White's Trade Directory for Warwickshire, 1874, p. 862, held at the Warwickshire County Record Office.

(School House - Church - The Vicarage)
(Image supplied by Edward Reid-Smith)

St. Peter's, Dunchurch, c. 1845. Frontispiece to Sandford's "Parochialia"

John Sandford (1801-1873) came from a typical upper-middle class family which included university professors, bishops, archdeacons, military men and holders of civil posts in government and education at home and abroad. Both the men and the women of the Sandford family published books and pamphlets, a number of them being on education, religion, and about women in society. A graduate of Oxford University and ordained in 1824, John served in Northumberland and London before becoming vicar of Dunchurch near Rugby in 1833, where he served for the next 21 years. He left Dunchurch in 1854 to become rector of Alvechurch (Worcestershire), and died there on his 72nd birthday. Archdeacon of Coventry During his time in Dunchurch he was also appointed an Honorary Canon of Worcester Cathedral in 1844 and Archdeacon of Coventry in 1851, which involved him in visiting many other parishes in Warwickshire and preaching in a number of the parish churches. If anyone still reads his books today, probably the best known are the 1837 biography of his father Daniel who had been Bishop of Edinburgh, and his 1845 publication Parochialia; or, church, school, and parish – which is actually more interesting than it sounds, especially for educational and social historians. John Sandford believed that it was not only his duty and calling to save the souls of his parishioners, but to care for their bodily and educational needs. Some chapters of Parochialia are devoted to the provision of parish schools for the children, and to ensuring that their health was promoted along with their learning. Many of his illustrations are based on what was then available in Dunchurch – such as space in classrooms, playgrounds, and lending libraries. Beginnings of a welfare system True, much of this book is concerned with matters such as church services and ecclesiastical furniture, but there are the beginnings of a welfare system providing a loan fund for the poor, and benefit societies for medical aid in sickness. He was certainly a product of his time, but also had visionary flashes of what could then be done on a local scale to care for the people of his parish. It is easy for us to denounce our ancestors for what they neglected to do, but so will our descendants denounce us.

Sandford School House c1845 (Wark's CRO)

Sandford School House - Floor Plan c1845 Wark's CRO)

When Rev John Sandford arrived as vicar of St Peter’s, Dunchurch in 1836, he had great plans for his new parish. Included in these plans were alterations to the Vicarage garden and churchyard and for this he commissioned a fellow Scot and significant designer of parks and gardens, John Claudius Loudon. Born in 1783, Loudon was a prominent gardening writer of the day – a sort of early 19th century Monty Don! He published numerous books and articles which were influential in spreading new design ideas and gardening practices to the owners of suburban villas and those wishing to create public parks, gardens and cemeteries. His earlier work had included Birmingham Botanical Gardens and Derby Arboretum. Unusually we find that Loudon himself never visited the site at Dunchurch and that his plan was based upon a detailed survey drawing sent to him by Rev Sandford. The Dunchurch commission was to show ‘how the grounds of the vicarage could be united with the churchyard, with the adoption in part of its boundary of an open railing instead of a conspicuous brick wall.’ In the churchyard, Loudon suggested the creation of boundary paths with mixed planting of deciduous and coniferous trees. Paths swept eastwards from the west gate of the churchyard, passing the church on both north and south sides as we see it today. A straight path led directly from the Vicarage by the east end of the church, to the new school on the south side of the site. (The National School for Girls and Infants demolished around 1930 when the new school opened in School Street, formerly Gaol Street). One of the more interesting features of the scheme was the provision of small gardens on the south side of the new school in the form of parterres. ‘A collection of the more common English plants, especially those of the locality, and also a collection of some of the more dangerous poison plants.’ The emphasis was to impart the rudiments of botany to the pupils. Maybe the most unusual element of the plan was the kitchen garden, constructed about 120 feet east of the house. As can be seen on the plan, it was circular in design in order to enclose the largest possible area and was surrounded by open iron railings, upon which the fruit trees could be trained.