Also 8 swanery. [f. as SWANNER: see -ERY. Cf. MDu. zwaenerie right to keep swans.] † a. The keeping of swans (?). b. A place where swans are kept and reared.
1570. in Archaeologia (1812), XVI. 159. The true Copy of an old Paper, touching the Swannery found among my Father’s Books, and intituled a Copy of the Ordinances for Swans, &c.
1754. Pococke, Trav. (Camden), 95. At the swanery … the walls are built of a stone full of shells.
1774. Hutchins, Hist. Dorset, I. 538/1. A little W. of the town [sc. Abbotsbury] is a noble swannery, much visited by strangers.
1888. Blackw. Mag., Dec., 857/2. How many years previous to that time the abbots … had ‘enjoyed’ the privilege of maintaining a swannery is not recorded.
