Sawtry

File:UK Sawtry.jpg in Sawtry]]

Sawtry was listed as Saltrede in the Domesday Book of 1086 in the Hundred of Normancross in Huntingdonshire, containing four manors and 56 households.{{cite book|title=Domesday Book: A Complete Translation |publisher=Penguin Books |date=1992 |location =London|editor1=Ann Williams |editor2=G.H. Martin|page=1396|isbn=0-141-00523-8}} By 1086 there were three churches and two priests at Sawtry.

During the Dark Ages, Sawtry was divided into three parishes - All Saints, St. Andrew and Judith[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66178#s1 Parishes - Sawtry {{pipe}} A History of the County of Huntingdon: Volume 3 (pp. 203–212)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140829213026/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66178#s1 |date=29 August 2014 }} and originally got its name from the fact that it was a trading centre for salt, an essential commodity in the Middle Ages. The Cistercian Abbey of St Mary was founded in 1147 by Simon de Senlis grandson of Judith of Lens, niece of William the Conqueror who owned land in many parts of Britain but built her Manor in Sawtry and whom the Parish of Sawtry Judith is named after. The abbey took 91 years to complete and ministered to the local area both spiritually and physically. This was demolished in 1540 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries as part of the English Reformation, although traces of the Abbey still remain.A Potted History of Sawtry {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401191300/http://www.sawtry.net/webdev/a-potted-history-of-sawtry/|date=1 April 2016}}

Sawtry is twinned with the Gemeinde Weimar region in Germany.[http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110930202129/http://www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/Councils%20and%20Democracy/Pages/Twinning.aspx Huntingdonshire District Council twinning page]

As a civil parish, Sawtry has a parish council consisting of fifteen councillors.{{cite web|title=Sawtry Parish Council: Councillors|url=http://www.sawtry-pc.gov.uk/the-council.html|website=www.sawtry-pc.gov.uk|publisher=Sawtry Parish Council|accessdate=8 February 2016}} The village is represented on Huntingdonshire District Council by two councillors for the Sawtry ward,{{cite web|url=http://www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/council-democracy/meetings-and-decision-making/councillors/|title=Huntingdonshire District Council: Councillors|website=www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk|publisher=Huntingdonshire District Council|accessdate=23 February 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/#|title=Ordnance Survey Election Maps|website=www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk|publisher=Ordnance Survey|accessdate=23 February 2016}} and on Cambridgeshire County Council by one councillor for the electoral division of Sawtry and Stilton.{{cite web|url=http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/info/20087/councillors_and_meetings/313/county_councillors|title=Cambridgeshire County Council: Councillors|website=www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk|publisher=Cambridgeshire County Council|accessdate=15 February 2016}} It is in the Huntingdon parliamentary constituency.

Sawtry was in the historic and administrative county of Huntingdonshire until 1965. From 1965, the village was part of the new administrative county of Huntingdon and Peterborough. Then in 1974, following the Local Government Act 1972, Sawtry became a part of the county of Cambridgeshire.

File:Ancient_hedgerow_near_Monks_Wood_-_geograph.org.uk_-_411184.jpg

Sawtry is just west of the Fens, halfway between the city of Peterborough and the town of Huntingdon. Other nearby villages include Folksworth, Alconbury, Holme, Yaxley and Stilton. Being situated in close proximity to the A1(M), it is a sought-after location for commuters. It is approximately six miles north of the A14, and a fifty-minute car drive from both Stansted Airport and Luton Airport. The oldest known surviving hedgerow in England (established circa 1100) named Judith's Hedge runs next to the B1090 near Monks Wood and marks the boundary of the Parish of Sawtry Judith.

The Bullock Road, an ancient droveway, now a byway, runs on the ridge to the west of Sawtry.

The A1(M), originally the Roman Ermine Street, then the Great North Road, runs immediately to the east of the village.

Ordnance Survey maps from the 1920s show a narrow-gauge agricultural tramway running for a mile north east from Sawtry Roughs Farm (now demolished) to an interchange with the then Great Northern Railway.

In the period 1801 to 1901 the population of Sawtry was recorded every ten years by the UK census. During this time the population was in the range of 790 (the lowest was in 1801) and 1,393 (the highest was in 1851).{{cite web |title=Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011 |publisher=Cambridgeshire Insight |website=www.cambridgeshireinsight.org.uk |accessdate=12 February 2016 |url=http://www.cambridgeshireinsight.org.uk/file/2001/download |format=xlsx - download |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215102922/http://www.cambridgeshireinsight.org.uk/file/2001/download |archivedate=15 February 2016}}

From 1901, a census was taken every ten years with the exception of 1941 (due to the Second World War). The separate parishes of Sawtry All Saints and Sawtry St Judith were combined into the single civil parish of Sawtry between 1931 and 1951.

All population census figures from report Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011 by Cambridgeshire Insight.

In 2011, the parish covered an area of {{convert|6269|acre|hectare|0}} and the population density of Sawtry in 2011 was 667.3 persons per square mile (257.6 per square kilometre).

Sawtry has two public houses: The Bell and the Greystones. It also has an ex-services and working men's club. There is an infant school and a junior school in Sawtry; and a secondary school (Sawtry Village Academy) which educates many young people from nearby villages as well as Sawtry itself. Other amenities also include the local butchers, doctors, vets, garage, takeaway houses, the Co-Op, and multiple hair and beauty salons.

The Church of All Saints is the Church of England parish church. Methodist Worship takes place at Sawtry Methodist Church. There is also a Roman Catholic community, served by the parish of St Luke, Peterborough.

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• [https://www.sawtry-pc.gov.uk Sawtry Parish Council]

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Category:Villages in Cambridgeshire

Category:Huntingdonshire

Category:Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire