Sandridge, Hertfordshire

Historical Description

Sandridge, a parish, with a village, in Hertfordshire, 2½ miles S by W of Wheathampstead station on the Hatfield, Luton, and Dunstable branch of the G.N.R., and 2½ NNE of St Albans. It has a post office under St Albans; money order and telegraph office, St Albans. Acreage, 5753; population, 1458. There is a parish council of eight members and a chairman. Bernard's Heath, in this parish, is the place where the second, battle of St Albans was fought on 17 February, 1461; and on a furzy common, now known as " No Man's Land," there lies a large boulder of conglomerate or " pudding stone," which formerly marked the boundary between the lands of the rival monasteries of Westminster and St Albans, and now serves to mark the division between Sandridge and Wheathampstead. An ancient entrenchment with a moat called the " Devil's Dyke," is partly in this parish and partly in the neighbouring parish of Wheathampstead. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St Albans; net value, £68. Patron, Earl Spencer. The church, which was restored, enlarged, and partly rebuilt in 1887-88, is an ancient and interesting building in mixed styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, N and S porches, and a western tower. The Duchess of Marlborough, born in 1660, was a native.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

Findmypast, in association with the Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies have the Baptisms, Banns, Marriages, and Burials online for Sandridge

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Sandridge from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Sandridge (St. Leonard))

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Hertfordshire is online.

Maps

Online maps of Sandridge are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Hertfordshire newspapers online:

• Hertford Mercury and Reformer
• Herts Guardian, Agricultural Journal, and General Advertiser
• Watford Observer

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Hertfordshire, 1572 and 1634. Edited by Walter C. Metcalfe, F.S.A. is available on the Heraldry page.