Sandwich, Kent
Historical Description
Sandwich, a market-town, a municipal borough, and three parishes in Kent. The town stands on the river Stour, with a station on the Deal branch of the S.E.R., 86 miles from London, 2 W of Pegwell Bay, and 4½ NW by N of Deal, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office. It grew out of the ruins of the Roman Rhutupis or Ratnpise at Richborough; was known to the Saxons as Sandwic or Sondwych, signifying "sand town," figured in the Saxon times also as Lundenwic, or outport to London; appears first on record as the landing place of Wilfred in 665, after he had preached among the Frisians; was attacked, but not taken, by the Danes in 838 and 851; was attacked by them again and pillaged in 852, 994, and 1007; stood, in these early times, on the margin of the sea, with a good and capacious haven; was the rendezvous of the fleet of Etheldred II. to oppose the Danes; suffered renewed attacks by the Danes in 1008, 1009, and 1013; became, about 1014, the most important of the English harbours,, was visited in that year by Canute; was the landing place of Canute in 1016, on his way to the throne; was reconstructed by Canute, and given by him to Christ Church, Canterbury; was visited in 1039 by Hardicanute; had 307 houses in the time of Edward the Confessor, and was then made a Cinque port; was visited by Edward the Confessor in 1049, and again in 1052 to oppose Earl Godwin. It had 383 houses at Domesday; was the embarking place of Thomas A Becket after his scene with the king at Northampton, and his landing place on his return in December, 1170; was the landing place of Richard I. in 1194, after his imprisonment in Austria; was burned by the French in 1217; was the embarking place of Edward III., for France and Flanders, in 1342, 1345,1347, 1349, 1359, and 1372; was the landing place of the Black Prince, with his prisoner the French king; was fortified against the French in 1384 by Richard II.; was the embarking place in 1416 of Henry V.; was plundered by the French in 1445, and burned by them in 1457; made such speedy recovery from its disasters as to have 95 ships with 1500 sailors in the time of Edward IV., and as then to yield customs to the yearly amount of £17,000; was the embarking place of Edward IV. to France in 1475; began to suffer decay from the choking of its harbour with sand about 1500; experienced revival in 1561 and subsequent years, by immigration of Walloons, acting principally as barge workers and as gardeners; suffered a slight stroke of earthquake in 1579; was ravaged by plague in 1636,1637,1644, and 1666; was visited by Henry VIII., by Elizabeth in 1573, by Cromwell in 1651, by Charles II. in 1660. It numbers among its natives Bishop Henry de Sandwich, who died in 1273; Manwood the lawyer, who died in 1592; Sir J. Mennes the mariner, who was born in 1598; Sir J. Burroughs the herald, who died in 1643; Sir H. Furnese, who was born in 1658; Sir G. Ent the physician, who died in 1689; Burchett, the admiralty secretary in the time of Queen Anne; Dr Simmons, who was born in 1750; and Admiral Rainier, who died in 1808. It has given the title of Earl to the family of Montague since 1650, and had its name transferred, through the Earl Sandwich who was minister of George III., to the group of South Sea Islands discovered by Cook in 1769.
The town had an ancient castle which was held against Edward IV. by Falconbridge and is now quite gone, and had also encompassing walls, partly of stone, partly of earth, with five gates, one of which called Fisher's Gate still stands. The old walls have been converted into a promenade. It had likewise a Carmelite friary, founded in 1272 by Lord Clinton, vested with the privilege of sanctuary, and given at the dissolution to the Ardens, and retains interesting fragments of ancient domestic architecture. A curiously carved house, supposed to be of the time of Henry VIII., and the house said to have been occupied by Queen Elizabeth in 1572, are still in existence. There are also the remains of a Roman amphitheatre in the neighbourhood. Sandwich exhibits now a decayed, antique, crowded, and intricate appearance, more that of a plain old weather-worn continental town than most old towns in England. It stands, with rectangular outline, on a platform about 15 feet above the level of an encompassing plain; is a seat of petty sessions and county courts; was made a borough by Edward III.; is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors; and until disfranchised by the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, returned, in conjunction with Deal and Walmer, two members of Parliament. It has two banks, a guild-hall of 1579, an assembly-room, a two-arched bridge with swing for transit of vessels, three churches, three ahnshouse hospitals, and considerable charities. St Clement's Church has Early English nave and chancel, a low central Norman tower, a restored Tudor roof, miserere stalls, and an ancient octagonal font. The churchyard has yielded ancient urns and other antiquities, indicating it to have probably been a cemetery connected with the Roman Ehutupis. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £150 with residence. Patron, the Archdeacon of Canterbury. St Peter's Church is mainly Early English, and has a ruined S aisle, a modern tower of stone below and brick above, and numerous monuments hidden by pews; the whole building has undergone frequent restoration since 1865. The living is a rectory; net value, £135 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. St Mary's Church is partly ancient, and has a steeple of 1718; the building was thoroughly restored in 1874. The living is a vicarage; net value, £90 with residence. Patron, the Archdeacon of Canterbury. St Bartholomew's Hospital was founded about 1200, gives lodging and maintenance to sixteen persons, includes an interesting Early English chapel which has been thoroughly restored, and has an endowed income of £850. St Thomas' Hospital was founded in 1392 by T. Elys, maintains twelve persons, includes an ancient dining-hall with Early Perpendicular English window, and has an endowed income. St John's Hospital was founded before 1287, and afterwards rebuilt, and has an endowed income. There are Wesleyan, Congregational, and Primitive Methodist chapels.
A corn market is held every Wednesday, and a cattle market every alternate Monday. Tanning, wool-sorting, malting, brewing, seed-crushing, iron-founding, and shipbuilding are carried on; coal is extensively imported for the supply of much of the E of Kent; timber and iron are also imported; and corn, malt, flour, seeds, wool, fruit, timber, and hops are exported. Extensive golf links have been formed on the downs by the St George's Golf Club. The municipal borough comprises the parishes of St Clement, St Peter, and St Mary, and the extra-parochial tract of St Bartholomew's Hospital. Area of the municipal borough, 707 acres; population, 2796; of St Mary's parish, 126 acres; population, 916; of St Peter, 40 acres; population, 1010; of St Clement, 535 acres; population, 833; and of St Bartholomew's Hospital, 6 acres; population, 37.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Kent | |
| Hundred | Eastry | |
| Lathe | St. Augustine | |
| Poor Law union | Eastry |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Sandwich from the following:
Maps
Online maps of Sandwich 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 Kent newspapers online:
- Kent & Sussex Courier
- Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald
- Dover Express
- Kentish Gazette
- Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald
- Kentish Chronicle
- Maidstone Telegraph
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.