Sawbridgeworth (traditionally /ˈsæpswəθ/ SAPS-wəth or /-səθ/ SAPS-əth, now also /ˈsɔːbrɪdʒwɜːθ/ SAW-brij-wurth)[2] is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, close to the border with Essex.

[citation needed] The Manor of "Sabrixteworde" (one of the many spellings previously associated with the town) was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.

The Great Hyde Hall mansion and surrounding land was acquired by Sir Walter Lawrence, the master builder, in the 1920s.

[4] Much of the town centre is a conservation area; many of the buildings date from the Tudor, Stuart and Georgian periods.

Great St Mary's Church is a Grade I listed building; "of special interest as a substantially unaltered large medieval parish church, typical of the Hertfordshire type, and with an outstanding collection of memorials of the highest artistic quality".

During the Second World War RAF Sawbridgeworth, which is not in the civil parish, operated Supermarine Spitfires, Westland Lysanders, North American Mustangs and de Havilland Mosquito, among other types - for a complete history of the airfield, see the book Where the Lysanders were ....., by Paul Doyle, published in 1995 by Forward Airfield Research Publishing.

[8] The Walter Lawrence & Son Ltd joinery works, located between the canal and the railway, built over 1,000[citation needed] Mosquito fuselage shells and wing skins for de Havilland during the Second World War.

At the most recent general election of 2024, it finally changed hands to the Labour Party with the current MP being Josh Dean.

[17][18] In 1914 the council moved to the upper floor of the town's fire station at 5 Church Street, which had been built in 1905.

[20] The urban district was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, becoming part of East Hertfordshire on 1 April 1974.

The village of Lower Sheering is across the county boundary into Essex, and adjoins Sawbridgeworth along its eastern edge, east of the railway station and of the River Stort.

The soil on top of this is a loam, with glacial erratics of Hertfordshire puddingstone conglomerate found around the town.

Sawbridgeworth has a secondary school, the Leventhorpe Academy, which had a public swimming pool and leisure centre until its closure at the end of 2024.

The Men's 1st Team currently play in the Spartan South Midlands League, step five of the English non-league system.

The River Stort Navigation flows north–south along the eastern edge of the town, parallel to the railway, and past the Maltings.

The town is served by Sawbridgeworth railway station, located on the West Anglia Main Line between London Liverpool Street and Cambridge.

There are bus services to Harlow, Bishops Stortford, and Stansted Airport, operated by Arriva Herts & Essex.