The Domesday Book contains the first known mention of Sandford according
to one authority. Nonetheless, it took
until 1927 before Sandford started to become the Park we know and love
today. In the interim, the lands
housed Barratts Mill, formerly
known as the Cheltenham Mill. The
building is still there. It was the
second mill the Chelt encountered on its journey to the river Severn. It had already negotiated Sandford Mill, just east of Old Bath Road and was to power a
further ten mills downstream. For such a
small river that must have been quite a feat as well as for the engineers who
designed the mills. A wonderful
history of the Chelt including its passage through Sandford Park may be found
in https://cheltonia.wordpress.com/tag/river-chelt/
Its next claim to fame was the construction of
the Chalbeate Spa, a small part of which still
stands in College Road in the north west corner of the eastern half of the
Park. Again, a fascinating description may be found in https://cheltonia.wordpress.com/spa-town/
. It was built in 1801 and was the
first to be built in Cheltenham following the famous and town-changing visit of
King George III. From that moment the
reputation of Cheltenham really took off and the Chalbeate Spa was there at the
start of that phase.
The Sandford Park lands were acquired by the
Borough Council in 1927 and laid out by the then renowned landscape architects,
Milner-White. Edward
Milner, the son of a Chatsworth gardener who was apprenticed to Joseph Paxton, designer of the Crystal Palace. He was
known as Paxton’s protégé. He started
the landscape practice, that later became known as Milner-White, in 1850. It survived four generations and closed only
in 1995. At the time of the landscaping
of Sandford Park, Edward White would have been the third generation of the
family. He married into the Milner
family, hence the Milner-White. He was a
founder member of the Landscape Institute. The firm had been responsible not only for
Sandford Park, something we would regard
as their pinnacle, but also for Crystal
Palace Park in Sydenham, Wembley Park
and East London’s Victoria Park as well as for
many projects in mainland Europe
For some,
the jewel in the crown of Sandford Park, may be the stunning open air
swimming pool, the Lido. Designed by Gould Marsland, the clearly
talented Borough Engineer (one of his houses stands in The Avenue) the Lido was
opened on 25th May 1935.
Thanks to recent renovations, it
still looks as welcoming and fresh as it
must have done then.
The Park has been host to many events during
its now almost 100 year life. It once
hosted visits from funfairs and circuses.
The lions and elephants of Bertram Mills and Chipperfields have been
known to appreciate it!
