Swallowfield, Berkshire

Description
Swallowfield, a parish, with a village; in Berks, on the rivers Blackwater and Loddon, which unite in this parish, 3 1/2 miles E of Mortimer station on the Reading and Basingstoke branch of the G.W.R., and 6 S by E of Reading. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Reading, and formerly had a fair on 9 June. The parish consists of the townships of East and West Swallowfield. Acreage of East Swallowfield, 1522; population, 363; of West Swallowfield, 2223; population, 1142; of the ecclesiastical parish, 1505. For parish council purposes East and West Swallowfield have been united, and have a council of nine members. Swallowfield Park, the seat of the baronet family of Russell, is a fine quadrangular building built in 1678, but which includes some portions of a much older building. It was here that Clarendon wrote the greater part of his "History of the Rebellion." Loddon Court is a modern mansion standing on an eminence in a park of 100 acres. Parley Hill Place stands in a park of 80 acres, and Parley Castle, Parley Court, and Wyvols Court are chief residences. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £220 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Hereford. The church of All Saints is an ancient building of flint, dating from 1256, and consisting of chancel, nave, S porch, and a western tower. It contains some old monuments and brasses. The church of St John the Evangelist is at Fairley Hill, and an iron mission room at Riseley. There are Baptist, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels.