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Swarkestone is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 187.
Swarkestone has a very old village church, a full cricket pitch, a plant nursery/ garden centre and restaurant called "Swarkestone Nursery", the Crewe and Harpur pub, a canal with locks and moorings. It was mentioned twice in Domesday as Sorchestun or Suerchestune, when it was worth twenty shillings.
The ancient bridge at Swarkestone crosses the River Trent about 6 miles south of Derby and was for about 300 years the Midlands' main crossing of the Trent. The only crossing between Burton Upon Trent and Nottingham, it is currently Grade I Listed and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Evidence of the Beaker people living near Swarkestone was discovered in the 1950s. At that time it was estimated that people had lived near Swarkestone for at least 3,800 years. The only surviving Bronze Age barrow cemetery in the Trent valley is at Swarkestone Lows near the A50. The barrow is a registered national monument.
In the Domesday Book, Swarkestone was held by the King (William the conqueror) and by Henry de Ferrers.
In the Battle of Swarkestone Bridge during the English Civil War (1643) it was defended by the Royalists against the Parliamentarians, but the outnumbered Cavaliers lost the day.
In 1745 during the Jacobite Rebellion led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, the advance party of his army reached here to gain control of the crossing of the Trent. Finding no reports of support from the south, they turned back to Derby; the invading army then retreated to Scotland and final defeat at the Battle of Culloden. Swarkestone thereby being the most southerly point reached during that army's advance on London.
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