Sawley, Lancashire

Sawley
Sawley
	Sawley
	Sawley Shown within Ribble Valley Sawley Location within Lancashire
Population	345 (2011 Census)
OS grid reference	SD776465
Civil parish	Sawley;
District	Ribble Valley;
Shire county	Lancashire;
Region	North West;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CLITHEROE
Postcode district	BB7
Dialling code	01200
Police	Lancashire
Fire	Lancashire
Ambulance	North West
UK Parliament	Ribble Valley;
	List of places UK England Lancashire 53°54′50″N 2°20′28″W / 53.914°N 2.341°W

Sawley is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley in Lancashire, England. The population of the civil parish was 305 at the 2001 Census,^[2] rising to 345 at the 2011 census.^[1] It is situated north-east of Clitheroe, on the River Ribble. It was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

The parish adjoins the Ribble Valley parishes of Bolton-by-Bowland, Paythorne, Gisburn, Rimington, Downham, Chatburn and Grindleton.

History

Historically, Sawley fell under the Earl of Northumberland's Percy fee rather than being part of the neighbouring Lordship of Bowland.^[3] Sawley Abbey, a ruined abbey of Cistercian monks, is in the village. The abbey was founded in 1147 and dissolved in 1536.^[4] By the early 17th-century, the manor had come into the possession of James Hay, who in 1615 was created Lord Hay of Sawley, and later 1st Earl of Carlisle.^[5]

Governance

Sawley was an extra-parochial area in the Staincliffe Wapentake of the West Riding of Yorkshire. This became a civil parish in 1858, forming part of the Bowland Rural District from 1894 to 1974. The civil parish previously had a detached area on the southern side of Gisburn with a smaller part of that parish on the western side of Sawley. In 1938 these areas were joined with the respective parishes.^[6] It has since become part of the Lancashire borough of Ribble Valley. Sawley shares a parish council with two other parishes, Bolton-by-Bowland and Gisburn Forest.^[7]