Sand O! (St. Giles's Church)

Image of a man selling sand from a cart outside St Giles Church. Published as one of thirty-one prints, after drawings by William Marshall Craig, engraved by Edward Edwards. See Summary at record 35.96.
Sand was generally used to clean kitchen utensils. The greatest consumption was, however, in the suburban areas of London, where sand was used to protect the floorboards from dirty shoes. Red sand cost twopence halfpenny, white sand cost five farthings per peck (Itinerant Traders of London. Description of the Plates, representing the itinerant traders of London in their ordinary costume, with Notices of the remarkable places given in the background. London, 1804).