Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for SANDWICH

SANDWICH, a town, three parishes, and a sub-district, in Eastry district, Kent. The town stands on the river Stour, and on the Ramsgate and Deal railway, 2 miles W of Pegwell bay, and 4½ N W by N of Deal; grewout of the ruins of the Roman Rhutupis or Rutupiæ at Richborough; was known to the Saxons as Sandwic or Sondwych, signifying "sand town; " figured in the Saxontimes also as Lundenwic, or out-port to London; appearsfirst on record as the landing-place of Wilfred in 665, after he had preached among the Frisians; was attacked, but not taken, by the Danes in 838 and 851; was attackedby them again, and pillaged, in 852, 994, and 1,007; stood, in these early times, on the margin of the sea, with a good and capacious haven; was the rendezvous of the fleet of Etheldred II., to oppose the Danes; sufferedrenewed attacks by the Danes in 1008, 1009, and 1013; became, about 1014, the most important of the Englishharbours; was visited, in that year, by Canute; was the landing-place of Canute in 1016, on his way to the throne; was reconstructed by Canute, and given by him to Christ Church, Canterbury; was visited, in 1039, by Hardicanute; had 307 houses in the time of Edward the Confessor, and was then made a cinque-port; was visited by Edwardthe Confessor in 1049, and again in 1052 to oppose Earl Godwin; had 383 houses at Domesday; was the embarking-place of Thomas à Becket after his scene with theking at Northampton, and his landing-place on his return in Dec. 1170; was the landing-place of Richard I. in 1194, after his imprisonment in Austria; was burnt by the French in 1217; was the embarking-place of Edward III., for France and Flanders, in 1342, 1345, 1347, 1349, 1359, and 1372; was the landing-place of the Black Prince, with his prisoner the French king; was fortified against the French, in 1384, by Richard II.; was the embarking-place, in 1416, of Henry V.; was plundered by the Frenchin 1445, and burnt by them in 1457; made such speedyrecovery from its disasters as to have 95 ships with 1, 500sailors in the time of Edward IV., and as then to yieldcustoms to the yearly amount of £17,000; was the embarking-place of Edward IV. to France in 1475; beganto suffer decay from the choking of its harbor with sandabout 1500; experienced revival in 1561 and subsequentyears, by immigration of Walloons, acting principally as barge-workers and as gardeners; suffered a slight stroke of earthquake in 1579; was ravaged by plague in 1636, 1637, 1644, and 1666; was visited by Henry VIII., by Elizabeth in 1573, by Cromwell in 1651, by Charles II.in 1660; numbers, among its natives, Bishop Henry desandwich who died in 1273, Manwood the lawyer who died in 1592, Sir J. Mennes the mariner who was born in 1598, Sir J. Burroughs the herald who died in 1643, Sir H. Furnese who was born in 1658, Sir G. Ent the physician who died in 1689, Burchett the admiralty secretaryin the time of Queen Anne, Dr. Simmons who was born in 1750, and Admiral Rainier who died in 1808; hasgiven the title of Earl to the family of Montague since1650; and had its name transferred, through the Earlsandwich who was minister of George III., to the group of South Sea Islands discovered by Cook in 1769. The town had an ancient castle, which was held against Edward IV. by Falconbridge, and is now quite gone; hadalso encompassing walls, partly of stone, partly of earth, with five gates, one of which called Fishers-gate stillstands; had likewise a Carmelite friary, founded in 1272by Lord Clinton, vested with the privilege of sanctuary, and given at the dissolution to the Ardens; retains interesting fragments of ancient domestic architecture, particularly in a house in Lucksboat-street seemingly of the time of Henry VIII., and in two houses in Strand-street, one of which is said to have been occupied by Queen Elizabeth at her visit in 1573; exhibits now a decayed, antique, crowded, and intricate appearance, more likethat of a plain old weather-worn continental town thanlike that of most old towns in England; stands, withrectangular outline, on a platform about 15 feet abovethe level of an encompassing plain; is a seat of petty sessions and county courts; was made a borough by Edward III., with right of sending