Lower Swell
| Lower Swell | |
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 Lower Swell War Memorial on the village green |
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 Lower Swell
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| Lower Swell shown within Gloucestershire | |
| Population | 405 |
| OS grid reference | SP173254 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Stow-on-the-Wold |
| Postcode district | GL54 |
| Dialling code | 01451 |
| Police | Gloucestershire |
| Fire | Gloucestershire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
Lower Swell is a village and a parish in Gloucestershire. It is located at the River Dikler, one mile from Stow-on-the-Wold. The village has "finest countryside, a tranquil village green and plenty of mellow stone cottages". The village church is dedicated to St. Mary.
Daniel Henry Haigh, a noted Victorian scholar of Anglo-Saxon history and literature, is certain that "swell" means "burning", or "funeral pile". He says that there was a battle fought by Offa of Mercia in the vicinity of Lower Swell. David Royce, who is the Vicar of Lower Swell, has said that during the reconstruction of the church "a long deep bed of ashes was discovered in his churchyard, and that, of eleven barrows in the parish, the largest is called Picked Morden, a name which seems equivalent to "selected slain". After he heard this testimony, Haigh came to the conclusion that the place where the Lower Swell church stands now was once used to bury "the burnt corpses of the nobles".
According to another theory, the name "Swell" came about from "the protuberant contours on the western side of the [Dikler] river".
The most widely accepted theory behind the name "Swell" is that it relates to a spring that rises in the grounds of the Abbotswood Estate to the north of the village and is an abbreviated version of "Our Lady's Well". The well can still be seen today.
In the Middle Ages the village's name was Little Swell. Documents indicate that the village was well developed by the 17th century, but was probably initially developed even earlier. The oldest extant buildings are dated to the 17th century. A notable 18th-century building that was built in 1786 is named the "Golden Ball", but locals call it simply "the Ball".
Another interesting building was constructed in Hindu style in 1807. It was formerly a spa because of the mineral rich well that was discovered there, but the well has since become dry.
Abbotswood is a Victorian mansion built on the site of the village manor. In 1086 the manor of Lower Swell was owned by Raoul II of Tosny and William II, Count of Eu. In the 13th century the Lower Swell manor was sold to Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall (formally "King of the Romans", from 1257).
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Wikipedia