Sawston, Cambridgeshire

Historical Description

Sawston, a village and a parish in Cambridgeshire. The village stands near the river Cam, 1 mile NNE of Whittlesford station on the London and Cambridge section of the G.E.R., and 7 miles SSE of Cambridge. It was once a market-town, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Cambridge. The parish comprises 1898 acres; population, 1882. There is a parish council consisting of eleven members. The manor, with Sawston Hall, belongs to the Huddleston family. The industries include a large paper-mill employing about 400 workpeople, and some extensive leather works. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely; net value, £265 with residence. The church is a building of flint and rubble in the Norman, Early English, and later styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, N porch, and an embattled western tower. It contains some ancient and interesting brasses, tombs, and monuments. There are Congregational and Primitive Methodist chapels and a Salvation Army barracks. Sawston Hall, an ancient mansion rebuilt in the reign of Queen Mary, which stands in the centre of the village, has a private Roman Catholic chapel attached. There are almshouses for eight poor persons and charities worth about £130 a year.

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.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Sawston from the following:

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

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Cambridgeshire is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Sawston 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 Cambridgeshire papers online:

• Cambridge Independent Press
• Cambridge Chronicle and Journal
• Huntingdon, Bedford & Peterborough Gazette

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Cambridgeshire 1575 and 1619 is available online.