SWINESHEAD is a small market town, consisting chiefly of one long street on the Sleaford and Holbeach road, 6 1/2 miles S.W. by W. of Boston, and on the south side of hammond Beck and Holland Fen, in the heart of a rich grazing and farming country, a great part of which was formerly inundated in wet seasons. Its parish comprises many scattered hamlets and farm-houses, and contains upwards of 2000 inhabitants, and 6728 acres of land, including a large allotment of Holland Fen, near Chapel Hill, and the Black Sluice, or South Forth-foot-drain, extending nearly 9 miles N.; and an extra-parochial hamlet in Harts Grounds, called Gibbet Hills(175 A.) belonging to W.C.Ingall, Esq., and distant 2 miles N.W. of the town. J.T.Dyson, Esq., is lord of Swineshead Manor; Richard Calthrop, Esq., is Lord of the Abbey Manor; and Trinity College, Cambridge, owns the rectory, about 700 acres, held by various lessees The Cooper, Casswell, Ingall, Barnes, Jackson, and other families, have freehold estates in the parish.

The market, held every Thursday, was of considerable importance till the middle of the seventeenth century, when the corporation of Boston used means for its suppression. It may now be considered obsolete, except that some of the neighbouring farmers assemble in the evening at one of the inns for recreation and business. Here are still two annual fairs, on the second Thursday in June, and on October second; the latter chiefly for the sale of chees and onions.

Though now more than seven miles from the great Wash, the tides formerly came up to the town and there was a haven near the market place, crossed by a bridge, which was taken down nearly fifty years ago, when the channel was choked up.

In 1134, an ABBEY of Cistertian monks was founded, nearly a mile E. of the town, by Robert Greslie. Henry II. confirmed by charter to the monks of swineshead, "all their lands and possessions, there, and at Cotgreve, Casterton, &c. with the mills of Burtoft, Sudwell, Maincester, Caldecot, and Casterton, with all their estates, given them by whatever benefactor soever." At the dissolution, the yearly revenue of this monastery is stated by Leyland to have been about £80; but Dugdale estimates it at £167. 15s. 3d, and Speed at £175. 19s.10d. Its site was granted in the fifth of Edward VI. to Edward Lord Clinton, and the lands were granted by Henry VIII. to Harold Rossel, for the sum of £684. 16s. 8d., and Harold had a license to pass them to george Pierpont,Esq. and Elizabeth his wife.

The present mansion was built out of the abbey ruins, nearly two centuries ago, by one of the Ormes, of Kirton. It is now the seat and property of Richard Calthrop, Esq., by whose family it has been greatly improved and modernised. King John, after crossing the Wash, on his road to Sleaford, rested at this abbey, and is said to have been poisoned by one of the monks. There is in the house a print engraved more than 360 years ago, representing the monk mixing the poison, presenting the cup to the king, and receiving absolution for his crime.

Many valuable coins have been dug up near the abbey; (one of them inscribed "John Bando, merchant, Swineshead.) and about a quarter of a mile to the north-west, at the head of the old river Haff, where the fen-waters originally entered, there was a Danish encampment, called the "Man-war-rings,"and forming a circle of sixty yards in diameter, surrounded by two ditches, between which there is a carriage rod. The workmen employed in sinking a well near the abbey, in 1825, found several skeletons, one of which measured six feet four inches. Swineshead Church (St. Mary), is a handsome building with a lofty spire and eight bells. It is a discharged vicarage valued inK.B. at £14. 9s. and now at £240, in the patronage of Trinity College, Cambridge, and incumbency of the Rev. J.W.Barnes. A chapel of ease was erected in 1826, at Chapel Hill, about 8 miles N. of the town, for the accommodation of the fen part of the parish, and it is a curacy now valued at £47.

The Baptists and Wesleyans have each a chapel in the town. By will in 1711, and codicil in 1718, Thomas Cowley, of the Wikes, bequeathed his lands and tenements in Swineshead, for the education of poor children, and the relief of poor parishioners. With an allotment made at the enclosure, this charity now produces &160 per annum. Until 1825, there was no school-room belonging to Cowley's charity; but in that year the trustees purchased a piece of land upon which they erected two school rooms, towards which they received £70 from the National School Society, and £40 given by the late vicar and other contributors. The schools are now free to all the poor boys and girls of the parish, and the teachers, (Mr. and Mrs. Stobie) receive a yearly salary of £70.

The remainder of the income is distributed in coals and clothing on St. Thomas's day, except twelve two-penny loaves, given weekly at the church. R.Calthrop, R.O.Milson, T.Holmes, T.Ingall, and the vicar, are thye trustees.

The parish has for the reparation of its highways, lands and buildings, let for £58. 19s. per annum, bequeathed at an early period by John Butler. The poor parishioners have distributed among them about £226 per annum, arising from lands and buildings, in the following proportions, viz., £82 from land &c., left by Henry Pridgeon, in 1661, and William Whiting in 1727; @16, Thomas Dickonson, in 1674; £35, William Heart, in 1699; £33, John Dickonson, in 1719; and £60 for Fen Allotments. The two Dickonson's left four acres of land to the vicar. Here is an Association for the Prosecution of Felons, of which Mr William Barnes is treasurer; also Lodges of Odd Fellows and Foresters, and a Friendly Society.