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Swillington (St. Mary)

SWILLINGTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the Lower division of the wapentake of Skyrack, W. riding of York, 7½ miles (E. S. E.) from Leeds; containing 565 inhabitants. This parish, which is bounded on the south by the river Aire, comprises 2487a. 1r. 30p. of land, chiefly the property of Sir John H. Lowther, Bart. The soil is rich, and the substratum abounds with excellent coal, of which a mine is worked at Astley, a hamlet in the parish. Swillington Hall, the seat of Sir J. H. Lowther, an ancient mansion, has been greatly improved. The village is on the bank of the Aire, over which is a good bridge of three arches, erected in 1771. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £16. 1. 8.; net income, £510; patron, Sir J. H. Lowther. The tithes were commuted for land and corn-rents in 1795; the glebe altogether comprises 106 acres. The church is a handsome structure in the later English style, with a square embattled tower crowned by pinnacles, and contains several neat monuments to the Lowther family. A school was built in 1748, by Sir William Lowther, who, as lord of the manor, endowed it with 16 acres of common; and almshouses for four widows were built by the same benefactor, and endowed with £110, for which Sir John H. Lowther pays the sum of £12 per annum. Near the glebe-house is a strong chalybeate spring.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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