SWANBOURNE & THE TRAFALGAR CONNECTION
Swanbourne: A Village in Bernwood
“In a thousand years of hopes and fears
Has the village played its part,
And has held to its ways in the changing days
With a steadfast English heart.”
Extract from poem by the 3rd Lord Cottesloe
Swanbourne has still ‘held to its ways’ - now near the fringe of Milton Keynes, but for all that maintaining its village identity. There are new houses, but there have been ‘new houses’ in every century since Anglo-Saxon times, and there is a mix of brick and timber cottages, thatched roofs, fine stone manor houses, stone built farmhouses, 1950s semis, bungalows, a Victorian vicarage, modern detached, barn conversions and down Smithfield End you will find a row of 15thC houses, once a hall house, reputed to have housed Cromwell’s men in 1643.
St Swithun's Church is Grade II Listed. The nave, chancel and tower date from early 13th C. The north aisle was added in late 15th C and the tower was rebuilt half a century later. There are also medieval carvings and murals.
Swanbourne Church of England School was established in 1705, one of the first village schools in the Country, and there is a Village Shop and Post Office, one of the few remaining!
Swanbourne House was built in the 1860s by the 1st Baron Cottesloe and became a preparatory school for Eton and Stowe in 1919. It teaches children aged from three to 13. The site covers 55 acres, and takes in the Manor next door, and a newly developed Nursery close by.
Despite being able to count seven closed inns and public houses, Tom Fremantle, a descendant of Betsey Wynne and of the Fremantle family who own the Swanbourne Estate, thought, on walking back from Winslow one evening: “It’s just too far to walk after a few pints, we need a village pub….” and opened a new one in 2006, named for the wife of Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Fremantle.
The Old House on Mursley Road was built in the 17th C, became home to Betsey Wynne, wife of Sir Thomas Fremantle, whose descendants live there still. This is our Trafalgar connection!
There is a web site, if you wish to delve further: www.swanbournevillage.org.
HMS Tonnant, meaning "Thundering", was an 80-gun ship of the line. She was captured from the French Navy by Nelson at the Battle of the Nile in 1798 and put into British service.
Admiral Sir Charles Tyler, GCB (1760 - 1835) was specially requested by Nelson for the Cadiz blockade in 1805, although not before he was forced to travel to Naples where his son was under arrest for desertion from the navy (out of love for a ballerina) and crippling debts. Unknown to Tyler at the time was the fact that Nelson personally paid the young man's debt and used his influence to have him released and reinstated into the Navy albeit with a stern warning about responsibilities.
HMS Tonnant was third in line from HMS Royal Sovereign, and quickly engaged in the battle. She first forced the Spanish Monarca to surrender before colliding with the Algésiras which soon became hopelessly entangled in the British ship's rigging. This resulted in close-range bombardments and boarding actions during which Tyler was shot in the thigh and French Admiral Magon was killed. Once the Algésiras finally surrendered, the Tonnant, although badly battered, was still able to attack and capture the San Juan Nepomuceno at the close of the battle.
Struggling back to Gibraltar with over 70 casualties on board, including Tyler himself, the Tonnant relied heavily on other ships for aid, and thus was unable to prevent the Algésiras from escaping to Cadiz Harbour. The San Juan Nepomuceno did arrive at Gibraltar thanks to heroic efforts crew. Briefly returning to London to celebrate and recover, Tyler received plaudits from Parliament and the Nation and went back to sea.
HMS Tonnant went on to be the flag ship of a succession of Admirals and after a variety of battles she was paid off in ordinary in 1818 and broken up at Plymouth in March 1821.