Sand

Our View

In 1560, Henry Huyshe purchased Sand, and his descendants still live there today. The present house contains elements from 14th and 16th centuries. In the Civil War, the Huyshes, though Protestant in their beliefs, were staunch supporters of the Stuart cause, enduring fines and confiscations as a consequence. Both of their daughters, clearly girls of independent mind, married generals in Cromwell’s army. In the 18th century Sand was let out as a farmhouse, though when a neighbour’s gamekeeper dared to trespass on the property, the Reverend Francis Huyshe wrote furiously that it was ‘the miserable remains of an old family estate, which will be defended with family pride.’ Sand was restored by Rowland Huyshe early in the 20th century and although the house was subsequently let once more, the family took up residence in 1967. Despite the many changes it has undergone, Sand still has Tudor fireplaces and old heraldic glass, and a staircase has survived from an even older house. A home that has adapted to the needs of modern life, Sand remains a relic of the squirearchy that seems, according to one visitor, ‘to have grown out of the ground.’