Old Timer Reminiscence stories by Jean Dyke (born 1928 – died 2002) Originally written by Jean Dyke who (called herself ‘Old Timer’) for the ‘Swanbourne Newsletter’ from 1999 to 2001.  Jean lived at Spuddlespits (19 Mursley Road), Swanbourne.  Recently transcribed by Linda Rodgers. ‘Looking back’ (1920s – 30s) by Old Timer  (July 1999) There were no […]

Louisa – the daughter of Charles Palmer By Clive Rodgers  Based on sources of  information kindly provided by LeAnn Vallis Fekjan Charles Palmer, the second son of James and Rachel Palmer, married Ann Cutler Hedges (1838-1863) of Stewkley in 1857 and they raised their children in Swanbourne. Elizabeth Fanny was born in 1858, but died in 1860, and […]

Charles Gurnett – Emigrant to Australia By Audrey Porter (nee Gurnett) of Australia (with some additions from Neil Rees) Charles Gurnett (1833-1899) of Swanbourne Charles Gurnett was born in Swanbourne, Bucks in 1831, the son of John and Elizabeth (nee Anstee) Gurnett.  On 27th September 1852 he married Elizabeth (known as Betsey) Wilmore, born 1833 […]

The order of the succession of Vicars of St Swithun’s Chuch, Swanbourne Based on information compiled by Ken Harris and additional research by Clive Rodgers List of Vicars starting with the oldest recorded first Name Date of institution Notes Robertus Passelew             1218 (See note 1) Peter Peyvre             1252 William Presbyter   5 Mar […]

Swanbourne Primary Schools First published by Michele Greene in 1995; revised and updated by Judy Hibbard, 2017. In the early 1700’s the vast majority of people had no formal education and few could even read or write. There were very few schools in existence and the education that was available had to be paid for. […]

The Price Family Family Tree researched by Linda Rodgers  John Price of (12 Mursley Road) is the only living descendant of the Price family of Swanbourne.  His family tree shows that all his paternal ancestors over the last 300 years have come from within 50 miles of Swanbourne, and originating from North Oxfordshire.  However, all of […]

Our underlying Geology By Clive Rodgers The geological structure of North Bucks consists of Jurassic and Cretaceous sedimentary formations dipping gently to the East and unconformably over more steeply dipping older rocks. The Oldest rocks in Swanbourne are the Oxford Clays exposed in Clack Brook, and the hill top is capped by shales known as […]

Thomas Francis Fremantle (1765 – 1819); with new illustrations By Ken Harris Thomas Fremantle was born in Hampstead, London, the third son of John Fremantle. He went to sea at the age of 11, becoming a Commander in 1790, when he was serving in the Mediterranean. In 1795, whilst commanding the Inconstant, a look-out frigate […]

Archaeological finds in 2016 Reported by Clive Rodgers New archaeological finds are being made all of the time, and the purpose of this article is to record those finds which have been made so far this year (April, 2016), and to add others throughout the rest of the year as more artefacts are found and […]

The Tofield family of Swanbourne By Neil Rees The Tofield Surname Tofield is an unusual surname.  Most of the Tofields in the world can trace their lines back to either the Yorkshire Tofields originally from Doncaster, or the Buckinghamshire Tofields originally from Stewkley.  There is a town near Edmonton in Alberta, Canada called Tofield which […]