Sandford-on-Thames

Sandford-on-Thames
St. Andrew's parish church
Sandford-on-Thames Location withinOxfordshire
Area	3.78 km2(1.46 sq mi)
Population	1,336 (2001 census)
•Density	353/km2(910/sq mi)
OS grid reference	SP5301
Civil parish	Sandford-on-Thames
District	South Oxfordshire
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Oxford
Postcode district	OX4
Dialling code	01865
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
UK Parliament	Didcot and Wantage
Website	Sandford-on-Thames Village Magazine

Sandford-on-Thames,also referred to as simply Sandford, is a village andParish Councilbeside theRiver ThamesinOxfordshirejust south ofOxford.The village is just west of theA4074 roadbetween Oxford andHenley.

Early history

In 1086 theDomesday Bookcounted 18 families as living by the sandy ford over theThamesbetweenIffleyandRadley.Six hundred years later the population of the village had barely doubled, and it was still under 200 people at the start of the 19th century. Today the population numbers more than 1,000 and the parish boundaries have undergone considerable revision.

Parish church of Saint Andrew

In the middle of the 12th century a small "field church" dedicated toSaint Andrewwas built on a hill in the Sandford manorial grounds for the use of the nearby Minchery nuns. The originalNormanporch was restored and repaired in 1652 through the generosity ofElizabeth Ishambut the majority of the improvement works to the church took place in the 25 years between 1840 and 1865. In the centre of the graveyard stands a fine yew tree planted on Good Friday 1800 and just to the east of the porch is a flat-topped gravestone from which bread was handed out to the poor of the parish. Four war memorials are on the south wall in St Andrew's church: a wooden village shrine which lists the fallen of both World Wars, and three individual commemorative plaques to E.G. Wilkins, H.S. Cannon and H.C. Cannon. Each has been recorded and included in the National Inventory ofWar Memorialsat theImperial War Museum.

Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller

The King's Arms

River Thames at Sandford Lock

In 1239 Sir Thomas de Sandford gave land to theKnights Templarenclave inOxford'sTemple Cowley.In the reign ofEdward IIthe Templars were suppressed and in 1324 theKnights Hospitallertook over. In 1541Henry VIIIdissolved the order, and the land passed to Cardinal SirThomas Wolsey.

River and lock

Main article:Sandford Lock

The riverThamesdominates Sandford's history, with the fertile meadows promoting agriculture and the water providing both transport and power.Roman potteryfromkilnsfound on the northern edge of the village hints at Sandford's manufacturing heritage. Thetoponym"Sandford" suggests ariver crossing,and there are references to Sandford Ferry throughout history. In May 1644, during theEnglish Civil War,theEarl of Essextook his troops across the river at Sandford to join the battle ofCropredy.Within living memory there was still a ferry (later a toll bridge) at the King's Armspublic houseby the river taking traffic, including horses and carts, over the river toAbingdon,once the county town ofBerkshire.An ancient mounting block can still be seen on the western river bank just below thelock,which travellers would have used to remount their horses having crossed the river on foot.

In his bookThree Men in a Boat,Jerome K. Jeromedescribed the pool under Sandford lasher as "a very good place to drown yourself in".The watercourse behind the lock-keeper's house (dated 1914) flows from the "big lasher"weirwhich creates strong currents and eddies. In spite of the danger, this was a favourite swimming place up to the mid-20th century. In 1921 the river here claimed the lives of threeChrist Churchstudents, includingMichael Llewelyn Davies,the adopted son ofJ. M. Barrie,who was the inspiration forPeter Pan.An obelisk that has stood here since at least 1821 records the deaths of six Christ Church students who drowned here in three separate incidents between 1843 and 1921. Even into the 1950s the river at Sandford-on-Thames was still regarded as a place to come and relax. On Sundays people came from Oxford to swim at TheLidobelow the lock and to picnic. The King's Arms had extensive tea-lawns on which to spend lazy Sunday afternoons.

