Sawston is a large village in Cambridgeshire in England, situated on the River Cam seven miles south of Cambridge. It is the largest village in the county with a population of 7,150 (Census 2001). It is officially listed as a village, despite fulfilling many of the criteria for town status such as a High Street with shops and banks.

The village has been twinned with the German town of Selsingen since Klaus Bruno Pape's visit to Sawston in 1984, as a result of a link being established between the two in Walther Piroth of Frankfurt University's PhD thesis.^[1]

History

Prehistory

Although the current village of Sawston has only existed as anything more than a hamlet for 400 to 600 years, there is evidence for a settlement in the vicinity dating back to the early Bronze age almost 5000 years ago. The northern high-ground in Sawston would have been the only vantage point from which to view the ancient Hill figures discovered in the Wandlebury section of the Gog-Magog hills.It is also home to Sawston Youth Drama who have been around for many years in the local community and have recently performed a production of joseph and the technicoloured dreamcoat and will be performing again in 2009 with the future production.

Sawston Hall

Sawston Hall is a Tudor Manor House rebuilt in the 16th century. Historically it was owned by the Huddleston family, a prominent Catholic family in England. Queen Mary I of England spent a night there before she was queen because she was hiding from John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, a Protestant nobleman. John Huddleston disguised her out of Sawston Hall as a dairy maid and Northumberland's supporters burned Sawston Hall when they could not find Mary. The hall was rebuilt after Mary's coronation, in fact the new Monarch donated some of the rubble from the ruined Cambridge castle for the rebuilding. It is assumed that only a ruined portion of the castle was donated as most of Sawston Hall is brick built.

The Hall is supposed to be haunted quite severely.^[2] In 1985 a photograph was taken showing a ghostly face at one of the windows and the headless ghost of Queen Mary I is reputed to live there. It has been the subject of a paranormal investigation by the Cambridge Paranormal Group.^[3], during which they heard 'several loud bangs'. It has been proposed that the Hall be converted into a luxury hotel which would provide jobs for the village, after the former tenants (a language school) moved out leaving it vacant. Despite being granted planning permission for this project in 2005, this was put on hold after a judicial review was launched by the former owner of the language school on the grounds of bias on the planning committee.^[4]

Sawston Hall sits adjacent to the, earlier, Norman styled St. Mary's church.

Sawston Cross

Until 1815 the village of Sawston had an ancient cross, possibly erected by the Knights Templar. The cross had many purposes, even as a location where public officers administered justice during the 13th century. It survived the rage of the Puritans in the civil wars, but sadly was torn down between the summer of 1815 and autumn of 1816, along with the surrounding amphitheatre-like enclosure, the stocks and ancient sycamore tree, and sold by greedy village elders to make way for redevelopment. William Hone's Table-book includes a contributor's description when he stumbled across the villagers discussing whether or not to tear down the cross. ^[5] A poem comparing Sawstonites to the Jews, which would today appear to be highly controversial and antisemitic, was subsequently penned, and published in the 1827 journal:

The Jews of old, as we've been told——
And Scriptures pure disclose——
With harden'd hearts drew lots for parts
Of our Salvator's clothes.

The modern Jews ——the Sawstonites——
As harden'd as the Israelites——
In ignorance still more gross——
Thinking they could no longer thrive
By Christian means, did means contrive——
Draw lots, and sold the cross!

Recent history

Sawston has seen substantial development since the end of the Second World War and, more recently, a number of large housing estates have been constructed, most notably to the north-west and south of the village. This development has led to the area of Sawston spreading into the small nearby village of Pampisford.

Sawston has been earmarked for development to meet Cambridgeshire's ever-growing housing needs, including a recent development led by South Cambridgeshire District Council.^[6] Plans are ongoing for the construction of a village community centre but no site has currently been found.^[7]

Geology

The underground structure of Sawston is the same as that of the region - permeable chalk and impermeable clay. The low-lying nature of the village is indicative of a former flood plain which still tends towards the moist, although comparatively recent dredging of the local ditches and rivers has alleviated the general flooding problem. The chalky nature of the local geology provides for a clean, if hard, water supply as it is drawn from artesian wells in the area. The chalk and clay in the area contains a large quantity of flint that often finds its way into older local construction.

