SWAFFHAM-BULBECK, a parish in the hundred
of STAINE, county of CAMBRIDGE, 6 miles (W.by S.)
from Newmarket, containing 684 inhabitants. The
living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and
diocese of Ely, rated in the king's books at £16. 10.,
and in the patronage of the Bishop of Ely. The church
is dedicated to St. Mary. The parish is partly bounded
by the Cam, of which river there is a branch, called
Swaffham Lode, navigable to the village. A charity
school was founded here, in 1721, by Mrs. Frances
Towers, and endowed with £ 50 per annum. Here are the
remains of a Benedictine, nunnery, founded before the
reign of John, by one of the Bolebecs, and dedicated
to St. Mary. At the dissolution its revenue was estimated
at £46. 18. 10., and the house is now occupied
by paupers.