Swainswick is a small village and civil parish, northeast of

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, on the A46 in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 265. The village name was also spelled Sweyneswik and Sweyneswick in the early 13th to 14th Century.

History

Bladud Bladud or Blaiddyd is a legendary king of the Britons, although there is no historical evidence for his existence. He is first mentioned in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' ( 1136), which describes him as the son of King Rud ...

or Blaiddyd was a mythical king of the Britons, for whose existence there is little historical evidence, but legend holds that he returned to Britain from Athens with leprosy and was imprisoned as a result, but escaped and went into hiding. He found employment as a

swineherd A swineherd is a person who raises and herds pigs as livestock. Swineherds in literature * In the New Testament are mentioned shepherd of pigs, mentioned in the Pig (Gadarene) the story shows Jesus exorcising a demon or demons from a man and a ...

at Swainswick and noticed that his pigs would go into an alder-moor in cold weather and return covered in black mud. He found that the mud was warm and that they did it to enjoy the heat. He also noticed that the pigs which did this did not suffer from skin diseases as others did. On trying the mud bath himself, he found that he was cured of his leprosy. Another version of the story says that his pigs became infected and diseased and that his search for food for the pigs brought him to Swainswick, where a farmer advised him to look for acorns on the far side of the river (possibly the

Lam Brook The Lam Brook is a stream in the West Country of England, which rises in a number of springs on the southern end of the Cotswold Hills and runs in a generally southerly direction for approximately before joining the river Avon at Lambridge in ...

at the bottom of the Lam valley). He came to a place where the pigs began to wallow in hot mud. To entice them out, he climbed an oak tree, collected some acorns and made a trail out of the mud. As the pigs came out, he scraped them clean and found their skin was cleansed and cured. Bladud jumped in and bathed himself in the mud. He emerged to find his skin clear and his disease healed. Bladud returned to the tribe where he later became King. Later, he sent his servants to Bath to establish a settlement, building a temple by the hot springs around which the City grew. It is possible that the name of Swainswick is derived from

Sweyn Forkbeard Sweyn Forkbeard ( non, Sveinn Haraldsson tjúguskegg ; da, Svend Tveskæg; 17 April 963 – 3 February 1014) was King of Denmark from 986 to 1014, also at times King of the English and King of Norway. He was the father of King Harald II of D ...

(c. 960 – 3 February 1014), who along with his troops is said to have stayed in Bath in 1013 whilst conducting a full-scale invasion of Briton before becoming King, according to the contemporary Peterborough version of the

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...

(also called the Laud Manuscript). The chronicles tell that "Then went King Sweyne thence to Wallingford; and so over Thames westward to Bath, where he abode with his army. Thither came Alderman Ethelmar, and all the western thanes with him, and all submitted to Sweyne, and gave hostages. When he had thus settled all, then went he northward to his ships; and all the population fully received him, and considered him full king." The Domesday Book of 1086 records that Swainswick (Swayneswycke) was held by Nigel de Gournay, who would have won his lands in Englishcombe,

Twerton Twerton is a suburb of the city of Bath, Somerset, Bath, Somerset, England, situated to the west of the city, and home to the city's association football, football club, Bath City F.C., Bath City. Twerton is served by bus route 5, operated by Fi ...

, Swainswick and

Barrow Gurney Barrow Gurney is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated in the unitary authority of North Somerset on the B3130, midway between the A38 and A370 near the Long Ashton bypass and Bristol Airport, south west of Bristol city ce ...

by fighting for William I of England. His original home was probably Gournay, which was half-way between Dieppe and Paris. Thomas de Gournay was involved with the murder of

Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to t ...

at Berkeley Castle in 1327. Swainswick was part of the hundred of

Bath Forum Bath Forum is one of the 40 historical hundreds in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, dating from before the Norman Conquest during the Anglo-Saxon era although exact dates are unknown. The Bath Hundred had various names over the centur ...

. The £45 million A46 dual-carriageway Batheaston/Swainswick bypass opened in summer 1996.

Governance

The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council's operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, such as the village hall or community centre, playing fields and

playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people ...

s, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also of interest to the council. The parish falls within the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset which was created in 1996, as established by the Local Government Act 1992. It provides a single tier of local government with responsibility for almost all local government functions within their area including local planning and

building control Building automation (BAS), also known as building management system (BMS) or building energy management system (BEMS), is the automatic centralized control of a building's HVAC, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), electrical, ligh ...

, local roads,

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...

, environmental health, markets and fairs,

refuse collection Waste collection is a part of the process of waste management. It is the transfer of solid waste from the point of use and disposal to the point of treatment or landfill. Waste collection also includes the curbside collection of recyclable m ...

, recycling,

cemeteries A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

crematoria Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...

, leisure services, parks, and tourism. They are also responsible for education,

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...

, libraries, main roads, public transport, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning. Fire, police and ambulance services are provided jointly with other authorities through the

Avon Fire and Rescue Service Avon Fire & Rescue Service (AF&RS) is the fire and rescue service covering the unitary authorities of Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire in South West England. The headquarters of the service is co ...

, Avon and Somerset Constabulary and the

Great Western Ambulance Service The Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust (GWAS) was a National Health Service (NHS) trust which provided emergency and non-emergency patient transport services to Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Swind ...

. Bath and North East Somerset's area covers part of the

ceremonial county The counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England and informally known as ceremonial counties, are areas of England to which lords-lieutenant are appointed. Legally, the areas i ...

of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters are in

. Between 1 April 1974 and 1 April 1996, it was the Wansdyke district and the

City of Bath Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

of the county of Avon. Before 1974 that the parish was part of the

Bathavon Rural District Bathavon was a rural district in Somerset, England, from 1933 to 1974. It was created in 1933 with the abolition of Bath Rural District and Keynsham Rural District. In 1974 it was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, becoming part o ...

. The parish is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom as part of the Bath constituency. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Religious sites

Swainswick (Somerset) St Mary's Church - geograph

The Church of St Mary dates from the 12th century. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building. The church contains monuments to the parents of William Prynne, the Puritan parliamentarian, who was born in the village in 1600. There is a ledger slab of

John Wood the Elder John Wood, the Elder (1704 – 23 May 1754) was an English architect, working mainly in Bath. In 1740 he surveyed Stonehenge and the Stanton Drew stone circles. He later wrote extensively about Bladud and Neo-Druidism. Because of some o ...

, architect of

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

Bath. The tomb probably contains the bodies of John Wood the Younger and his wife.

Notable people

* William Prynne (1600–1669), Puritan lawyer, voluble author, polemicist and politician. * John Gunning (1734–1798), an English surgeon. * Edith Carrington (1853–1929) animal rights activist and promoter of vegetarianism. *

Jonathan Dimbleby Jonathan Dimbleby (born 31 July 1944) is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, author and historian. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of television presenter David Dimbleby. ...

(born 1944) and his ex-wife, Bel Mooney were residents. *

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

(born 1950) musician, singer, songwriter; had studios at

Ashcombe House Ashcombe House or Ashcombe Park may refer to several places in England: * Ashcombe House, East Sussex *Ashcombe House, Somerset, formerly occupied by Peter Gabriel *Ashcombe House, Wiltshire, occupied by Guy Ritchie, and previously by Sir Cecil Bea ...

References

External links

Map of Swainswick c.1884
{{Authority control Civil parishes in Somerset Villages in Bath and North East Somerset