Swaby

The Community Library at Alford has a local history archive that will prove useful in your research.

The photograph by Ron COLE in the Church History section shows a portion of the church burial yard.

John FIRTH also has a photograph of St. Nicholas' Churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in uly, 2010.

Richard CROFT also has a photograph of St. Nicholas' burial field on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2007.

• The parish was in the Withern sub-district of the Louth Registration District.
   
• Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
   

Census Year	Piece No.
1851	H.O. 107 / 2111
1861	R.G. 9 / 2379
1871	R.G. 10 / 3398
1891	R.G. 12 / 2606

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Nicholas.
   
• The church fell into disrepair and was rebuilt in 1827-28 as a small brick building. This was the third church built on this site.
   
• The earlier church was dedicated to Saint Margaret and was destroyed around 1658.
   
• The church seats 100 people.
   
• St. Nicholas Church is a Grade II listed building with English Heritage.
   
• There is a photograph of St. Nicholas Church on the Wendy PARKINSON Church Photos web site.
   
• J. HANNAN-BRIGGS has a photograph of St. Nicholas Church on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2013.
   
• Here is a photo of St. Nicholas Church, taken by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):
   

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1660.
   
• We have the beginning of a Parish Register Extract in a text file for your use. Your additions would be welcome.
   
• The Lincolnshire FHS has published several marriage indexes for the Calcewaith and Candleshoe Deanery to make your search easier.
   
• The burial index for Swaby at Calcewaith and Candleshoe Deanery covers only 1813-1900.
   
• A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built here, in Whitepit, prior to 1871, as was a Free Methodist chapel. For information and assistance in researching these chapels, see our non-conformist religions page.
   
• Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.

• The parish was in the Withern sub-district of the Louth Registration District.
   
• Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.
   

Swaby is both a village and a parish which lie about 6 miles north-west of Alford and 8 miles north of Spilsby. Burwell parish is just to the north-west and Belleau parish to the east. The parish covers just under 1,600 acres of land and includes the hamlet of Whitepit.

If you are planning a visit:

• By automobile, take the Louth/Spilsby Road (now the A16 trunk road). Swaby is about 8 miles north of Spilsby.
   
• See our touring page for visitor services.
   

• Geograph
• Flickr

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

Andrew WHALE has a photograph of a Chalk Outcrop just east of the village on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2010.

• The village is mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book.
   
• In 1934 a pot with 178 silver denarii was found in the field called "The Bog".
   
• The village Hall sits on the site of the old Methodist chapel.
   

• See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference TF387775 (Lat/Lon: 53.276762, 0.077934), Swaby 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.

J. THOMAS has a photograph of the churchyard War Memorial on geo-graph, taken in June, 2020.

From John Readman: "This Roll of Honour is displayed in the parish church of St. Nicholas, on a card, inside a wooden frame. The names are written in coloured inks."

"THE MEN OF SWABY WHO SERVED THEIR KING AND COUNTRY IN THE GREAT EUROPEAN WAR 1914 - 1918 AND WERE SPARED TO RETURN"

H. PRESTON ADDEY LEWIS BELL ALBERT BARTON WRIGHT BONTOFT HERBERT T. O. BRUMPTON JOHN CAMPLING ERNEST CAMPLIN GEORGE Wm. CARTWRIGHT THOMAS DIXON

THOMAS ELVIN JOHN GOSLING HARRY GRANT GEORGE Wm. GRANT CHRISTOPHER JACKSON WILLIAM MARTIN ERNEST ODLIN ALBERT PARRISH ROBERT PARSONS FRED ROBINSON

EDWARD S. RUTLAND GORDON E. RUTLAND ALBERT REEVE FRED STEPHENSON DRUMMOND WILLOUGHBY HAROLD WILLOUGHBY HERBERT WRIGHT HOWEN WRIGHT EDWARD WHITE

• This place was an ancient parish in Lincoln county and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
   
• The parish was in the Marsh division of the ancient Calceworth Wapentake in the East Lindsey district in the parts of Lindsey.
   
• In March, 1888, the Hall Wood parcel was transfered to Belleau Civil Parish.
   
• You may contact the joint Swaby, Haugh and South Thoresby Parish Council regarding civic or political matters, bu they are NOT funded to help you with family history searches.
   
• Kelly's 1913 Directory of Lincolnshire places the parish, perhaps in error, in the South Lindsey district of the county.
   
• For today's district governance, see the East Lindsey District Council.
   

• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Alford petty session hearings on alternate Tuesdays.
   
• The Common Lands were enclosed here in 1791.
   
• After the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, the parish became part of the Louth Poor Law Union.
   

Year	Inhabitants
1801	197
1811	200
1831	398
1841	391
1871	467
1881	414
1891	364
1901	305
1911	274
1921	255

• The parish had a National School built here in 1857 for 120 children. This school closed in 1976.
   
• For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.