Bedfordshire 
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Nearby Places
Nearby churches
SANDY, a parish partly in the hundred of WIXAMTREE, but chiefly in that of BIGGLESWARE, county of BEDFORD, 3¼ miles (N. by W.) from Biggleswade, containing, with the hamlets of Beeston and Gritford, 1392 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the kings's books at £32.2.11., and in the patronage of F. Pym, Esq. The church is dedicated to St. Swithin. The river Ivel runs through the parish, and is crossed by a bridge at Girtford. Galley hill is the site of the ancient Roman station Salins, which commanded another at Chesterfield, a piece of ground, still so called, near the village, through which passed the great road from Baldock in Herts, across this county, into Cambridgeshire. The ramparts, which enclose an area of thirty acres, are surrounded by a deep fosse, and in the centre is a mount, probably thrown up for the prætorium. At some distance, on the other side of the valley, are the remains of Cæsar's camp. Several Roman urns, coins, and fragments of a beautiful red pottery, have been discovered at Chesterfield; the latter, which was ornamented with figures, has been deemed the ancient Samian ware. Owing to the sandy nature of the soil, cucumbers are cultivated in the open air in such abundance, that Covent-Garden market, London, is almost wholly supplied with that vegetable from this place.
[A Topographical Dictionary of England - Samuel Lewis - 1831]
SANDY is a large and populous village and parish and railway station, on the road from Potton to Bedford, and near the Great North road, 3 miles west from the former, 8½ east from the latter, 3 north from Biggleswade, 8 south from St. Neots and 44 from London, in the Northern division of the county, partly in the hundred of Biggleswade and Partly in that of Wixamtree, petty sessional division, union and county court district of Biggleswade, rural deanery of Biggleswade, archdeaconry of Bedford and diocese of Ely. The Great Northern Company has a station here on its main line, which is intersected at this point by the Cambridge and Bedford branch of the London and North Western, affording railway communication with London, the South of England, and Oxford and the Midland Counties, thus adding greatly to the importance of this place, and constituting it a centre of railways which give great facility for sending the staple products of the neighbourhood (principally potatoes, beans, onions and cucumbers) to the London markets and the manufacturing districts. The river Ivel flows through this parish.
The land is a rich and fertile soil, chiefly cultivated as market garden ground. The area is 4,254 acres of land and 22 of water; rateable value, £19,948; the population in 1891 was 2,755.
Under the provisions of the "Divided Parishes Act, 1882," a detached part of Northill parish was added to Sandy, and a part of latter parish transferred to the fomer.
Girtford is a hamlet in the parish of Sandy, about half a mile west from the village, on the road from Biggleswade to St. Neots. The Church Mission room here, erected in 1886 at a cost of £800, consists of apsidal chancel, and a central turret containing one bell, and affords 200 sittings. Here is a Primitive Methodist chapel, built in 1868, and seating 120 persons.
Beeston is a hamlet of Sandy, about 1¼ miles south. The Wesleyan chapel was erected in 1865, and will hold 300 people : there is also a recreation room used for various meetings.
Seddington is a hamlet of Sandy, 2 miles south on the Great North road.
Stratford is a hamlet of Sandy, about 1 mile south.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
The Cemetery, on the Potton road, opened in Feb. 1891, has an area of about 2 acres, part of an original purchase of 6 acres, costing £1,200: it contains a chapel, erected in 1892, at a cost of £580.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
The 1851 Census Index for Sandy can be found in the 1851 Index to Census of Bedfordshire, Volume 3, Book 1 available from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.
Church of England
The church of St. Swithin is a cruciform building of native red sandstone, chiefly in the Early English style, erected in the 14th century, and consists of chancel with aisles, nave, aisles, transepts, and a western embattled tower containing a clock and six bells : in the chancel is a double piscina and sedilia and a marble monument to Capt. Sir William Peel R.N., K.C.B. commander of the Naval Brigade during the Crimean War, who died at Lucknow 27th April, 1858 : there are five stained windows, the east window, erected in 1890, being a memorial to Adelaide (Dugdale) wife of the Rt. Hon. A. W. Peel M.P., J.P. Speaker of the House of Commons (d. 1890), another was presented by the present rector in memory of his deceased wife, and there is one to the late F. A. J. Foster esq. of Sandy Place, killed while in active service during the Burmese War of 1890: there are mural tablets to the Pym, Payne and other families: a brass eagle-lectern was presented in 1889 by Mrs. Pope: the church was restored and enlarged in 1861, at a cost of £3,300 when the transepts and chancel arch were rebuilt and the aisles enlarged; in the course of the work a beautiful carving in alabaster was found, with figures of soldiers in chain armour, brightly coloured: the screen filling the tower arch is a memorial to Elizh. Jefferies. The registers date from the year 1538. The rector has in his possession an ancient document in Latin, having reference to the glebe land.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
Non-conformist
The Baptist chapel, erected in 1887, at a cost of about £2,000, is an edifice of white brick, with stone facings, and seating 550 persons. The old chapel, built in 1854, is now used only as a Sunday school and meeting house.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
Church of England
The parish record transcripts for St. Swithin are available on microfiche for the period 1538-1812 from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.
