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Swineshead, Huntingdonshire, England. Geographical and Historical information from 1932.

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SWINESHEAD:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1932.

[Description(s) transcribed by Martin Edwards and later edited by Colin Hinson ©2010]
[from The Victoria County History series - 1932]

"SWINESHEAD was formerly a detached part of Huntingdonshire to which county it, historically, belongs, but in 1888 it was transferred to Bedfordshire. The soil in the parish is loam and gravelly and the sub-soil mainly blue galt. The chief crops grown are wheat, barley beans, and peas. The surface is undulating and is between 139 ft. and 236 ft. above sea-level. The village itself stands at about 155 ft. The parish was once well wooded, Swineshead and Spanoak Woods in the north of the parish still remain but now are not as large as they once were. The village is in the middle of the parish, and the houses of which it consists include many old ones. The "Three Horseshoes" Inn dates from the early 17th century. The cottages are of brick and timber with tiled and thatched roofs. The former rectory, now used as a farmhouse, is an ancient plastered building of brick and timber opposite the church. When it was undergoing restoration in 1846, a copy of the Solemn League and Covenant (signed by the then Rector of Swineshead) was discovered in the roof where it was, perhaps, hidden by the cautious rector of the time. There are the traces of two moats in the village. Swineshead was inclosed by Act of Parliament in 1803."

[Description(s) transcribed by Martin Edwards ©2003 and later edited by Colin Hinson ©2010]
[mainly from The Victoria County History series- 1932]