| Prehistoric Period | Earthworks on Galley Hill in Sandy form a univallate (a single encircling rampart) hillfort of the Iron Age period. A second hillfort known as Caesar’s Camp lays approximately 1 km to the north and a third, The Lodge, lays 150m to the east. Three hillforts in close proximity is a rare occurrence. A cursus monument – the Biggleswade Cursus – would have been visible from Galley Hill (Albion Archaeology, 2006) |
| 1086 | The Domesday Survey records that Eudo Dapifer holds the Manor of Sandy. On his death it passed to the Beauchamp family who continued to hold the Manor until the fourteenth century |
| 14th Century | St Swithun’s Church founded. |
| 1538 | Parish registers started. |
| 1555 | Statute Duty to maintain roads on a parish by parish basis introduced by Act of Parliament. |
| 1660 | John Wynne left £140 to provide every Sunday a 1d loaf for 12 poor persons and 20/- for a sermon on the anniversary of his death |
| 1675 | The Monoux family move from London to live in Sandye Place. They became Justices of the Peace and served as trustees for the turnpike road. |
| 1671 | Population totals 736 persons. |
| 1675 | Ogilvy’s map shows bridges at Biggleswade and Girtford. |
| 1680 | Rev. Francis Palmer, formerly a rector of Sandy and founder of Palmer’s Charity, To encourage the regular attendance at Church of the poor he left a sum of 12 pence a week to be distributed to those twelve poor persons who should frequent the Church ever Lord’s Day throughout the year. |
| 1690 | Mr. T. Bromsall, another founder of a charity, passed away. He left £200 for the benefit of the poor of the parish of Sandy. About the same time another gentleman named Yarrow gave (but whether by deed or will is not known) to the poor of Sandy four acres of land, the rent of which to be applied to their benefit. |
| 1725 | A turnpike from Biggleswade to Alconbury Hill is established by Act of Parliament. |
| 1729 | Sandy Rectory built |
| 1736 | Girtford Bridge is repaired by the Turnpike Trust. |
| 1761 | William Pym inherits the Hasells Hall estate |
| 1770 | “The parish of Sandy near Northill is much noted for its gardens; there are above 150 acres of land occupied by many gardeners…it is a rich, loose, black sand of a good depth, and very favourable protected from adverse winds by several considerable hills.” (Arthur Young from Six Months’ Tour through the North of England, 1770) |
| 1783 | Girtford Bridge is opened following building over 1780/1782 by the Turnpike Trustees. |
| 1791 | Humphrey Repton produces a Red Book for redesign of the grounds of Hasells Hall. |
| 1799 | The Sandy Enclosure Award map is drawn up |
| 1801 | Population totals 1115. |
| 1804 | Sandy was enclosed |
| 1811 | Population totals 1122. |
| 1821 | Population totals 1393. |
| 1822 | Girtford Bridge is repaired by the County Council (?). |
| 1831 | Population totals 1617. |
| 1838 | The Lord Nelson pub Opened |
| 1840 | Free School for Girls built and supported by Sir Francis Pym. |
| 1840 | “Owing to the sandy nature of the soil, cucumbers are cultivated in the open air in such abundance that Covent Garden Market, London, is almost wholly supplied with that vegetable from this place.” (S. Lewis from Topographical Dictionary of England, 1840) |
| 1841 | Population totals 1906. |
| 1842 | Sandy Mill with 6 acres of pasture land for rent Bedfordshire Mercury 11 June 1842 |
| 1842 | Bishop of Ely consecrated ground in Sandy Bedfordshire Mercury 20 August 1842 |
| 1850 | Sandy Place up for sale |
| 1850 | Opening of the Great Northern Railway and Sandy Station “Mercury August” |
| 1850 | Mary Ongley (maiden name) dies at Sandye Place aged 85. |
| 1851 | Population totals 1946. |
| 1853 | Park House is sold off by the Sandye Place estate. |
| 1853 | Fatal Accident at the Stone Pit Stratford “Mercury” |
| 1854 | First Baptist Chapel built in Pleasant Place |
| 1855 | August Captain Peel returned to Sandy from The Crimea “Mercury 25_08_1855” |
| 1857 | The Shannon locomotive is built for the Sandy and Potton Railway. |
| 1857 | Opening of the Potton to Sandy Railway Line “Mercury 20_06_1857” |
| 1857 | The final version of Sandy watermill is built. |
| 1858 | Sir William Peel dies at Cawnpore, India. |
| 1858 | The Rev, J. Richardson, new rector “Mercury 08_11_1858” |
| 1859 | Church restoration almost complete “Mercury 05 December 1859” |
| 1860 | Frances Leslie Pym, Lord of the Manor of Sandy, dies in a train crash at Hitchin on his way to the reopening of St St Swithun’s Parish Church (26 April).
