Swainswick
village and civil parish in Somerset, England, UK
Swainswick is a small village and civil parish, 3 miles (4.8 km) northeast of Bath, on the A46 in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 265. The village name was also spelled Sweyneswik and Sweyneswick in the early 13th to 14th Century.
History
Bladud or Blaiddyd was a mythical king of the Britons, for whose existence there is little historical evidence, but legend holds that he returned to Britain from Athens with leprosy and was imprisoned as a result, but escaped and went into hiding. He found employment as a swineherd at Swainswick and noticed that his pigs would go into an alder-moor in cold weather and return covered in black mud. He found that the mud was warm and that they did it to enjoy the heat. He also noticed that the pigs which did this did not suffer from skin diseases as others did. On trying the mud bath himself, he found that he was cured of his leprosy.
Another version of the story says that his pigs became infected and diseased and that his search for food for the pigs brought him to Swainswick, where a farmer advised him to look for acorns on the far side of the river (possibly the Lam Brook at the bottom of the Lam valley). He came to a place where the pigs began to wallow in hot mud.
The public source identifies “Swainswick” as village and civil parish in Somerset, England, UK. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Swainswick, village and civil.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Swainswick”, the useful work is to connect “village and civil parish in Somerset, England, UK” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2649302. VIAF identifies the subject as 308218035. Authority coordinates are 51.412, -2.351. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Swainswick”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Swainswick primary sources, Swainswick archive and Swainswick research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Swainswick”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Swainswick” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.