Sandy
Sandy maps (2 available)
Map of Bedfordshire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
See this old map of Bedfordshire
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Sandy books (7 available)
Luton - A History & Celebration
Hardback
So You Think You Know? Luton
Hardback
Bedfordshire Living Memories
Paperback
- 13 photos on Sandy appear in 4 Frith books - View photos of Sandy
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Sandy and Bedfordshire
Sandy memories
Read and share memories of Sandy and Bedfordshire inspired by Frith photos
Be the first to add a memory of Sandy.
You can also read memories of nearby places in Bedfordshire below.
Bedfordshire memories
Henry Tingey - Ancester
My great grandfather Henry Tingey, was born November 18, 1819, in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire. He was the son of James Tingey and Elizabeth Boniss. James and Elizabeth, and family later moved from Bigglewade, Bedfordshire, and moved Lower Caldecut near the 46th milestone from London in the perish of Northhill. The family of father and mother and two boys and four sisters were in the business of raising wholesale vegatable and garden seeds and were very successful.
In 1849 the missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, (Mormons) told their gospel message to Henry and his wife Ann Young, (daughter of James and Lucy Young). Henry and Ann joined the Latter-Day-Saint church and migrated to America in 1849. They ...read more here
A memory of Biggleswade contributed by Norton Cook
Lord Astor
I grew up in Wrestlingworth between 1966 and 1978. In the late sixties and early seventies we often used to see a rather distinguished gent driving a stately car, a Riley I think. He had silver hair and always waved in a benign manner to us youngsters. I got it into my mind that he was Lord Astor who lived at Hatley St George. We were even more impressed at this.
We also used to see the Co-op van in the village. In those days not everybody had cars and the older residents couldn't always get to Biggleswade or wherever. So its arrival was always noticeable if only because of the people who would gather around.
One day I wandered over ...read more here
A memory of Wrestlingworth contributed by First name Last name
I was a projectionist at the Picturedrome
I worked there for a few years with Stan Hunt at the Picturedrome, and the Plaza which was nearly opposite across the river was owned by a man called Mr Cheetam. I also worked at the Plaza as a relief projectionist and also another cinema in Ampthill owned by Mr Cheetam.
They were great days and I now live in Leicester but now see that all four cinemas in Bedford are gone, what is left?
I thought the Picturedrome and the great cinema The Granada were LISTED buildings so who had them demolished should be SHOT. These cinemas have brought great memories to a lot of people and been destroyed by Bedford Council.
Don't you think the Granada would have ...read more here
A memory of Bedford contributed by Eric Bootles
Working memories.
I was the main weekday driver of the launch photographed during the student holiday periods of 1955-1958. When I drove it, the name was 'Silver Stream'. It was the largest of a set of three electric launches which carried paying passengers for trips of about 40 minutes duration from the steps on the downstream, north side of the town bridge. Typically this launch would carry about 40 passengers maximum. Silver Stream was a magnificent launch to drive, giving a silent drive, almost no water disturbance up to the 6 knots maximum for the river, and had a tubular rudder form which surrounded the propeller. This permitted a very tight turning such that most of us could turn round in places where ...read more here
A memory of Bedford contributed by Mr PC Hedgecock
Extracts From Sandy & Bedfordshire books
Sandy was originally a modest
Roman settlement on the Roman
road between St Albans and
Godmanchester; in the 18th
century the town became
important for its coaching inns
servicing the Great North Road.
However, it is a somewhat bitty
town, and the market square is a
distinct disappointment. Here, a
little further north up High Street,
we look west along Bedford Road.
The late 19th-century town hall is
on the left. By 1925 it was the
Astor Cinema, and is now the
Roundabout Club, for there is
now a roundabout roughly where
the photographer is standing.
An extract from from"Bedford Photographic Memories".
Moving south we cross the River Ivel by the Girtford Bridge to reach the town of
Sandy on the Great North Road, the A1. The bridge is built in greensand stone,
which in Bedfordshire is actually dark brown owing to a high iron content in the
rock. The bridge is late 18th-century, but the central date plaque seen here from
the north-east bank on the Sandy side of the river is illegible. To the right is the
garden of Ivel Cottage.
An extract from from"Bedford Photographic Memories".
The earliest mention of a church in Sandy is in the institution rolls of Bishop Hugh of Wells (c1214), and the font bowl in the south aisle is thought to date from Saxon times.
An extract from from"Bedfordshire Photographic Memories".
The earliest building work visible dates from the 15th century, and extensive 19th-century restoration means that apart from the west tower very little earlier work can be seen. The Church of England School dates back to Victorian times, and occupied a site at the top of St Neots Road until 1987, when it was transferred to its present location in Ivel Road.
An extract from from"Bedfordshire Photographic Memories".
Never a very large town, Sandy owes its continued existence to the strength of the produce market in Victorian England. When the railway came in 1850, it opened up the voracious wholesale markets of London and the Midlands and brought a measure of solid prosperity to the community.
An extract from from"Bedfordshire Photographic Memories".