England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Sandon All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Sandon lies in central Staffordshire about 4 miles northeast of the county town of Stafford. The settlement of Sandon sits on the A51 road (Stone to Rugeley) at its junction with the B5066. There is not much to present day Sandon, merely a few properties grouped around the junction and indeed in the past the parish was dominated by the estate of Sandon Park which lies to the east of the A51. Sandon Hall, the seat of the Earls of Harrowby, is set in a parkland setting that also includes the parish church. Whilst the area would have been used in a mixed agricultural regime the estate would also have dominated employment opportunities notably in the local quarries. Sandon sits on the northern banks of the River Trent, this valley is not only followed by the A51 but also by, in turn, the Trent & Mersey Canal and the main railway line from London to the northwest making it a busy valley indeed. The Trent, of course, is in the early stages of a long journey to the east coast exiting to the sea through the Humber Estuary. Sandon is sited at around 100 metres above sea level and 20 above the river, the hall and church lie a further 20 metres higher within the estate. The parish was of a fairly average size for this area of Staffordshire, it would have covered around 3,400 acres and would have supported almost 600 parishioners at the end of this transcript period. In Domesday times Sandon was held directly by the King but was a relatively poor place, it offered just 10 ploughs as well as small meadows and woodlands.

The Church

All Saints' church, as stated above, lies within the parkland of Sandon Park and is accessed by a winding tarred road (Church Road) from the A51. The church has a long and complicated history, Pevsner believes that an existing early church was extensively reworked to give the rather odd appearance of the present one through the reuse and insertion of later features. Much of the building dates from 13th and 14th centuries, however the northern aisle was extensively remodeled in 1851 to become the private chapel of the the Earls of Harrowby, this rebuilding being coincident with the construction of the present hall which replaced an earlier building destroyed by fire. Church Road winds up the hill to a small car park and the church sits behind a local rough wall in an open position. There are no restrictions to photography once inside the wooden gates, although the site falls away sharply to the southwest.