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Huntingdonshire

Nearby places

SWINESHEAD

"SWINESHEAD, a parish in the hundred of Leightonstone, county Huntingdon, 3 miles south-west of Kimbolton, its post town, and 12 from Bedford. The village is on the Great Northern railway and a branch of the river Kym. It is nearly surrounded by Bedfordshire. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely, value £280. The church is dedicated to St. Nicholas."

Cemeteries

• Monumental inscriptions of the parishes of Shelton (St. Mary), Swineshead and Little Staughton are available, from the Bedfordshire FHS Publications List.

Census

• Census information for this parish (1841 - 1891) is held in the Huntingdon Records Office.
• The full 1841 Census of Swineshead Parish is available as fiche set C87 from the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire FHS.
• The full 1851 Census of Swineshead is available as fiche set C68 from the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire FHS. A surname index of Swineshead parish in the 1851 Census of Bedfordshire (Vol. 2, Book 1) is also available from the Bedfordshire FHS.
• A surname index of the 1881 Census of the St. Neots Registration District, in which Swineshead was enumerated (RG11/1612, Folios 112a - 117b), and which took place on 3rd April 1881, is available as Fiche C5, from the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire FHS.
• A full transcription of the 1891 Census of the Kimbolton Registration District (RG12/1243) in which Swineshead was enumerated, and which took place on 5th April 1891, is available as fiche set C14, from the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire FHS.

Churches

• Here are photographs of Churches etc. in the parish:
  • St. Nicholas's Church, Swineshead.
    • Internal view looking down the nave
    • The old Clock mechanism
    • The font

Church History

• OS Grid Square TL058659.
• The church of St Nicholas consists of a chancel, nave, north aisle with vestry, south aisle, west tower and south porch. The walls are coursed rubble with some pebble rubble, and with stone dressings. The roofs are covered with stone slates, tiles and lead.
• The church is not mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086, but there was a rector here before 1271. The whole church seems to have been rebuilt during the 14th century, bwginning with the chancel about 1330; about the same time, the south aisle and porch were built. The north aisle with the base of a tower at its west end followed about 10 years later, but the proposed tower was almost immediately abandoned in favour of one at the west end of the nave.
• Towards the end of the 15th century, a clearstory was added to the nave, a vestry was added at the east end of the north aisle, with a chamber above it, and a narrow slip-way communicating with the chancel. At the same time the chancel arch was widened, rood-stairs built on the south side, and a rood-screen and loft erected.
• The nave roof was repaired in 1706 and in 1841. A general restoration seems to have gone on from 1847 to 1853. The tower and spire were again repaired in 1907.

Church Records

• The original registers are at the Bedfordshire Records Office, but indexed transcriptions and microfiched copies are available as follows:
• The following are available in the Huntingdon Records Office.
  • Baptisms: 1548-1812 (indexed transcriptions), 1548-1983 (microfiche).
  • Banns: 1756-1811, 1923-1983 (both on microfiche).
  • Marriages: 1550-1811 (indexed transcriptions), 1550-1981 (microfiche).
  • Burials: 1548-1812 (indexed transcriptions), 1548-1980 microfiche).
  • Bishop's Transcripts: 1604-5, 1607-8, 1610, 1617-19, 1626, 1631/1678-88, 1690-3, 1695-1702, 1705, 1707, 1709-18, 1721-49, 1751-85, 1789-1813/1813-24/1825-6, 1828-37, 1844-8, 1850-8.
• The parish registers are available in the Bedfordshire Parish register series on microfiche, available from the Bedfordshire FHS.
• The Huntingdonshire Marriage Indexes include marriages from this parish. These are, at present, issued in alphabetical listings in series: 1601-1700, and 1701-1754, and are available from the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire FHS.

Civil Registration

• Swineshead was originally in the St. Neots Registration District from 1st July 1837. Subsequently it became part of the Kimbolton sub-District, but it is now directly under the Huntingdon Registration District.

Gazetteers

• A transcript of the Swineshead parish entries from 1932 Victoria County Series
• A transcript of the Swineshead parish entries from Samuel Lewis's 1835 Topographical Dictionary of England,

Military History

• The war memorial with detailed information about those who fell is available on Roll of Honour site for Bedfordshire.

Names, Geographical

• Suineshefet (1086),
• Swynesheved (xiii cent.),
• Swineshead (xvi cent.).

Poor Houses, Poor Law, etc.

• The parish of Swineshead was in the St Neots Union for Poor Law administration.
• Births and Deaths registered in the St Neots Union Workhouse (1913 - 1952) are available, as fiche set D11, from the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire FHS.

Population

• Population in 1801 - 214.
• Population in 1851 - 267.
• Population in 1901 - 160.
• Population in 1951 - 115.
• Population in 1971 - 116.
• Population in 1991 - 137.