There is a hill, Huckeridge Hill, to the north west of the village. At 32 m it is a good viewpoint for the Gogs across the valley of the Granta.

Industry

For the last couple of hundred years, the two principal industries in Sawston's environs have been Paper & Printing and Leather. The original paper mill in Sawston is on the current Spicers site, named after the family who owned the mill in the last century. This complex is located at the north-west corner of the parish.

There are two sites in Sawston which support or have formerly supported Tanning facilities. The site south of the village centre and backing onto the grounds of the Sawston manor house - Sawston Hall - is the Hutchins and Harding site. The other site is on the southern border of the village, crossing over into neighbouring Pampisford, the Eastern Counties Leather site which has now been mostly converted into a general industrial estate. These industries were introduced into Sawston to take advantage of the clean water supply. Examination reveals that both sites are located on bore holes or streams.

A further large industrial estate exists in the north of the village adjacent to Babraham Road.

Sawston today

Local government

The Parish Council has recently moved to a new office building on Link Road which incorporates a new village library and village museum. The Sawston Health Centre has recently moved into a larger building on the new London Road site. The Sawston Parish Council is active in many aspects of village life, including renting village facilities (parks, communal buildings etc.) and organising events (such as annual bonfire nights and Christmas lights displays).^[8] As with many rural councils in England, it is dominated by Conservative and Liberal Democrat representatives.^[9]

Sawston is within the South Cambridgeshire District Council local government area, which is responsible for the provision of local services such as street lighting (though this has recently become the Parish Council's responsibility after funding was withdrawn by SCDC^[10]) and waste collection. Nationally, Sawston is in the South Cambridgeshire constituency for representation in the Westminster Parliament - a seat currently held by Conservative Party Member of Parliament Andrew Lansley (incumbent since 1997).

Education

Sawston Village College was the first ever village college to be built, by Henry Morris in 1930. As of 2005 it has 1,085 pupils in 5 year groups and approximately 50 teaching staff. The current principal is Mrs June Cannie. In addition to this the village also has the Icknield Primary School, the Bellbird Primary School (previously the John Falkner Infant and the John Paxton Junior Schools) and a number of nursery and preschool groups.

Most social events in the village take place either in the village's seven pubs or on the Sawston Village College site, which incorporates a youth centre (including theatre), an Assembly Hall which is also fitted out as a show venue and a new Arts Centre. The Village College site also has a new, large sports centre with two large halls, a swimming pool, and a gym.

Churches

The village has four very active churches, Sawston Free Church^[11] (currently without a minister), Saint Mary's Church of England Church^[12] (currently without a vicar) Christ Church South Cambs, also Church of England^[13] with vicar Tim Chapman, and Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, now under the control of Our Lady and the English Martyrs, Cambridge and parish administrator Father Raf Esteban.

Youth and charity

Due to its size the village hosts a large number of youth groups and clubs, as well as some organised by the village college. Notable organisations in the village include:

• Sawston Cricket Club [1]
• Boys' Brigade Company
• Girls' Brigade Company
• Air Training Corps Squadron
• Army Cadet Force
• Scout Troop (including beaver, cub scout and boy scout divisions)
• Girl Guides and Brownies
• Sawston Youth Drama ^[14]
• Sawston United Youth Football Club ^[15]
• Sawston Youth Group (a large independent youth group)^[16]

Sawston is the base for the charity Opportunities Without Limits (OWL).^[17] OWL has their headquarters on the Village College site, where they maintain the school gardens and hedges. They incorporate a number of other training projects for adults with learning difficulties including a bike refurbishment and resell shop, and a café on the high street.

See also

• List of places in Cambridgeshire
• Largest village in England

References

External links

• Official Website of Sawston Parish Council
• 2001 Census
• Unofficial Sawston Community Website
• Sawston History Society's Website