Swimbridge

Swimbridge is a village, parish and former manor in Devon, England. It is situated 4 miles south-east of Barnstaple and twinned with the town of St.Honorine Du Fay in Normandy, France. It was the home of the Rev. John "Jack" Russell who first bred the Jack Russell Terrier.

The manor is called Birige in the Domesday Book of 1086, when it was held in-chief from King William the Conqueror by an Anglo-Saxon priest named Sawin , whose uncle Brictferth had held it before the Norman Conquest of 1066. The honour of being a tenant-in-chief in feudal times was generally restricted to great warriors and close followers of the king, but Sawin was given this land in alms by Queen Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror. It was probably part of the royal manor of South Molton, and Sawin was probably one of the priests at South Molton. It thenceforward became known as "Sawain's Birige" which eventually transformed into "Swimbridge".

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