Sandy, Bedfordshire

Description
Sandy, a village, a township, and a parish in Beds. The village stands on the river Ivel and on the G.N.R., at the intersection of the Bedford and Cambridge branch of the L. & N.W.R., and on the Roman road from St Albans to Godmanchester, 3 miles NNW of Biggleswade. It is supposed to occupy the site of the Roman station Salinse, and has a head post office and an important station on the railway. The township contains also the village of Girtford and the hamlets of Beeston Green and Stratford, and comprises 4276 acres; population, 2755. The Hasells is a chief residence standing in a park of about 109 acres. The Lodge, a fine modern mansion erected in 1877, in the midst of 200 acres of beautiful grounds, is the seat of Viscount Peel, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1884 to 1895. Sandy Place is also a county mansion standing in extensive grounds. Market-gardening is largely carried on, and large quantities of potatoes, beans, onions, and cucumbers are sent by rail to the towns in the manufacturing districts and to London. Two ancient camps, one of them called Caesar's, and covering about 30 acres, are in the vicinity of the village, and many Roman coins, urns, and other relics have been found. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely; net value, £683 with residence. The church, which was restored and enlarged in 1861 at a cost of £3300, is an ancient cruciform building of native red sandstone chiefly in the Early English style, consisting of chancel with aisles, nave, transepts, and a western embattled tower. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels at Sandy, a church mission-room and a Primitive Methodist chapel at Girtford, and a Wesleyan chapel at Beeston Green. A charity estate of 90 acres produces about £130 a year, which is distributed in food and clothing and in the payment of premiums for the apprenticing of poor boys.