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SANDHURST, Description and History from 1868 Gazetteer

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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

"SANDHURST, a parish in the hundred of Sonning, county Berks, 5 miles S.E. of Wokingham, its post town, and about a quarter of a mile from the Reading and Reigate railway. The village, which is small, is situated on the river Blackwater. The soil is of a sandy nature. In the neighbourhood are a Roman camp and several barrows.

Sandhurst Royal Military College is situated in extensive grounds, with a sheet of water in front, and surrounded by plantations. It was originally founded by the late Duke of York in 1799, and first temporarily placed at High Wycombe, but thence removed to Great Marlow in 1802, and finally to its present site in 1812. The edifice, which has a Doric portico of eight columns, has a main front 434 feet in length, but the whole principal facade is 900 feet. It is furnished with a chapel, observatory, riding-school, 110 feet by 50, study and dining halls, dormitories, and an octagonal room in which the public examinations are held, besides houses set apart for the governor, lieutenant-governor, and officers. The various branches of study consist of mathematics, fortification, surveying, drawing, history, classics, &c. The library has a choice collection of books, also portraits of George III. and his queen, and of the late governors.

The living is a perpetual curacy* in the diocese of Oxford, value £150, in the patronage of the bishop. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, has a spired tower containing two bells. The interior of the church contains a brass to the Haile family. The whole edifice has been rebuilt at an outlay of £1,300, chiefly defrayed by the present incumbent. The parochial charities produce about £15. There is a National school for both sexes. Robert Gibson, Esq., is lord of the manor. Sandhurst Lodge is the principal residence."

From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland(1868). Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003