- source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
- source: Family History Library Catalog
- the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia
Sawtry is now a village in the Huntingdonshire administrative district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. Sawtry is just west of the Fens, halfway between the city of Peterborough and the town of Huntingdon. Other nearby villages include Folksworth, Alconbury, Holme, Yaxley, and Stilton. The village was home to over 6000 people in the 2001 UK census.
During the Dark Ages, Sawtry was divided into three parishes --Sawtry All Saints, Sawtry St Andrew and Sawtry St Judith. It originally got its name from the fact that it was a trading centre for salt, an essential commodity in the Middle Ages.
The Cistercian Abbey of St Mary was founded in 1147 by Simon de Senlis, grandson of Judith De Lens, niece of William the Conqueror. Judith owned land in many parts of Britain but built her Manor in Sawtry. The Parish of Sawtry Judith (later Sawtry St Judith) is named after her. The Abbey took 91 years to complete and ministered to the local area both spiritually and physically. This was demolished in 1540 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries as part of the English Reformation, although traces of the Abbey still remain.
Sawtry was located in Huntingdon Rural District until Huntingdonshire was absorbed into Cambridgeshire in 1974. Since then it has been part of the Huntingdonshire administrative district in Cambridgeshire, England.
Sawtry All Saints and Sawtry St Andrew merged in 1886 and the joint parish, along with Sawtry St Judith, were absorbed into the civil parish of Sawtry in 1935.
Research Tips
- Original historical documents relating to Huntingdonshire are now held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at Shire Hall, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4GS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 all the ancient parishes of Huntingdonshire and these can be purchased from the Society as pdfs.
- A History of the County of Huntingdon in 3 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. The chapters are ordered by the divisions of the county called hundreds, but each chapter is linked to the volume's content page. Volume 2 (published 1932) covers Hurstingstone and Toseland hundreds (index of parishes); Leightonstone and Norman Cross Hundreds (index of parishes) are found in Volume 3 (published 1936). Volume 1 is a part-volume describing the religious houses of the county.
- GENUKI has a page on Huntingdonshire 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.
- 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" leads to analyses of population and organization of the county from about 1800 through 1974. There are pages available for all civil parishes, municipal boroughs and other administrative divisions.
- Map of Huntingdonshire divisions in 1888 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
- Map of Huntingdonshire divisions in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
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