Swavesey is a village lying on the Prime Meridian of the world in Cambridgeshire, England, with a population of 2,463. The village is situated 9 miles to the north west of Cambridge and 3 miles south east of St Ives.
Listed as Suauesye in the Domesday Book of 1086, the name Swavesey means "landing place (or island) of a man named Swaef".
History
Swavesey, forming a historical parish of 3982 acres on the border with Huntingdonshire, lies on a narrow clay ridge rising to 18 metres above sea level at one time surrounded by fenland. The village was of importance during the early Middle Ages as the centre of a large 11th-century estate. A castle was built here in the late 11th or early 12th century, though is believed to have been derelict by 1200. Swavesey served as a port and subsequent market town and was fortified at the end of the 12th century.
An alien priory was founded in Swavesey shortly after the Norman Conquest, possibly replacing a Saxon minster.
Roman pottery has been found in the parish.
The village motto is "Steadfast in Work and Play".
Church
There was already a church in Swavesey at the time of the Norman Conquest, possibly a minster, when Alan, Count of Richmond, granted it to the Abbey of St Sergius and St Bacchus in Angers, France. The Abbey founded an alien priory there by 1086, but Swavesey Priory was awarded to Alan la Zouche, lord of Swavesey manor, by the start of the 14th century. has a double aisle aspect to its nave. The east window in the Lady Chapel contains a 1967 Tree of Jesse by Francis Skeat. The present building has parts dating from the 11th century, but was substantially improved over the following four centuries.
A Unitarian chapel was built in 1831 on the corner of School Lane and High Street, and the congregation moved to a new Baptist chapel in 1869. The original Unitarian chapel was bought by a group of Methodists and served as their place of worship until it was converted into a bungalow in 1934. Swavesey Village College is a secondary school, which opened in 1958.