Publications
Books and Pamphlets on the History of Sandwich
An array of books on different aspects of Sandwich by locally based historians, including the late Dr. Frank Andrews, founder of Sandwich History Society in 1962, Tom Richardson (T.J.) a former lecturer in history at the University of Kent and Elizabeth Martin.
Sandwich Recollected – An Oral History, 1914-1950
A vivid portrait of Sandwich in the early twentieth century, this book gathers the memories of thirty residents whose voices bring to life the town’s schools, shops, market, wartime experiences, and community spirit. Their recollections form a warm, human chronicle of everyday life in a changing world—an engaging read for anyone interested in local history or the character of Sandwich across generations.
Author: Dr Frank W. G. Andrews (ed.)
Publication Year: 2000
Price: £7.99
Medieval Sandwich - T.L. Richardson
A richly detailed study of Sandwich at the height of its medieval importance, this book reveals the town’s role in international trade, warfare, and regional commerce. From wool exports and luxury imports to the impact of Anglo-French conflicts and the silting of the haven, Richardson shows how a small port was shaped by the currents of European history—essential reading for anyone fascinated by medieval economics or Cinque Port heritage.
Author: T. L. Richardson
Publication Year: 2004
Price: £7.99
Travellers' Tales of Sandwich - T.L. Richardson
Across five centuries of diaries, journals, and memoirs, notable visitors such as John Evelyn, Defoe, Cobbett, Hasted, Elizabeth Carter, and John Wesley left candid impressions of Sandwich—by turns admiring, critical, and often surprising. This lively anthology captures the town’s atmosphere, streets, buildings, and maritime links through the fresh eyes of outsiders, offering a delightful way to rediscover Sandwich as travellers once saw it.
Compiler: T. L. Richardson
Publication Year: 2004
Price: £7.99
The 1830 Farm Labourers’ Riots in Kent - T.L. Richardson
This gripping account brings to life the turbulent autumn of 1830, when rural labourers across Kent rose against poverty, mechanisation, and injustice in the infamous Swing Riots. Drawing on parliamentary papers, parish records, local newspapers, and vivid contemporary testimony, Richardson reconstructs the fears, hopes, and fierce confrontations of a movement from below—an absorbing read for anyone interested in protest, labour history, or the roots of social change.
Author: T. L. Richardson
Publication Year: 2016
Price: £7.99
Elizabeth Carter of Deal, 1717–1806 – T. L. Richardson
Through hundreds of lively letters to her closest friends, this book offers an intimate portrait of Elizabeth Carter—poet, scholar, and one of the eighteenth century’s most remarkable women—set against the vivid backdrop of Deal. Richardson uncovers her domestic routines, sharp opinions, travels, feuds, humour, and encounters with smuggling, fashion, and everyday absurdities, giving readers a wonderfully human window into Georgian life on the Kent coast.
Author: T. L. Richardson
Publication Year: 2016
Price: £7.99
Sandwich: The Story of a Cinque Port - Kenneth Clark
This introductory essay offers a clear and engaging overview of Sandwich’s remarkable thirteen-century story. It explains how the town evolved from a small seaside settlement into a major Cinque Port famed for seafarers, fishermen, saints and smugglers, and later as an inland port shaped by immigrant communities, market gardening, shipbuilding and early manufacturing. The modern revival of the town—from pharmaceuticals to global fame through golf—sits alongside its deep historical layers. Rather than a simple linear tale, the text explores Sandwich through themes of geography, economy and community, drawing on new research to reveal how its people continually adapted to a changing coastline and shifting fortunes across the centuries.
Author: Kenneth Clark
Publication Date: 1993
Price: £2.99
Tudor Sandwich: A Social History – T.L. Richardson
A compelling portrait of Sandwich in the sixteenth century, this book charts how the town navigated religious upheaval, declining medieval trades, and the challenges of defence and coastal change. Richardson brings Tudor daily life vividly to the page—its merchants, courts, craftspeople, and newcomers from the Low Countries—showing how resilience and reinvention shaped the community during one of England’s most transformative eras.
Author: T. L. Richardson
Publication Year: 2019
Price: £2.99
Sandwich Almshouses 1190-1975 – Elizabeth Martin
Spanning nearly eight centuries, this study traces the origins and evolution of Sandwich’s three medieval almshouses, their religious practices, charitable roles, festivals, and struggles through Reformation, civil war, and reform. Martin’s narrative reveals how these humble institutions supported travellers and the poor, adapted to shifting times, and survived into the modern era—an evocative exploration of community care across the ages.
Author: Elizabeth Martin
Publication Year: 1974
Price: £2.99
Sandwich Charters and Local Government – Elizabeth Martin
An accessible and fascinating introduction to Sandwich’s historic rights and customs, this book explores charters, court records, and civic regulations that shaped the town from the Middle Ages to the seventeenth century. From curfew bells and harbour duties to schooling, almshouses, and the arrival of skilled refugees from the Low Countries, Martin reveals how a proud Cinque Port governed itself and evolved—an essential guide for anyone curious about the town’s civic past.
Author: Elizabeth Martin
Publication Year: 1976
Price: £2.99
Occupations of the People of Sandwich – Elizabeth Martin
A lively survey of Sandwich’s working life from the earliest records to the twentieth century, this pamphlet uncovers trades old and new—from medieval cloth and maritime industries to brickmaking, iron foundries, coaching inns, and the coming of rail. Rich with lists of pubs, watchmakers, and even traditional nicknames, it offers an engaging way to trace family histories and discover the many skills that shaped the town.
Author: Elizabeth Martin
Publication Year: 1974
Price: £2.99
A Medical History of Sandwich – Dr. Neville Goodman
This concise booklet traces how medicine developed in Sandwich from Roman times to the twentieth century. It introduces the major diseases that shaped local life—leprosy, plague and typhus—and the treatments offered by medieval guilds such as the Barber-Surgeons and Wax Chandlers. The narrative follows the rise of apothecaries, dentists and patent remedies, the contribution of “Stranger” doctors, and charts the changing numbers of medical practitioners through the centuries. A compact, engaging glimpse into the town’s medical past.
Author: Dr Neville Goodman
Publication Year: 1976
Price: £2.99
Where to Purchase
If you are interested in obtaining any of these publications or enquiring about any others we may have, please visit Spellbound in Sandwich which is an independent bookshop that opened in the heart of Sandwich 2025, selling a wide range of books for both adults and children, gifts, stationary and vinyl.
Despatch by post available on request, contact: [email protected]