The first lock at Sandford was the navigationweirorflash locksituated on the old river channel at the site of the lasher today. This was described in 1624 as"Great Lockes"and was replaced in about 1632 by one of the firstpound locksto be built inEngland.Iffley,Sandford andCulhamlocks were built by theOxford-Burcot Commissionfollowing theThames Navigation Act 1623(21 Jas. 1.c. 32). The old lock has since been filled in but its position can still be seen (the position of the upper gates can be seen in the stonework above the present upper gates). A new lock on the present site was opened in 1836 which lasted until the most recent improvements when the present lock was built in 1972.Littlemore Brookjoins the River Thames near Sandford-on-Thames.

Farms

TheKnights Templarname lived on until recently in Temple Farm, which was acquired byMagdalen College, Oxfordin 1900. In the 1950s Gilbert Henry James Morris (known as Dick Morris) entered into a long lease with Magdalen College and together with his wife Freda founded the Temple FarmCountry Club.The land encompassed several buildings including the main house which held thebarfor members, and two floors of bedrooms where Mr. and Mrs. Morris resided and also included guest rooms. The barn also had a bar (the barn bar) and a large function room which hosted Sunday dinners and occasional evening events including weeklybingoand seasonaldances.TheNew Year's Evedance was a particular highlight. There was also acaravan park,acricketpitch and amarinaon theThamesriver. After Dick Morris' death in 1966, his wife Freda continued on in partnership with her son Lloyd and together they ran the club until 1985 when the lease expired. After the long incarnation as Temple Farm Country Club the property burnt down in the 1990s and was restored as a hotel, originally part of theFour Pillars HotelsGroup and from 2016 part of theDe Vere Hotelgroup. The barn bar was said to be the final resting place of the Oxford Martyr George Napier, whose remains were taken from the Thames and laid to rest in the family chapel that later became the barn bar. The inscription 1614 was carved onto the gateway of the garden through which the torchlight procession carrying his remains was carried en route to burial.

Rock Farm, formerly called Sandford Farm, was bought by a Mr. Benfield in 1897. He and his partner Mr Loxley were owners of a building firm and developed the clay on Rock Farm to supply their building works with bricks. Apart from the road name, the last remnants of Rock Farm are the original farmhouse, now called Manor House and originally called Sandford Farm, with its tied cottages running down the left side of Rock Farm Lane, another row of four to the right of Manor house and the old dovecote in Keene Close which was restored in the 1990s and stands in front of one of the houses in the recent Rock Farm development. The new barn style house in Rock Farm Lane stands on the floor plan of the original ancient barn which the developer of the site got permission to demolish. During the ground preparation for the new houses at Rock farm a large quantity of building stone was unearthed. some of which was dressed for windows and other architectural features. This may have been fromElizabeth Isham's house which was believed to have been near there. Some of the stone was incorporated into the reconstructed building at the back ofManor housewhich was the south end of the old milking parlor.Roman potteryshards and some firing slag was also found at the end of what is now Keene close. (Mr Gerald Keene was the last farmer to operate the farm at this site.)

Industry

Next to and downstream from the lock is a waterfront housing development, Sandford Mill. Built in the 1980s, this occupies the site of the formermillwhich closed on Christmas Eve 1982. Originally a corn mill belonging to theAbbey of Abingdonand recorded in 1100 as owned by the local monks for bread making, it came into the hands of theKnights Templarsat the beginning of the 14th century. It was converted to apaper millin 1826 in order to supply the increasing demands of theUniversity of Oxford.The listed cottages upstream from the lock (now River View) that can be seen across the road from the oldwharfwere also built in 1826. Occupied by mill workers, they originally boasted flat roofs made of tarred paper, (a first in Britain). Themillracecontinues to flow under the footbridge that crosses from the King's Armspubto thelock.

At the beginning of the 20th century thewharfadjacent to and upstream from the King's Arms was used extensively both by thepaper milland also by thebrickworks,which developed well until 1914 when the engines were taken for service in theFirst World War.In 1920 the 126 foot tall brickworks chimney was demolished. The land is now atrailer parksite. The name is preserved in BrickKilnLane (formerly Crab or Crab Gate Lane) running east out of the village towards theOxford Science ParkandOxford UnitedFC's Kassam Stadium which was completed in 2001.

