Sandy Bedfordshire UK - History - The Middle Ages (2)

History of Sandy - The Middle Ages

After the Romans - continued

St Swithun's Church dates back to the mid 14th Century, originally under the patronage of William de Beauchamp, who granted it to Cauldwell Priory almost 100 years earlier. It is now a large cruciform building constructed from ironstone, having been enlarged and expanded in the mid 19th Century, and very little of the original construction remains.

For more details, visit the St Swithuns website

When Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539, Hazells and Girtford eventually passed to Francis Pygott and John Burgoyne respectively. Sandy came under the ownership of first the Catlens, and then through marriage, to the Spencers. By the 17th Century, Sir Humphrey Monoux of Wootton had acquired Sandy Manor. Sandy Place was re-built by Louis Monoux in 1670, on what is now (since 1953) the site of Sandye Place Middle School.

The growth of Sandy, into a small town, started in the early 1700's with the beginnings of the Great North Road. Sandy was never strictly a market town, as the two larger settlements of Potton and Biggleswade are close by and both had well established and thriving markets. Market gardening however has long been a feature of Sandy life. (The parish registers mention 'gardener' as an occupation as early as 1682 and this became a traditional trade thereafter).