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Dry Sandford is a village in the Vale of White Horse district of England, about 3 miles (5 km) north-west of Abingdon. It is one of two villages in the civil parish of St Helen Without. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire.

Dry Sandford
St. Helen's parish church
Dry Sandford Location within Oxfordshire
OS grid reference	SP4600
Civil parish	St Helen Without
District	Vale of White Horse
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Oxford
Postcode district	OX13
Dialling code	01865
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
UK Parliament	Oxford West and Abingdon
Website	Wootton and Dry Sandford
List of places UK England Oxfordshire 51.697°N 1.333°W / 51.697; -1.333

Manor

The Domesday Book of 1086 records the place as Sandford.[1] The "sandy ford" must have been across the stream now known as Sandford Brook, a tributary of the River Ock, once known as the Lucringe.[2] The village became known as Dry Sandford by the 18th century.[1] Dry Sandford was a manor in the parish of St Helen's, Abingdon, and was held by Abingdon Abbey until the Dissolution in 1538.[1]

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of Saint Helen is a 13th-century-style Gothic Revival building designed by J.B. Clacy[3] of Reading[4] and built in 1855.[1][5] St. Helen's has lancet windows, a nave, chancel, rib-vaulted apse[3] and a bellcote on the gable above the chancel arch.[5] St. Helen's was made a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1867,[1] but was united in a single benefice with St. Peter's, Wootton in 2000.[6]

Amenities

Dry Sandford Pit is a nature reserve just south of the village managed by the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust.[7] The site is of geological importance for its exposure of Corallian beds, and is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.[8]

References

Sources

• Brodie, Antonia; Felstead, Alison; Franklin, Jonathan; Pinfield, Leslie; Oldfield, Jane, eds. (2001). Directory of British Architects 1834–1914, A–K. London & New York: Continuum. p. 375. ISBN 0-8264-5513-1.
• Page, W.H.; Ditchfield, P.H., eds. (1924). "St. Helen's". A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 4. Victoria County History. London: Institute of Historical Research. pp. 416–421. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). Berkshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 130.

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