School Origins and History Swanbourne House School has its origins in 1920, when Lionel and Margaret Evans brought 43 boys from the Junior House, Bradfield to establish the school inner premises at Swanbourne House. Swanbourne House had been built in the 1860s for Sir Thomas Fremantle, later the 1st Lord Cottersloe. But it had been […]

The Buckinghamshire Posse Comitatus 1798 Transcription by Ken Harris In February 1798. as part of the preparations for defending England from Napoleon, a survey was undertaken in Buckinghamshire of the names and occupations of all the men between the ages of 15 and 60 years, in each of the hundreds of the County. They could be […]

A Short History on Baptist activity in Swanbourne By Ken Harris Baptists are people who mark themselves out from other Christians through their practice of insisting on adult baptism, rather than allowing or recognising paedobaptism – i.e. the baptism of infants. The first known Baptist congregation in England date back to 1608, when people fleeing […]

Public Houses in Swanbourne By Ken Harris Like most villages, Swanbourne had a number of public houses in times gone by, but that number has slowly dwindled, until in 1991, the last of these pubs, The Swan, closed its doors to business.  However, unlike most villages, 15 years later a newly-built pub opened and continues […]

The Willett (Williatt) family By Clive Rodgers The surname known today as Willett previously had several different spellings, the most common of which was Williat.  The Willett name is common in North Buckinghamshire, especially around Great and Little Horwood and the surrounding villages. The Williats, though small in number in Swanbourne, are present in the 17th Century.  […]

The Carter Family (Research by Clive Rodgers still in progress) An  entry  in the Church Book of   1606   names   William  Carter  as the second largest holder of land in Swanbourne.  Some of this land wealth is probably  derived from his marriage in 1605 to Susan Deverell. At Enclosure most of these lands   along  with  the  Manor  […]

The Godwins By Clive Rodgers The name Godwin,  sometimes spelled  Godwyn or Goodwin seems to go back to Godwin, Earl of Kent,  who was the cousin of Suen, Earl of Essex and Father of Harold the King. The name is not on Sir J Fortesques list of tenants  in  1600 suggesting a Manor in its […]

Charles Alderman By Neil Rees Charles Alderman was born in 1812 son of John Alderman and his wife Phillis (nee Casemore) Alderman. He lived all his life in Nearton End, Swanbourne.  On 25th January 1830 he married Hannah Tarry at St Swithun’s Church in Swanbourne.  She had been christened in Ashendon in 1811. Children of […]

Shoe manufacture at Ivy Farm (previously Maudlin’s Farm) Summary of known evidence by Clive Rodgers The late Ken Reading, noted that in 1850 a considerable shoe manufacturing business  employing many  members of the Anstee  family and others besides,  existed in this  area.  Shoemakers are also known as “cordwainers”, and they appear on successive Swanbourne censuses.   The farmhouse  has  been […]

Straw-plaiting in Swanbourne By Frankie Fisher and Ken Harris Straw-plaiting was a cottage industry which helped poor families supplement their income, and was something in which even young children could play a part. The straw plaits were used for making into hats, and were brought up by traders who took the plaits to Luton which […]