Sawley is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley in Lancashire, England. It is situated north-east of Clitheroe, on the River Ribble. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.Sawley shares a parish council with two other parishes, Bolton-by-Bowland and Gisburn Forest.Sawley Abbey, a ruined abbey of Cistercian monks, is in the village. The abbey was founded in 1147 and dissolved in 1536.