Swanbourne is a village and

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 ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

, England, two miles (3.2 km) east of Winslow and three miles (4.8 km) west of

Stewkley Stewkley is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. The village is about east of Winslow and about west of Leighton Buzzard. The civil parish includes the hamlets of North End and Stewkley Dean. The toponym Stewkley is deri ...

History

The village name is

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to Ge ...

in origin and may mean "swan stream". It was recorded as ''Suanaburna'' in the ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...

'' in 792. A grant of land was made to

Woburn Abbey Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors, ...

in 1201."Parishes : Swanbourne"

Victoria History of the Counties of England The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History (VCH), is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of Englan ...

, A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 3 (1927), pp. 427–432. The first vicar of the parish arrived in 1218 and the parish church was dedicated in 1230. The abbey was dissolved in 1538 and its lands were later sold by the Crown.History of Swanbourne: key dates
/ref> Swanbourne people supported Parliament in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. It was burnt down by

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

troops in 1643. The

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery and the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Waterside Theatre. It is located in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wycombe and Milt ...

–

Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...

turnpike road through Swanbourne opened in 1722. Common lands were enclosed in 1762–1763 and divided among 50 landowners. Swanbourne House was bought in 1798 by Thomas Fremantle (1765–1819) for his wife Elizabeth, known as Betsey, for 900 guineas. The Fremantle family, originally from Aston Abbotts, had strong naval connections. Their eldest son Sir Thomas Francis Fremantle (1798–1890) became a prominent Tory politician. Their second son

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

(1800–1869) followed his father into the British Royal Navy and was instrumental in founding the

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just ''Swan River'', was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, an ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, which accounts for the place names

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

, Swanbourne and Cottesloe in the

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

area. Another son, Captain Stephen Grenville Fremantle is also buried in the churchyard. Swanbourne House is still owned by the Fremantle family trust, but it is let to the private Swanbourne House School. The present head of the family is Commander John Tapling Fremantle, 5th Baron Cottesloe, a former Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire. He lives in the village, as does his daughter Elizabeth, the Hon. Mrs Duncan Smith, with her husband

Iain Duncan Smith Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who was Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Le ...

, a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

politician. There was an agricultural strike in Swanbourne in 1873, led by some members of the Primitive Methodist Chapel, who had joined the National Agricultural Labourers' Union. Attached to the village is the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of Nearton End.

Schools

The first Swanbourne school was founded in 1712 under the will of brothers William and Nicholas Godwin. The present Swanbourne Church of England School in Winslow Road is a mixed,

voluntary aided A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation) contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In m ...

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

that forms a component of the Three Schools with Mursley Church of England School and Drayton Parslow Village School, under an agreement of 2009. Swanbourne in 2015/2016 had 115 pupils in four classes, aged seven to eleven, out of a total of 199 pupils at the three schools. The Swanbourne classes divide into sets for the core subjects. Half the pupils were from the catchment area and half from further afield. Swanbourne House School is a coeducational infants' and prep school for some 380 pupils from age three for day pupils and seven for boarders, up to the age of 13. It was founded in 1920.

Anthony Chenevix-Trench Anthony Chenevix-Trench (10 May 1919 – 21 June 1979) was a British schoolteacher, classics scholar and alleged child sexual abuser. He was born in British India, educated at Shrewsbury School and Christ Church, Oxford, and served in the Second ...

taught English and history at the school for a term in the early 1970s, between being headmaster of

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and headmaster of

Fettes College Fettes College () is a co-educational private boarding and day school in Craigleith, Edinburgh, Scotland, with over two-thirds of its pupils in residence on campus. The school was originally a boarding school for boys only and became co-ed in ...

. It is currently part of the Stowe Group along with Stowe School and Winchester House. Jane Thorpe has been the headteacher from September 2018 to July 2022. Nicholas Holloway is the current headteacher from September 2023 since taking over from acting headteacher Simone Mitchell. The private Ashbourne Day Nursery is also in Winslow Road.

Churches

St Swithun's Anglican Church, a Grade II* historic

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 ...

, stands at the east end of the village, opposite Swanbourne House. The nave, chancel and tower date from the first half of the 13th century. The north aisle was added in the second half of the 15th century and the tower rebuilt half a century later. The church is in good repair. It contains some stained glass and a wooden ceiling, both probably dating from the 19th century. There are some medieval carvings and the remains of three medieval murals in the north aisle. The tower has a ring of six bells and a

sanctus The ''Sanctus'' (, "Holy") is a hymn in Christian liturgy. It may also be called the ''epinikios hymnos'' (, "Hymn of Victory") when referring to the Greek rendition and parts of it are sometimes called "Benedictus". ''Tersanctus'' (Latin: "Thr ...

. There are

monumental brass A monumental brass is a type of engraved church monument, sepulchral memorial once found through Western Europe, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional church monument, monuments and effigy, effigies carve ...

es on the south and north sides of the chancel. The latter, showing Thomas Adams (died 1626) and his family, bears the baneful inscription, . Swanbourne Baptist Church in Mursley Road, was built in 1809, rebuilt in 1863 and closed in 1972, when it was converted into a dwelling. Swanbourne Methodist Chapel is in Nearton End. The first place of worship was built for the Primitive Methodists in 1858. A new one superseded it in 1907. Formerly in the Stewkley Circuit, then the Leighton Buzzard Circuit, the church is now in the Vale of Aylesbury Circuit.

Business and transport

Swanbourne has a pub/restaurant, The Betsey Wynne, named after Elizabeth Wynne Fremantle, the diarist ancestor of the Fremantles. There are limited weekday bus services between Swanbourne and Winslow,

Bletchley Bletchley is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, in the south-west of the city, split between the civil parishes in England, civil parishes of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford and West Bletchley, which In 2011 had a com ...

or Central Milton Keynes. Swanbourne railway station, on the Oxford to Cambridge 'Varsity Line', was open from 1851 to 1967. Under the 1955 "Modernisation of British Railways" plan, a scheme was developed to build a large automated marshalling yard; this was cancelled in 1960 before construction started, though a new flyover to carry the route over the main line at Bletchley was completed. The station site is about from the village, halfway to Little Horwood and about the same distance from Mursley. In summer 2020, the old station and platforms were demolished to clear the route for the new East West Rail. The nearest station today is

, about away by road.

References

External links