgeworth are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Hertfordshire newspapers online:

• Hertford Mercury and Reformer
• Herts Guardian, Agricultural Journal, and General Advertiser
• Watford Observer

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Hertfordshire, 1572 and 1634. Edited by Walter C. Metcalfe, F.S.A. is available on the Heraldry page.