Sawtry History
Local History of Sawtry and the Surrounding Villages
Welcome to the Sawtry History website. This website is in conjunction with Sawtry History Society. Here you will find lots of information about the history of Sawtry and the surrounding villages. If you would like some local history information or would like to contribute to this website, you can contact us on the email address below. Click on the links below for more information about this website and for information on Sawtry History Society.
New historical information will be posted as Latest News on the Home Page below.
There is a feature page where an item from a current history event or from our historical past will be a
monthly feature.
On our "In Focus" page we will take an item of interest whether it is a notable person, a landmark, a book, a resource, a historical event or just some interesting facts and put it under the spotlight. The Local History Articles page has some articles about Sawtry Abbey, St Andrews Church and other interesting items.
Check out this Local History link to pages where many different topics of our local history can be found.
You can contribute to our memories page if you have a particular childhood memory or a memory of Sawtry, the surrounding villages and their people. Just contact us on the email address above to contribute. Read some of the memories here.
Latest News
Next SHS Meeting
Harry Joyce, the author of one of our Local history articles
has added an addendum to his original article due to his ongoing research. This Addendum to the research report "The Postwar Use of Sawtry/Wood Walton Lane POW Camp for Civilian Housing", 27 April 2022 describes the origins of the plan to use the Sawtry/Wood Walton Lane Prisoner of War (POW) Camp 59 for the temporary housing of local people after the POW Camp was closed in 1948. This Addendum goes on to identify the holders of all council tenancies at the Sawtry Way Temporary Housing, a.k.a. "The Camp" and charts the occupancy of Sawtry Way Temporary Housing from its inception in late 1948 to its closure in late 1957. Some new insights into everyday life at The Camp are included, mostly gathered from a small group of surviving Camp residents. Link to the addendum below.
New This Month
The "In Focus" article this month is on:
The talk at the May meeting of Sawtry History Society will be "House of Spies" by Roger Leivers , a local author and historian.
We are continuing our series of articles on notable people, prominent figures and places in Sawtry and the surrounding area. If you would like more information on the topics and items regarding the Notable People in the upcoming Monthly Features and "In Focus" articles, some of it can be found in various items on this website and in the Sawtry History Society Archive which is open on the 3rd Saturday of the month which is the Saturday following the Thursday meeting. Links to these monthly articles can be found above.