Sawtry, Cambridgeshire

Sawtry today is a large village situated adjacent to the Roman road, Ermine Street (the modern A1), 13km north of Huntingdon and 15km south of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire. The first recorded name for Sawtry was Saltreiam in the 10^th century to mean ‘salty stream’ and may have originated during the Roman period as a reference to the salt marshes utilised throughout the fens that are situated just to the east of the village. Sawtry itself sits on Oxford Clay at between 10m and 15m OD and its population was large enough by the Domesday Survey to warrant three churches, All Saints, St Andrews and St Mary’s.