Swaby is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

and village in the

East Lindsey East Lindsey is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Lincolnshire, England. Its council is based in Horncastle and the largest town is Skegness. Other towns include Alford, Lincolnshire, Alford, Burgh le Marsh, Coningsby, L ...

district of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England, about north from

Spilsby Spilsby is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The town is adjacent to the main A16 road (England), A16, east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Lincoln, north-east of Boston ...

, and north-west from Alford. Whitepit is a hamlet half a mile west of the village.

History

Swaby is listed in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

'' of 1086 as consisting of 21 households, of meadow, of woodland and two mills. In 1934 a hoard of 178 silver

denarii The ''denarius'' (; : ''dēnāriī'', ) was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the ''antoninianus''. It continued to be mi ...

in a pot were found in the field called 'The Bog' at Swaby. Lincoln Museum acquired 162 of the coins, ranging from Marcus Antoninus and

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

. The remainder are in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. The parish church is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

dedicated to

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

. It was built in 1828 of red brick and has a small bell turret.

Lucy Lyttelton Cameron Lucy Lyttelton Cameron (29 April 1781 – 6 September 1858, née Butt) was a British magazine editor and a writer for children with religious themes. Early life and education Lucy Lyttelton Cameron was born in Stanford-on-Teme, taking her name ...

, the children's author was buried here in 1858. An earlier church, dedicated to

St Margaret Saint Margaret, St. Margarets, or St. Margaret's may refer to: People In chronological order: * Saint Margaret the Virgin of Antioch (died 304) * Saint Margaret of Scotland (c. 1045–1093) * Saint Margaret of England (died 1192) * Saint Margaret ...

, was removed by Henry Vane of Belleau manor around 1658. The site of the church is now a cottage garden. Swaby CE School was built in 1857 as a National School; it closed in 1976. The village hall occupies the site of the old Wesleyan Methodist chapel. The chapel was built in 1839, altered in 1866, and became a

free Methodist The Free Methodist Church (FMC) is a Methodist Christian denomination within the holiness movement, based in the United States. It is Evangelicalism, evangelical in nature and is Wesleyan theology, Wesleyan–Arminian in theology. The Free Met ...

chapel in 1869.

Special scientific interest

There is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Swaby, noted under Section 28 of the

Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (c. 69) is an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom implemented to comply with European Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds. In short, the act gives protection to native species ...

. The reason for the designation: :"This glacial overflow valley supports floristically diverse lime-rich marsh and unimproved chalk turf. The marsh borders a stream bisecting the valley floor and the interest of the glassland is increased by the terraced nature of the slopes."

Population

References

{{authority control Villages in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire East Lindsey District Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Lincolnshire