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| 1860 | Re-Opening of Sandy Church “Bedfordshire Times and Independent 21 April 1860” |
| 1861 | Statue of Sir William Peel in Sandy Church “Bedfordshire Times and Independent 22 October 1861” |
| 1862 | Gas comes to Sandy “Mercury14 December 1861” |
| 1862 | The Prince of Wales Beerhouse Opened |
| 1862 | Sandy to Potton line sold to Bedford to Cambridge Company “Mercury 01_03_1862” |
| 1862 | Bedford to Cambridge Railway line opens 7th July |
| 1862 | The Bell Public House opened |
| 1863 | Girtford (as not a parish) deleted from Biggleswade district. |
| 1866 | Mission Church built in London Road |
| 1867 | The Foster family replace Mary Elizabeth Brandreth as the residents at Sandye Place. |
| 1867 | St. Swithun’s School founded. It was opened as a National Society School in buildings on St. Neots Road. |
| 1868 | Primitive Methodist Chapel in London Road Girtford Closed 1910 |
| 1869 | Right Hon. Arthur Wellesley Peel P.C., M.P., D.L., J.P., D.C.L. (Oxford), Speaker of the House of Commons builds Sandy Lodge in 200 acres of grounds completed in 1877. It was designed by the architect Henry Clutton who also designed Shuttleworth College (Pevsner, 1968). |
| 1871 | Population totals 2482. |
| 1872 | Sandy became a postal centre |
| 1872 | Parish Church new organ inaugurated “October” |
| 1876 | The River Ivel Navigation is closed to canal traffic. |
| 1881 | Population totals 2662. |
| 1882 | The first fire station built in Sandy at 10 Cambridge Road on land given by Francis Pym. |
| 1882 | Allan Jeeves & Son commence the manufacture of pickles and sauces in Sandy. |
| 1886 | Nos 53/57 High Street (including Gilby’s) is built. |
| 1886 | New Road Built |
| 1886 | Mission Church built in London Road Girtford. |
| 1887 | Baptist Church built in Bedford Road at a cost of £2,000 (the original congregation dated back however to 1701). |
| 1889 | A Burial Board formed on 25th October to decide on the location of a cemetery site. |
| 1890 | The Stone Axe Public House Closed |
| 1891 | St Swithuns Churchyard Closed for burials 31st March |
| 1891 | Sandy and District Conservative Club built in Bedford Road. |
| 1891 | The Old Sandy Conservative Club Room catches fire. |
| 1891 | Population totals 2755. |
| 1891 | Cemetery opened in Potton Road (on the site of Cabbage Hall farm), a chapel was erected in 1892 at a cost of £580. |
| 1891 | Frances Pearson charity founded. |
| 1892 | The new Sandy Conservative club is formally opened. |
| 1894 | Start of Beeston and District Cycling Club. 14th April |
| 1894 | Parish Council created |
| 1895 | First meeting of the Parish Council in the new Council Chamber at the Fire Station. February |
| 1898 | Some years before, Miss Barnet purchased Calvinistic Chapel on Beeston Green for a Recreation Room |
| 1898 | School closed for Two months due to Diphtheria “October” |