Swanbourne

The following reference sources have been used in the construction of this page, and may be referred to for further detail. Most if not all of these volumes are available in the Reference section of the County Library in Aylesbury.

"Buckinghamshire Contributions for Ireland 1642", Wilson J., 1983.
"Buckinghamshire Returns of the Census of Religious Worship 1851", Legg E. ed., 1991, ISBN 0 901198 27 7.
"History and Topography of Buckinghamshire", Sheahan, James Joseph, 1862
"Magna Britannia: Buckinghamshire", Lysons S. and Lysons D., 1806.
"The Place-Names of Buckinghamshire", Mawer A. and Stenton F.M., 1925.
"The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Buckinghamshire", Page W. ed., 1905-1928
"War Memorials and War Graves: North Central Bucks, Volume 4", Peter Quick.

War Memorials

War memorials in Swanbourne have been transcribed by Peter Quick, and published in a booklet entitled "War Memorials and War Graves: North Central Bucks, Volume 4", available from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.

In 1642 there were 79 people named in the tax returns for contributions for Ireland. Between them they were assessed at £7.6.2 of which sum Robert Lownds vicar and John Adams both contributed £1.0.0

In 1798 the Posse Comitatus listed 92 men between the ages of 16 and 60 in Swanbourne.

In the earliest government census of 1801, there were 529 inhabitants in 115 families living in 80 houses recorded in Swanbourne.

* = No names were recorded in census documents from 1801 to 1831.
** = Census documents from 1911 to 2001 are only available in summary form. Names are witheld under the 100 year rule.

Microfilm copies of all census enumerators' notebooks for 1841 to 1891 are held at the Local Studies Libraries at Aylesbury and Milton Keynes, as well as centrally at the PRO. A table of 19th century census headcount by parish is printed in the VCH of Bucks, Vol.2, pp 96-101.

Availability of census transcripts and indexes.

• 1851 - Full transcripts and indexes for Buckinghamshire are available on CD-ROM, hard copy and microfiche from the Buckinghamshire Family History Society.
• 1861 - Available on CD-ROM with advanced search and mapping capabilities etc. from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.
• 1881
  • Available on CD-ROM from the Church of the Latter Day Saints, as part of the National 1881 Census Index.
  • Available on CD-ROM for Buckinghamshire, with advanced search and mapping capabilities etc. from Drake Software.
• 1891 - Available on CD-ROM with advanced search and mapping capabilities etc. from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.

• Vicars of the Parish Church of St Swithin

The original copies of the parish registers for St Swithin, Swanbourne have been deposited in the Buckinghamshire Record Office in Aylesbury, and they hold the following years:

Copies or indexes to the parish registers are available from societies as follows:

* = material held in a Society library is generally available for loan to all members either via post, or by collection at a meeting

An ecclesiastical census was carried out throughout England on 30 March 1851 to record the attendance at all places of worship. These returns are in the Buckinghamshire Record Office and have been published by the Buckinghamshire Record Society (vol 27). The returns for Swanbourne showed the following numbers:

• Buckinghamshire Church Photos by Kevin Quick.
• Buckinghamshire Village Photos by Kevin Quick.
• Buckinghamshire Records and Local Studies Service - large collection of old photos of Buckinghamshire

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Swanbourne to another place.

Swanbourne was described in 1806 in "Magna Britannia" as follows:

SWANBOURN, in the hundred of Cotslow and deanery of Muresley, lies about two miles and a half to the west of Winslow. The manor belonged to Woburn abbey, and was granted in 1554 to Ambrose Gilbert: it seems to have been since divided into moieties one of which was for many years in the family of Adams. After the death of Mr. James Adams in 1775, this moiety passed by his bequest to Mr. Williamson: it is now by purchase the property of Joseph Farborough esq. The other moiety was some years ago in the family of Askew, and was purchased of them by the Deverells, to whom it still belongs.

In the church are some memorials of the Adams family, and of Mr. Josias Askew who died in 1750, at the age of 94.

The great tithes were formerly apropriated to Woburn abbey. The parish has been inclosed by an act of parliament passed in 1761, when an allotment of land was assigned in lieu of great tithes to James Adams esq. then impropriator, an allotment for the vicar's glebe, and a corn rent in lieu of vicarial tithes; an allotment of land was assigned for the repairs for the church, and another to the poor in lieu of an indulgence of pasture. The vicarage is in the gift of the crown.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SP801273 (Lat/Lon: 51.93845, -0.836242), Swanbourne which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

The name of Swanbourne derives from the old english words swana + burna, and means 'peasants' stream'.

• Poll Tax 1641 Cotteslow Hundred has been published by the Buckinghamshire Family History Society