Sway, Hampshire

Sway is a settlement of Anglo-Saxon origin, and its name, from the Old English name Svieia, means "noisy stream" which is a probable reference to the Avon Water. Stone Age implements have been found here and Bronze Age barrows containing funerary urns. Two hides were held from Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, by Fulcoin and Nigel respectively. A certain Edmund at the same date was holding one hide in Sway which Algar had held from King Edward. Romsey Abbey also held one hide in Sway. Some time before 1150 Hugh de Witteville gave "his whole land of Sway with its men and one mill" to Quarr Abbey, and about the same date Ralph Fulcher donated land at Sway to the same abbey. In the…

Sway has shops, two pubs, a church, a village hall and a number of restaurants and hotels. There is also a Church of England primary school. a tennis club, Sway Cricket Club, a fencing club, an archery club, a community choir, 'Sing Sway', and a gardening club. Sway railway station is on the South West Main Line from Weymouth and Bournemouth to Southampton and London Waterloo with train services operated by South Western Railway. From Brockenhurst, one can catch the Lymington branch line services which connect with the ferry to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. Sway is twinned with the village of Bretteville, France. The northern part of the parish contains areas of woodland, heathland, acid…