Swanbourne and the Railway By Ken Harris The railway came to Swanbourne in 1850, transforming the ability of people to travel into and out of the village, and increasing the movement of goods. The lines which linked to village to Oxford, Buckingham and Aylesbury began life with different Acts of Parliament in 1846, leading eventually […]

Roads in and around Swanbourne By Ken Harris The first road builders in the area were the Romans. The most important road nearby was Watling Street, which still follows the same general line passes through modern day Milton Keynes as it did over 1,600 years ago. At its closest, it was about 6 miles from […]

Murder at the Neptune Public House Reproduced from ‘Swanbourne – History of an Anglo-Saxon town’ by the late Ken Reading (reproduced by permission of his relatives) A  story handed down by word of mouth through several generations is not supposed to lose much colour in the telling.  Perhaps this story is not unconnected with the […]

Ghostly visions of Thomas and Elizabeth Adams. By Clive Rodgers The Green Lady ghost of local legend and mentioned on national ghost sites is based on visions of a lady dressed in green representing Elizabeth Adams, the widow of murdered Lord of the Manor Thomas Adams.  Elizabeth is pictured alongside Thomas on the bronze monument […]

Maps and Trails An Estate Plan. This estate plan is dated 1821 and made up of an inherited remnant of James Adams estate who died in 1775 which had been passed on to the Williamson family.             Return to the Maps and Trails Category  

Maps and Trails Other Historic Maps BELOW: Old Field Names map                                                       BELOW: 1599 Map showing Swanbourne and Mursley.                                                     Click on maps to enlarge. CLICK HERE to return to Maps and Trails […]

The Deverell Family BELOW:- Reproduced from ‘Swanbourne – History of an Anglo-Saxon town’ by the late Ken Reading (reproduced by permission of his relatives). The Deverells (alt. spelling Deveral, Deverill) Of  leading importance in Swanbourne,  from the time that records began  in the 16th Century,  until the Fremantles finally  bought them  out in the 19th Century,  […]

The Askew Family By Clive Rodgers The Askew family are first linked to the Lords of the Manor after the murder of Thomas Adams.  The Widow of Thomas, Elizabeth Adams, married Thomas Askew of Swanbourne in 1627, moving in to the Manor House from the Askew Close in Nearton End. He took on the four […]

Sir John Fortescue By Clive Rodgers In 1580 Sir John  Fortescue, cousin and personal advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, became the owner of the Manor of Salden, near Mursley.  He built a magnificent palace at a cost of £33,000 (which would be hundreds of millions of pounds in today’s money) where he enjoyed entertaining Royalty and the Nobility. […]

World War Records By Linda Rodgers   For a full transcription of War Memorial and military related Church and Census Records in PDF, CLICK BELOW:-   War Memorial summary of information   In 1940, Squadron Leader Anthony Bartley was an fighter pilot ace in World War 2.  He had grown up and lived in Swanbourne with his […]