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Sandridge
Village History Saxon
Sandridge Not until 386 years after the Romans had abandoned Britain in AD 410 and which had become Christianized is the name of Sandridge first recorded - in 796. The origin of the name undoubtedly stems from the Old Saxon and Old English word 'sand', ie, like the gravelly subsoil to be found hereabouts. The second part is derived from the Old Saxon 'hruggi' and Old English 'hrycg' meaning 'ridge.' With such derivations it cannot possibly be doubted that the area around Waterend was established by the Saxons, even probably by Celts whom the Saxons either took by force or intermingled with peacefully. Clues to the Waterend site being of Saxon origin may be found in local field-names. There are, for example, Bentley Leys, Well Shot and Island Vallies. Others may exist. The modern spelling of Sandridge has had many variations over the centuries. The earliest is Sandruge followed by Sandrige and Sandrage. In the 16th century it was Sanrudge and Sandriche and a century later the name is Sundridge, Sandruage and Saundridge. The latter variation has persisted and dominated through to the 19th century. There are Latinized versions such as Sant Rugge and Sant Ruggia. In March 1855 in a field in Sandridge parish the remains were discovered of an Anglo-Saxon burial ground. A large quantity of human bones were found together with some iron implements, but unfortunately the greater part of the remains, which were found while ploughing, were lost after a gentleman informed the ploughman that they were "only old bones" and told him to bury them. In c785 Offa (757-796), King of Mercia, cast covetous glances on the domains of Ethelbert, a prince of the East Angles province. He invited the young man to his court on the pretence of offering his daughter, Althrida, in marriage. But instead of nuptials there was murder. The prince was beheaded and Offa seized all his property and lands. When visiting Verlamcester or Watlincester, as Verulamium had become known under Saxon influence after the murder, legend says that Offa received a vision from heaven and discovered the grave and bones of Alban, the Roman who was beheaded in AD 209 and became a martyr for his Christian belief. In expiation of his crime (as society of the time demanded) the king founded a monastery for 100 Benedictine monks on the site of the grave and named and dedicated it to St Alban. At a parliamentary council a year later he liberally endowed the monastery with land and money. Offa then made a pilgrimage to Rome and obtained a very advantageous Papal Bull for the House which exempted it from paying Peter Pence and in addition, allowing such Pence collected throughout all Hertfordshire to go to its coffer. Peter Pence was an annual tax of one penny from each householder having land of a certain value and was payable to the papal see. The Bull also granted that the abbot would have supreme pontiff jurisdiction over the priests and layment of the Church's possessions and no one could interfere except the Pope. The Mercian king drew up a charter which granted that the monastery would be free of all taxes, charges for repairing bridges and castles, from making any defensive entrenchments against an enemy and be exempt from the jurisdiction of any bishop. Further, the fines for crimes normally given to the King should henceforth be given to the monks for ever. When the king died in 796 his son Egfrid immediately gave to the St Albans monastery 'the manor Sandruge so denominated by the Saxons from the soil of the place, and from the service by which the inhabitants held their lands, for the soil is sandy and age signifies the service of bond servants' perhaps as another atonement for his father's heinous crime. (The gift may also have included a place of worship). As 'age' alludes to 'bondage' which is a function or condition, it could possibly be relative to the origin of the name of the village. What the manor actually comprised of is not mentioned, but an early document says that there were three manors 'held as of Sandrudge'. These were probably Waterend, Bridehall and Robinstowe and all tenant farmers transferred their allegiance to the abbot instead of the king. It is possible that the trio of manors formed Sandridge as a whole with no 'home' farm. Each manor would have its own house and farm but it is not possible to say where these were. Some of the old farms may still exist today such as Hill End, Fairfolds, Capp Nashes and Bury. It is around this period that parishes began to evolve as positive areas instead of vague boundaries as had been in the past when encroachments of land and people were quite common. The Church and the State got together, albeit not without a great deal of argument and compromise, and geographically framed parish areas each of which had an endowed priest and a place of worship. These parishes were made of one large or several small townships and of large and small villages and hamlets. This did not happen immediately but grew steadily over period of about two centuries. In the case of Sandridge the earliest records show that the parish extended from Bernards Heath in the north through Porters Wood in the west and Marshalswick in the east, the village itself, part of Nomansland Common (in previous days also called Jack's Land, Any Man's Land and, the earliest, Deer's Clearing), a narrow strip which included Coleman Green, and then opening up again west and east to include Devil's Dyke and the Slad/Moat to a short stretch on the other side of the river Lea which went to Waterend and Bridehall. It finally ended just short of Ayot St Peter. It remained thus, roughly the shape of an egg-timer, until the 1890s when local government was reformed. At the point the parish lost Bernards Heath to St Albans and the area from the edge of Nomansland to the river and beyond to Ayot St Peter and Wheathampstead parishes. There is usually a large house in many of the more ancient villages which carries the suffix 'bury' such as Wheathampsteadbury, Redbournbury and Sandridgebury, or even a building just called 'The Bury.' The Old English word for 'bury' is 'byrgam' which stems from the German language meaning 'shelter,' 'protect.' Thus in a loose sense we have 'bury' indicating a 'protective shelter' -- a similarity to the old hill-forts of prehistory. A protective shelter was perhaps only a stockaded or palisaded large (farm)-house where cattle were herded to and outworkers such as shepherds and foresters went to in time of danger. By about the 12th century 'bury' had ceased to be associated with a fortified place and came to mean the place of administration of a local area. Centuries later the word was meaning a manor house, or other building, which paid feudal dues to a monastery. Even after the Dissolution these houses still carried the appendage of 'bury' and one can say that eventually it became a social status to name a house adding 'bury', even if there was no earlier association with the site of a fortified place or payment of manorial dues to an ecclesiastical Order. The first mention of 'ye Bury' - presumably alluding to 'Sandridgebury' is in 1691 when Johnathan Cox, an illiterate farmer, was rated for the vestry Poor Rate, and there is no reason why it was so named except for a prestige value.
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