• Swarland - 'heavy land.'

The manor of Swanland was owned from ancient times by the de Haslerigg family of Swarland Old Hall until the 18th century. In 1741 the estate was purchased by Richard Grieve of Swansford. In 1765 his son Davison Richard Grieve commissioned architect John Carr to build a new park and mansion, Swanland Hall. The new house was later the home of Alexander Davison (a friend of Horatio Nelson) who in 1807 erected the Nelson Memorial on the park. The new Hall was demolished in the early 1930s and in 1936 a new village of 77 cottages was built on the estate by the Fountains Abbey Settlers Trust.