two members to parliament; is governed, under the new municipal act, by a mayor, 4aldermen, and 12 councillors; and has a head post-office, ‡a railway station with telegraph, two banking offices, twochief inns, a guild-hall of 1579, an assembly-room at one of the inns, a town-jail with capacity for 14 male and 4female prisoners, a two-arched bridge with swing for trans it of vessels, a custom-house, three churches, threedissenting chapels, a grammar school, a national school, three alms-house-hospitals, a benefit building society, and charities, including those of the grammar school and thehospitals, £1, 394. St. Clement's church has early Englishnave and chancel, a low central Norman tower, a restored Tudor roof, miserere stalls, and an ancient octagonal font. The churchyard has yielded ancient urns and other antiquities, indicating it to have probably been a cemeteryconnected with the Roman Rhutupis. St. Peter's church is mainly early English; and has a ruined S aisle, a hideously remodelled chancel, a modern tower of stone below and brick above, and numerous monuments hidden by pews. St. Mary's church is partly ancient, and has asteeple of 1718. The grammar school was founded in 1563, by Sir Roger Manwood; has been removed from itsoriginal premises, near the site of the Canterbury gate, to the interior of the town; has an endowed income of £38a year, and 4 scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge; and had R. Knollys, author of a " History of the Turks, " as a master. St. Bartholomew's hospital was founded about 1200; gives lodging and maintenance to 16 persons; includes an interesting early English chapel; and has an endowed income of £766. St. Thomas' hospital was founded in 1392 by T. Elys; maintains 12 persons; includes an ancient dining-hall, with early perpendicular English window; and has an endowed income of £349. St. John s hospital was founded before 1287, and afterwards rebuilt; and has an endowed income of £131. A corn market is held on every Wednesday; a cattlemarket, on every alternate Monday; and a pleasure fair, on 4 Dec. Tanning, wool-sorting, malting, brewing, seed-crushing, iron-founding, and ship-building are carried on; coal is extensively imported, for the supply of Much of the E of Kent; timber and iron also are imported; and corn, malt, flour, seeds, wool, fruit, and hopsare exported. The harbour became inaccessible to sea-borne vessels soon after 1500; suffered increasing injuryfrom recession of the sea; could be entered till after 1847only by small vessels, in a tortuous course up the Stour; began to undergo improvement under an act of parliament obtained in 1847, and continued to undergo increase of improvement in years up to 1868. The corporation revenue amounts to about £2, 300. The municipalborough comprises the parishes of St. Clement, St. Peter, and St. Mary, and the extra-parochial tract of St. Bartholomew's hospital; and the parliamentary borough includes also the parishes of Deal and Walmer Acres of St.parish, 540; of St. P., 36; of St. M., 127; of St. B. extra-parochial, 6. Real property of these four in 1860, £10,031; of which £198 were in gas-works. Pop.in 1861, of St. C., 889; of St. P., 1,085; of St. M., 91 9; of St. B., 51. Houses, 181, 258, 194, and 16. Real property of the parliamentary borough, £41, 246. Amount of property and income tax charged in 1863, £2, 188. Electors in 1833, 916; in 1863, 1,074. Pop. in 1851, 12, 710; in 1861, 13, 750. Houses, 2, 672. The parish of St. Peter includes the hamlets of St. John and St. Thomas. The living of St. Peter is a rectory, and thelivings of St. Clement and St. Mary are vicarages, in the diocese of Canterbury. Value of St. P., £144; * of St. C., £310; of St. M., £117.* Patron of St. P., alternately the Lord Chancellor and W. Tringham, Esq.; of St.and St. M., the Archdeacon of Canterbury.—The sub-district contains also 6 other parishes and part of another. Acres, 24, 870. Pop., 8, 759. Houses, 1,801.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, three parishes, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Sandwich CP       Sandwich SubD       Eastry RegD/PLU       Kent AncC
Place names: SANDWIC     |     SANDWICH     |     SONDWYCH
Place: Sandwich

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