In 1838, a young man,
named Philip Stentiford, presented himself before the
Overseers of the Poor in the village of Sandford to ask for Settlement.
He told them that he had been born in the Parish of Zeal Monachorum
where his father had Settlement and that he had served his
apprenticeship in that place with a Mr. George Hill. He had then worked
for John Upham, a yeoman* farmer of Sandford for two years as a weekly
labourer but, a month after leaving Mr.Upham, he had married a local
girl
and wished to settle in Sandford permanently.
Philip Stentiford gained his wish and lived to enjoy his Settlement
in Sandford
for the best part of half a century.
 |
Sandford - the Square
c.1895
|
|
Philip Stentiford was baptised on 9 Jul 1809, the ninth
child of John Stentiford and Elizabeth Pike of Zeal Monachorum. When he
married in Sandford on 5 May 1833, he was 24. His new wife was Sarah
Moore (always known as "Sally") , the daughter of John and
Mary Moore whose family name appears in all five of those very early
Sandford censuses. John Moore was a carpenter in the village for many years.
The young couple set up home in New Buildings, some distance from the centre of
Sandford, and remained there for the rest of their lives.
Following in the footsteps of the 1851 Census enumerator who covered
this area reveals Philip and Sarah in 1851 living at a house then named Ranscombe.
In that same census, we see that Philip is employed as an agricultural labourer
while Sarah describes herself as an "outdoor farm work woman".
Thanks to Daphne Munday's detective work, we know that Ranscombe
has been renamed Staddlestones but is otherwise little changed. |
 |
|
Once
called Ranscombe, now named Staddlestones
The
house where Philip and Sarah Stentiford lived
|
Philip
and Sarah spent nearly 50 years in this house. Only at the very end of
her life did Sarah move away, to live with her daughter Sarah (by then Sarah
Hammett) in a cottage some distance away at Little Partridge
Hill in Poughill.** She died
there in 1893 at the age of 79.
|
|
*A term of respect given to men of some
standing in the community.
**Pronounced "Puffle"!
|
Click here to continue