Henley Road

The road through the centre of the village (now theHenleyRoad but formerly called both the Nuneham Road and theLondonRoad) also crosses the Northfield Brook. A toll house known as Sandford Gate stood here until it was knocked down in 1920 and the present house was built. One of the earliestpetrol stations,which servedWilliam Morris(Lord Nuffield) as he journeyed betweenOxfordand Nuffield was on the Henley Road opposite the present garage. The garage served as aSpitfirewing repair shop in theSecond World War.

The Second Wartime Boat Race, 1943

In 1943, the second wartimeBoat Racebetween the Universities ofOxfordandCambridgewas held on theThamesat Sandford. Like the first, it was unofficial and noBlueswere awarded. However, public enthusiasm was high and the river banks were thronged with spectators, all of whom had to reach the course either by bicycle or on foot. Contemporary newspaper reports estimate the crowd at between seven and ten thousand. The Cambridge crew, unusually for the time, included a Dane at bow and a Turk at number four. The Oxford crew included four medical students. The race was rowed between the narrow banks of a 1.25 miles (2.01 km) downstream course with the start about 0.25 miles (400 m) belowSandford Lockand the finish at theRadley CollegeBoathouse. Oxford won the toss and chose theOxfordshirebank, with Cambridge rowing on theBerkshireside. Oxford set off at 40 strokes compared to Cambridge's 37, and were almost immediately in the lead and a length up in some thirty seconds. Despite being left at the start, Cambridge did not give up and responded well, with the judge's verdict at the finish recorded as a win for Oxford by just two-thirds of a length.

Amenities

The village has twopublic houses:the King's Arms on the river (converted in the 19th century from the Millmalthouse), and The Catherine Wheel onHenleyRoad. The Fox (built in 1853 by theMorrellfamily) has been closed since 2009. The village has several public open spaces including a large, fenced recreation ground next to the church containing children's play equipment, a grassed area on the riverside nearSandford Lockwhich is the site of the oldwharf,and recreation areas off Heyford Hill Lane which also contain children's play equipment. All are maintained by theParish Council.TheOxford Preservation Trustowns the land between Broadhurst Gardens and theRiver Thames.The village shop andpost officewas closed in 1987. TheVillage Hallhas a shop and cafe run by volunteers, called 'Talking Shop' which offers local foods as well as general provisions.TheSustranscycle pathis accessible from the village across the river Thames and offers easy access toOxfordcity centre along the river. Sandford is a scheduled stop forSalters Steamers'river boatservices between Oxford andAbingdon.A regular local bus service betweenWallingfordand Oxford city centre serves the village.

Street names

Despite extensive local research by theParish Counciland local residents, no suitable ancient field names could be found that could be adapted for the new roads created at Heyford Hill Lane in the late 1990s. Consequently, surnames of past local residents were proposed, and they were accepted bySouth OxfordshireDistrict Council. The names adopted are:

• Batten Place: Richard Batten was the first Attendant atLittlemore Hospital,which opened in 1846.
• Buckler Place:J.C. Bucklerwas one of the original architects of Littlemore Hospital.
• Janaway: when the Sandford Link Road was built to pass underneath theHenleyRoad at the junction with Heyford Hill Lane, a property called Dool House had to be demolished. This large house, which stood at the end of Heyford Hill Lane, was built in 1810 by John Janaway, awheelwright.The house was purchased by the newly opened Littlemore Hospital in 1848 to house the HospitalChaplain.It later became a home for nurses and a residence for doctors.

People from Sandford-on-Thames

• William Stroudley,locomotive superintendent of theHighland Railwayand later theLondon, Brighton and South Coast Railway,was born at Sandford-on-Thames on 6 March 1833.
• Charlie Walters,footballer, who played forTottenham Hotspur F.C.and won a winners' medal in the1921 FA Cup Final.

Sources

• Arnatt; Crickmay; Newbigging (1996).The Changing Faces of Littlemore & Sandford.Witney: Robert Boyd Publications.ISBN978-1-899536-06-1.
• Lobel, Mary D,ed. (1957).Victoria County History:A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 5: Bullingdon Hundred.pp. 267–275.
• Sherwood, Jennifer;Pevsner, Nikolaus(1974).The Buildings of England:Oxfordshire.Harmondsworth:Penguin Books.pp. 689, 749–750.ISBN0-14-071045-0.

External links

• Street Plan of Sandford-on-Thames
• St Andrew's Parish Church
• Oxford Green Belt Network