Sandy

• 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.

• Here are photographs of Churches etc. in the parish:
  • St. Swithun's Church, Sandy. (view 1)
  • St. Swithun's Church, Sandy. (view 2)

• 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]

• A transcript of the Sandy parish entries from Stephen Whatley's 1750 Topographical Gazetteer of England,
• A transcript of the Sandy parish entries from Samuel Lewis's 1831 Topographical Dictionary of England,
• A transcript of the Sandy parish entries from Samuel Lewis's 1835 Topographical Dictionary of England,
• A transcript of the Sandy parish entries from The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1866-9
• A transcript of the Sandy parish entries from Kelly's 1898 Directory of Bedfordshire

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Sandy to another place.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference TL172493 (Lat/Lon: 52.129588, -0.289258), Sandy which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

• The BFHS Project in conjunction with Roll of Honour contains the Sandy War Memorial transcription with details of the men found on it.

• 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]