Sawtry was listed as Saltrede in the Domesday Book of 1086 in the Hundred of Normancross in Huntingdonshire, containing four manors and 56 households.[3] 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[4] and originally got its name from the fact that it was a trading centre for salt, an essential commodity in the Middle Ages. The CistercianAbbey 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.[5]
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.
Demography
Population
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).[11]
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.
Parish
1911
1921
1931
1951
1961
1971
1981
1991
2001
2011
Sawtry All Saints
818
723
702
Sawtry St Judith
181
186
213
Sawtry
994
909
915
1,113
986
1,749
3,651
4,865
5,568
6,536
All population census figures from report Historic Census figures Cambridgeshire to 2011 by Cambridgeshire Insight.[11]
In 2011, the parish covered an area of 6,269 acres (2,537 hectares)[11] and the population density of Sawtry in 2011 was 667.3 persons per square mile (257.6 per square kilometre).
Culture and community
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.
Religious sites
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.
