Coordinates: 50°56′N 1°23′W / 50.94°N 1.38°W / 50.94; -1.38

Swaythling was once a village but over the years it has gradually become a suburb and electoral ward of Southampton in Hampshire, England. The ward has a population of 13,394.

Today, Swaythling has a large student population thanks mainly to Wessex Lane Halls, one of the largest halls of residence in Europe^{[citation needed]}, and the proximity of the University of Southampton. It borders (clockwise from South) Portswood, Highfield, Bassett, Eastleigh, Mansbridge and Townhill Park.

Swaythling is home to Ford's Southampton Assembly Plant, which produces the Transit van.

Recorded as Swæthelinge in 909 AD, the origins of the name Swaythling are uncertain. It is widely thought that the name originally referred to the stream that runs through the area, now known as Monks Brook; the Old English word swætheling is believed to mean "misty stream".

Swaythling originally formed part of the Parish of South Stoneham, which encompassed Eastleigh and almost all of the land between Swaythling and the Bargate, in Southampton City Centre. The parish church was St. Mary's; the present building is one of Southampton's two medieval churches. It is accessible from Wessex Lane, down a short track between Connaught Hall and South Stoneham House (both now halls of residence serving the University of Southampton).

Oliver Cromwell (25 April 1599 – 3 September 1658) was an English military and political leader who was part of the joint republican, military and parliamentarian effort that overthrew the Stuart monarchy as a result of the English Civil War, and was subsequently invited by his fellow leaders to assume a head of state role in 1653. As such, Cromwell ruled as "Lord Protector" for a five-year segment (1653–58) of the 11-year period of republican Commonwealth and protectorate rule of England, and nominally of Ireland, Wales and Scotland. As one of the commanders of the New Model Army, he played an important role in the defeat of the King's forces, the royalists in the English Civil War. After the execution of King Charles I in 1649, Cromwell dominated the short-lived Commonwealth of England, conquered Ireland and Scotland, ruling as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658.

Cromwell was born into the ranks of the middle gentry, and remained relatively obscure for the first 40 years of his life. Along with his brother, Henry, he kept a small holding of chickens and sheep, selling eggs and wool to support himself. His lifestyle resembled that of a yeoman farmer until he received an inheritance from his uncle. After undergoing a religious conversion during the same decade, Cromwell made an independent style of puritanism an essential part of his life. He took a generally (but not completely) tolerant view towards the many Protestant sects of his period. As a ruler he executed an aggressive and effective foreign policy and did as much as any English leader to shape the future of the land he governed. But his Commonwealth collapsed after his death and the royal family was restored in 1660. An intensely religious man—a self-styled Puritan Moses — he fervently believed God was guiding his victories.