Swineshead, Lincolnshire

Swineshead is a village in Lincolnshire, England, around seven miles west of Boston.

Geography
The village has a railway station on the Nottingham-Skegness Line. The A17 used to pass through the village but now passes to the west. The A52 passes close to the east.

Administration
It is one of eighteen parishes which, together with Boston, form the Borough of Boston in the county of Lincolnshire, England. The local government has been arranged in this way since the reorganisation of April 1, 1974, which resulted from the Local Government Act 1972. This parish forms part of the Swineshead and Holland Fen electoral ward.

Swineshead falls within the drainage area of the Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board.

History
Hitherto, the parish had formed part of Boston Rural District, in the Parts of Holland. Holland was one of the three divisions (formally known as parts) of the traditional county of Lincolnshire. Since the Local Government Act of 1888, Holland had been in most respects, a county in itself. The primary school is St Mary's C of E. The parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary.

Cistercian monastery
Swineshead Abbey was founded in 1135 as a Savigniac monastery, but in 1147 was converted to a Cistercian one by Robert de Gresley. In 1536 it was dissolved and the building of a private house and a park in 1607 destroyed the last traces of it.

Herbert Ingram
It is the birthplace of Herbert Ingram, founder of the Illustrated London News and MP for Boston, who was instrumental in bringing the railways and fresh piped water to the town. His son became a lord, and the family were given the Ingram Baronets of Swineshead Abbey.

Amenities
Village pubs include the Wheatsheaf. In Swineshead North End is the Golden Cross.The Golden Cross closed several years ago and the picture deplicts the current state of this once popular pub.

People from Swineshead

 * Gilbert of Hoyland, abbot
 * Chris Woods, goalkeeper