Dry Sandford is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse

Vale of White Horse

The Vale of White Horse is a local government district of Oxfordshire in England. The main town is Abingdon, other places include Faringdon and Wantage. There are 68 parishes within the district...

 about 3 miles (5 km) north-west of Abingdon

Abingdon, Oxfordshire

Abingdon or archaically Abingdon-on-Thames is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Vale of White Horse district. Previously the county town of Berkshire, Abingdon is one of several places that claim to be Britain's oldest continuously occupied town, with...

. It is one of two villages in the civil parish of St Helen Without. It was part of Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

 until the 1974 boundary changes

Local Government Act 1972

The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....

 transferred it to Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

.

Manor

The Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 of 1086 records the place as Sandford. The "sandy ford" must have been across the stream now known as Sandford Brook, a tributary of the River Ock

River Ock

The River Ock is a small English river which is a tributary of the River Thames. It has as its catchment area the Vale of White Horse, a low-lying and wide valley in South Oxfordshire and flows into the River Thames, at Abingdon on the reach above Culham Lock.-Course:The River Ock rises near the...

, once known as the Lucringe. The village became known as Dry Sandford by the 18th century.

Dry Sandford was a manor

Manorialism

Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...

 in the parish of St Helen's, Abingdon

St Helen's Church, Abingdon

St Helen's Church is the parish church in the town of Abingdon on the banks of the River Thames in Oxfordshire , England....

, and was held by Abingdon Abbey

Abingdon Abbey

Abingdon Abbey was a Benedictine monastery also known as St Mary's Abbey located in Abingdon, historically in the county of Berkshire but now in Oxfordshire, England.-History:...

 until the Dissolution

Dissolution of the Monasteries

The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...

 in 1538.

Parish church

The Church of England parish church

Church of England parish church

A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...

 of Saint Helen is a 13th century style Gothic Revival

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

 building designed by J.B. Clacy

John Clacy

John Barry Clacy was a Victorian architect whose practice was centred on Berkshire, England.-Career:Most of Clacy's significant works are Gothic Revival buildings, but the Corn Exchange in Reading that he designed with F. Hawkes is in a style that Nikolaus Pevsner described as "free, debased...

 of Reading

Reading, Berkshire

Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....

 and built in 1855. St. Helen's has lancet window

Lancet window

A lancet window is a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are most often found in Gothic and ecclesiastical structures, where they are often placed singly or in pairs.The motif first...

s, a nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

, chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

, rib-vaulted

Rib vault

The intersection of two or three barrel vaults produces a rib vault or ribbed vault when they are edged with an armature of piped masonry often carved in decorative patterns; compare groin vault, an older form of vault construction...

 apse

Apse

In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...

 and a bellcote

Bell-Cot

A bell-cot, bell-cote or bellcote, is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells, supported on brackets projecting from a wall or built on the roof of chapels or churches which have no towers. It often holds the Sanctus bell rung at the Consecration....

 on the gable above the chancel arch. St. Helen's was made a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1867, but was united in a single benefice with St. Peter's, Wootton

Wootton, Vale of White Horse

Wootton is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse about north-west of Abingdon. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire...

 in 2000.

Amenities

Dry Sandford Pit is a nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 just south of the village managed by the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust. The site is of geological importance for its exposure of Corallian beds, and is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest

Site of Special Scientific Interest

A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...

.