Sandon in 1817

Description from A Topographical History of Staffordshire by William Pitt (1817)

SANDON.

Sandon is a small village on the turnpike-road between Stone and Rugeley, consisting of a large inn, a few public-houses, and several scattered tenements. The manor of Sandon is large, and the whole parish contains 92 houses, 92 families ; 238 males, 242 females: total of inhabitants, 480. The parish contains the hamlets of Great and Little Sandon, Hard wick, Small Vise, Dracote, Leighs Newton, and Cresswell. 

Before the Conquest, Algar, Earl of Mercia, was lord of the manor ; it was afterwards given by William the First to Hugh, Earl of Chester, who gave it to William Baron Malbank. His son Hugh founded Combermere-abbey; and his son William gave Sandon Church to the Monks. Adilla, the daughter of this William, married Sir William Stafford, and had the manor of Sandon for her portion. She left it to her son James Stafford. He had issue one daughter, who marrying Thomas Erdeswicke, brought this manor into his family. Sampson Erdeswicke was the last of this family. He was a learned and industrious antiquary ; and, among other public works, he repaired and glazed Sandon Church. The manor was sold to Mr. George Digby, in the reign of James I. and came by marriage into the possession of Charles Lord Gerard, of Bromley, whose grand-daughter carried it to William, Duke of Hamilton, by one of whose descendants it was sold to Lord Harrowby, whose son, the Right Hon. the Earl of Harrowby, is now the possessor. 

The Mansion-house is an elegant building, in a pleasant situation. It was built on the site of the ancient half-timbered house of the Erdeswickes, and traces of the moat which surrounded it are still visible. Beyond the modern mansion, the sides of the hill are covered with plantations of young and flourishing trees; and on the summit of an eminence, the lofty Obelisk erected to the Memory of Mr. PITT, about eight years ago, is a very striking and beautiful object. 

The Church stands on a gentle elevation not far from Lord Harrowby's seat : it is dedicated to All Saints, and is a vicarage. The Rev. George Bonney is the present vicar. Sandon Church is a small structure of stone with a square tower, on the western side of which a very beautiful ivy-tree has climbed almost to the pinnacles, rising like two wings, and leaving the aperture or Gothic window of the belfry uncovered. Among the monuments in the chancel the following to the celebrated Erdeswicke is most conspicuous : 

The monument represents a colossal figure of Mr. Erdeswicke, in a recumbent posture, dressed in a jacket, and with spurs on his heels. Above, in two niches, appear the figures of his two wives kneeling. Mr. Erdeswicke died April 11th, 1603. This beautiful memorial has been much injured by repeated whitewashings. 

SAMPSON ERDESWICKE. This celebrated antiquary, to whose researches other writers on the Antiquities and Topography of this county are so highly indebted, was born here, but the year of his birth is not recorded. He was admitted a gentleman Commoner at Brazen-nose College, Oxford, in the year 1553, and after having remained two years at the University, he returned to Sandon, where he amused himself by antiquarian researches, especially such as were illustrative of his native county. He left in manuscript, " A Short View of Staffordshire, containing the Antiquities of the same County," an incorrect copy of which was published in 1717, in octavo, and a second edition in 1723. There are two copies of the original in the British Museum, and one in Gough's MSS. in the Bodleian Library. Mr. Erdeswicke is recorded by Fuller, in his " Worthies of England/' as a gentleman descended of a right worshipful and ancient family; and Camden styles him venerandce antiquitatis cultor maximus. He began his antiquarian work in 1593, and continued it till his death, so that it employed him ten years. 

Instances of Longevity. Robert Reeves, of Smallvise, died March 28, 1758, aged 90. Margaret Done, died February 2, 1781 aged 91. 

The lands in the parish of Sandon are fertile, and the trees flourishing.