Place:Swaffham Prior, Cambridgeshire, England

Watchers
NameSwaffham Prior
Alt namesSwaffham-Priorsource: Family History Library Catalog
Great Swaffhamsource: historic name
Reachsource: village in parish
Knightssource: manor in parish
Swaffham Prior St. Cyriacsource: ancient parish combined in 1667
Swaffham Prior St. Cyriac and St. Jolittasource: ancient parish combined in 1667
Swaffham Prior St. Jolittasource: ancient parish combined in 1667
Swaffham Prior St. Marysource: ancient parish combined in 1667
TypeAncient parish, Civil parish
Coordinates52.253°N 0.297°E
Located inCambridgeshire, England
See alsoStaine Hundred, Cambridgeshire, Englandhundred in which it was located
Newmarket Rural, Cambridgeshire, Englandrural district 1894-1974
East Cambridgeshire District, Cambridgeshire, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area since 1974
NOTE: Swaffham Prior should not be confused with the town of Swaffham in Norfolk.


the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Swaffham Prior is a small village and civil parish in the East Cambridgeshire District of Cambridgeshire, England which lies 5 miles west of Newmarket, and two miles southwest of Burwell. The village is often paired with its neighbour Swaffham Bulbeck, and they are collectively referred to as 'The Swaffhams'. Swaffham Prior was often known as Great Swaffham in past centuries.

The parish covers an area of 7.62 sq mi (19.7 km2) and in the 2011 UK census it had a population of 841.

The village is dominated by its twin churches that have served the parish since at least the 12th century – the Church of St Mary, and the Church of St Cyriac and St Julitta (dedicated to Saint Quiricus and Saint Julietta). In 1667 an act of parliament combined the churches under a single parish.

Swaffham St. Mary (redirected here) was first built in Norman times, and over its history has at times been allowed to fall into ruin, only being fully restored at the start of the 20th century and serving as the sole parish church since 1903. It contains a rood screen, and has a series of stained glass windows showing scenes from World War I.

The original church of Swaffham St. Cyriac and Swaffham St. Julitta (Cyriac's mother) was built prior to 1200, and may possibly have existed before 1066. The present chapel is a plain Gothic-style church, consisting of a small chancel and nave with three small transeptal chapels. The tower was built in the 15th century and contains 6 bells. Having fallen into disuse, in 1878 an order was received that the church be demolished, but the order was never carried out. These names for ancient parishes are also redirected here.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Swaffham Prior.

The following description from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72 is provided by the website A Vision of Britain Through Time (University of Portsmouth Department of Geography).

"SWAFFHAM-PRIOR, a village and a parish in Newmarket [registration] district, Cambridge[shire]. The village stands 5½ miles W of Newmarket [railway] station; was once a market-town: and has a post-office under Cambridge. The parish contains also the ancient hamlet of Reach; was originally two parishes: [Swaffham] St. Mary, and [Swaffham] St. Cyriac; and comprises 5,297 acres. Real property: £8,432. Population: 1,329. Houses: 312. The property is subdivided. [Swaffham] House is the seat of P. Allix, Esq. The living is a double vicarage in the diocese of Ely. Value: £500. Patron: alternately the Bishop of Ely and the Dean and Chapter. St. Mary's church is a picturesque ruin; St. Cyriac's church has been rebuilt; and both stand in one church-yard. There are two dissenting chapels, an endowed school with £30 a year, alms houses, and other charities."

The hamlet of Reach, referred to in Wilson's Gazetter, was made a separate civil parish in 1954.

Research Tips

  • Original historical documents relating to Cambridgeshire are now held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at Shire Hall, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4GS
  • The Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Family History Society has transcribed the parish registers for many if not all the ancient parishes of Cambridgeshire and these can be purchased from the Society as separate pdfs.
  • A History of the County of Cambridge. Seven volumes from British History Online (Victoria County Histories). This is by far the most complete history of the parishes of the county to be found online. From the numbering it would appear that some parts of the county are yet to be published online, but the first two volumes for any county are of little interest to the genealogist. The chapters are ordered by the divisions of the county called hundreds, but each parish is listed in the volume's content page.
  • GENUKI has a page on Cambridgeshire and pages for each of the ecclesiastical or ancient parishes in the county. These give references to other organizations who hold genealogical information for the local area. Each parish page includes a map of the parish provided by Open Street Maps.
  • The FamilyTree Wiki has a series of pages similar to those provided by GENUKI which may have been prepared at a later date.
  • A Vision of Britain through Time, section "Units and Statistics" for each parish and borough leads to analyses of population and organization of the county from about 1800 through 1974.
  • Map of Cambridgeshire divisions in 1888 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
  • Map of Cambridge divisions in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Swaffham Prior. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.