| Official Name: | Sawley |
| Civil Parish: | Sawley |
| Population: | 345 |
| Population Ref: | (2011 Census) |
| Country: | England |
| Region: | North West England |
| Os Grid Reference: | SD776465 |
| Post Town: | CLITHEROE |
| Postcode Area: | BB |
| Postcode District: | BB7 |
| Dial Code: | 01200 |
| Constituency Westminster: | Ribble Valley |
| Shire District: | Ribble Valley |
| Shire County: | Lancashire |
| Coordinates: | 53.914°N -2.341°W |
| Static Image: | Sawley.jpg |
| Static Image Width: | 250px |
| Static Image Caption: | Sawley |
| Pushpin Map: | United Kingdom Borough of Ribble Valley |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Shown within Ribble Valley |
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,[1] rising to 345 at the 2011 census. 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.
Historically, Sawley fell under the Earl of Northumberland's Percy fee rather than being part of the neighbouring Lordship of Bowland.[2] Sawley Abbey, a ruined abbey of Cistercian monks, is in the village. The abbey was founded in 1147 and dissolved in 1536. 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.
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.[3] 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.[4]
Along with Waddington, West Bradford and Grindleton, the parish forms the Waddington and West Bradford ward of Ribble Valley Borough Council.[5] [6]