Sandon (All Saints)

SANDON (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Stone, S. division of the hundred of Pirehill, N. division of the county of Stafford, 4½ miles (N. N. E.) from Stafford; containing 586 inhabitants. The parish comprises by measurement 3376 acres; the surface rises gradually from the north bank of the river Trent, and the scenery is beautifully diversified. The Hall is the seat of the Earl of Harrowby, who bears the inferior title of Viscount Sandon, of this place: on the south side of it is a fine Doric pillar, 75 feet high, erected by the late earl in 1806, to the memory of William Pitt; and in the grounds is an elegant structure in the later English style, with two tablets inscribed to Spencer Perceval. Stone of good quality for building is found, and in Sandon Park is an excellent quarry. The Trent and Mersey canal passes through the parish. Fairs, chiefly for cattle, are held on the Thursday in Easterweek, and the 14th of November. The living is a vicarage, endowed with a portion of the rectorial tithes, and valued in the king's books at £7. 10.; patron, and owner of the remainder of the rectorial tithes, the Earl of Harrowby. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £366, and the incumbent's for £356; the glebe comprises 8 acres. The church is situated in the middle of the park, and is an ancient and venerable structure, restored by the late earl, in strict harmony with its original character; it contains an elegant monument to the memory of the well-known genealogist and antiquary, Sampson Erdeswicke, the last of the Erdeswickes, formerly proprietors of the manor, who was born here, and died in 1603. In the vicarage gardens adjoining the churchyard, is a monumental cross dedicated to the late Bishop Ryder, erected by the curate out of the old pinnacles and other materials left from the repairs of the church. There is a place of worship for Methodists. In a meadow near the boundary of the Sandon estate, is a petrifying spring.