The Sandy and District Conservative Club, in the Bedford road, erected in 1891, at a cost of £600, was enlarged in 1897 at a cost of about £550, in commemoration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, and now consists of a large concert hall with anterooms, games rooms and two ball rooms, and is licensed for dramatic performances. The Sandy Parochial Lending Library, of about 3,300 volumes, is kept here.
CHARITIES : Wynne's charity: In 1660 Mr. John Wynne, of London, left £140 with the object that on every Sunday twelve penny loaves should be given to twelve poor people, twenty shillings for a sermon to be preached on each anniversary of the day of his death, and the residue of the income on that day to be distributed, partly in money and partly in bread, amongst the poor of Sandy : the property now belonging to the charity consists of land at Keysoe, and a moiety of 2a. 1r. 16p. at Sandy. Palmer's Charity: In 1680 the Rev. Francis Palmer, rector of Sandy, left £52 to purchase land, the rent to be given in bread at the rate of one shilling per Sunday: the income of this charity arises out of the Great Paxton estate. Bromsall's Charity: In 1690 Thomas Bromsall left £200 to purchase land, the rents to be applied towards apprenticing children of the poor inhabitants of Sandy; not to be put out without the consent of the rector of Sandy: the property consists of the Great Paxton estate and a moiety of rent of 2a. 1r. 16p. in Sandy. Yarrow's Charity is derived from the rents of land at Eaton Socon for the benefit of the poor. The Frances Pearson Charity: In 1891 Mr. George John Hooke Pearson caused a sum of £100 to be invested, the dividends to be applied towards maintaining one or more residents of Sandy who may be in delicate health at the Hunstanton (Norfolk) Convalescent Home, or in the event of this home being discontinued, some other seaside resort. Trustees, the Rector and Churchwardens of Sandy. The Town Lands Charity consists of £600 in funds and land: the interest is expended in coal for distribution amongst the poor of the parish, exclusive of Beeston.
Sandy is supposed to have been the Salinæ of the Romans, and in the immediate vicinity are the remains of two camps, one of which, called "Cæsar's Camp," contains about 30 acres; fragments of Roman Pottery and other relics have at different times been discovered during the working of the stone pits, and in making the cuttings for the Great Northern and Bedford and Cambridge railways. The Hazels, a large mansion in the Italian style, originally built about 1660, and enlarged to its present dimensions in 1720-40, is the residence of Francis Pym esq. ; it stands in the centre of a finely-timbered park of 140 acres, about a mile north-east from the village and about half a mile from the road to Everton. The Lodge, the seat of the Right Hon. Viscount Peel P.C., D.L., J.P., D.C.L. late Speaker of the House of Commons, was built by him in 1877, and is delightfully seated in picturesque and finely-wooded grounds of 200 acres in extent, about a mile from the village on the Potton road. Snndye Place, on the Ivel, an old Queen Anne structure, is the residence of Sir Edward Robert and Lady Pearce-Edgcumbe. Cæsar's Camp is the residence of Charles Guy Pym eaq. M.P., D.L., J.P. The principal landowners are Francis Pym esq; J.P. Viscount Peel and the rector.
RAILWAY STATIONS:- Great Northern, Thomas Smith, station master Bedford & Cambridge (L. & N. W. branch), Georga Blincow, station master
[Extracts from Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
National Schools, built in 1868 & enlarged about 1877, for 180 boys & 180 girls; average attendance, 164 boys & 144 girls; Horace Heath Mill, master; Miss Sarah Harkis, mistress.
Infants School, erected in 1896, for 200 children; average attendance, 150.
[Extracts from Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
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[Last updated 21 January 2007 Martin Edwards]