Swavesey, Cambridgeshire

Historical Description

Swavesey (popularly Swasey), a village and a parish in Cambridgeshire. The village stands on the Cambridge and Huntingdon branch of the G.E.R., on which it has a station, 3½ miles ESE of St Ives, 9 SE from Huntingdon, and 69 from London. It was once a place of some importance, and had A market and fair, but both have become obsolete. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under St Ives. The parish comprises 3982 acres; population, 1069. There is a parish council consisting of nine members. A Black alien priory was founded here in the time of the Confessor, and was given, by Richard II., to Coventry priory. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely; net value, £270 with residence. Patron, Jesus College, Cambridge. The church belonged to the priory, and is a building of stone in the Early English and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, with aisles or chantries, nave, aisles, S porch, and a western tower. There are two Baptist chapels and a Primitive Methodist chapel. The charities are worth about £100 A year. Ockley, the Arabic scholar, was vicar.

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 Swavesey from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Swavesey (St. Andrew))
• Kelly's Directory of Cambridgeshire, 1916

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of Swavesey 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.