South Sway Farm House

I'm not sure if this is the correct house as it was undergoing renovation and there was nobody home to bother with my question. It was called this on the 1881 census for the family and it appears to be an old house - has flagstones on the bottom floor.

Salisbury

September 13th 2012
We arrived at our New Forest location after driving across to the Salisbury region via North Cornwall, North Devon, Exmoor and a region called the Quantock Hills. Our first stop was a spur of the moment decision. We were driving past a place called Westward Ho! (complete with exclamation mark) and decided we had to visit just to see what it was like. Well it was a lot bigger than I expected, based ... read more

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Hampshire » New Forest

Great Britain, the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. At its zenith, the British Empire stretched over one-fourth of the ear... ... read more

12th June 2013

Rowena Kirton
non-member comment

South Sway Farmhouse
Dear Deb and Terry How amazing that you have a picture of our house! Do you want to know any more about it? Its history is pretty patchy though. That wisteria on the outside flowered last weekend. Cheers Rowena

15th March 2015

2BaysDeb
Deb and Terry

Dear Rowena, It's ages ago that you sent your message and even longer since I logged in. However, we're about to go on a trip at the end of this week and so I've logged back in just to make sure that I can remember my password. As I mentioned in my blog we went to Sway in search of my maternal G-G Grandfather's residence. My GG-Grandfather was George Crittall and his son George came to Australia as a young man. Family tales have George Jnr arriving in Maryborough, Queensland dressed in a rather dapper manner, carrying a cane etc and coming from an affluent family. The 1881 census indicates that George Snr was a Farmer and Miller on 227 acres employing 6 Men & 2 Boys and was resident at South Sway Farm. Anyway, we eventually found your house and I ventured in but unfortunately nobody was home and renovations appeared to be underway. I took the photo for my Mum who has very fond memories of her Grandfather, George Jnr. If I had had the opportunity to meet with you I would have asked about the location of the mill as I had heard that there was a water wheel on the property. I don't know if your house is the former house of my ancestors but I would be interested in knowing. If it is I'm happy to provide you with info related to the Cristal family. Regards, Debbie

6th December 2021

South Sway Farmhouse
Dear Debbie I don't think I ever replied to your reply and not sure I saw it for a long time. That's really interesting about your ancestors. We have a copy of the 1881 census with George's name on it. Married to Jane who was slightly older than him, with four boys (but you will know this all from the census document). We don't have a waterwheel on the premises but there is one at The Old Mill hotel and restaurant on Silver Street, which is served by the river Avon which travels along the valley downhill from our property, and there was one further up stream (but I don't know if it still exists) at Flexford Mill. I don't know which one he would have been miller for. Will you ever be coming to this neck of the woods (as they say) again? You can always DM me at rowenakirton@outlook.com if you'd rather because I tend not to look at this very often, as you can see! R

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