Standon

The large piece of puddingstone (we get a good view of it in S377013) is reputed to have been turned up by a plough on a field called 'Plain', and it was set up in the street opposite the church gate. It was later moved to the triangle in front of Groom's shop in 1904. The Top Shop has gone, but the stone remains. Hertfordshire puddingstone is a naturally forming conglomerate of well-rounded gravel in a cement-like matrix. Often confused with concrete, it is relatively common in the eastern and central part of Hertfordshire, but not unknown in other glacial areas. The road on the left leads down to Paper Mill and the ford across the River Rib.
An extract from from"North and East Hertfordshire Photographic Memories".

The parish church of St Mary at Standon has a three-stage detached tower - one of the few in England. It is said to have been built by the Knights Hospitallers as a ‘processional’ church - again, one of only three in England. The Windmill pub stands out as the white building in the centre left of the view. The building in front of the church was the vicarage; it replaced the original, which stood in Burr’s meadow behind the concrete posts and fencing on the left of the picture. The old vicarage and its two adjacent properties are known locally as the ‘Three Bears.’ None of the other buildings owns up to being Goldilocks!
An extract from from"Hertfordshire Living Memories".

Previously a corn mill, the building was converted to manufacture hand-made paper in 1713. More than forty people were employed here collecting rags, which were sorted by women and children, washed in the river and laid out to dry in Laundry Meadow opposite the mill to the right of the photograph. The rags were then cut up and pounded to form the fibres in the paper. In 1865, the mill was converted to a saw mill and later to an engineering workshop. It is now a private residence. The ford does not cut straight across the Rib, but runs along the river bed and then emerges further down stream on the opposite bank. Motorists use the ford at their peril: it is susceptible to flash flooding, and many an unwary traveller has found himself and his car floating away down stream.
An extract from from"North and East Hertfordshire Photographic Memories".

St Mary's church dominates the High Street skyline. Unique in Hertfordshire, Standon parish church has a detached bell tower and a porch at the west end rather than on the south wall. It is built on the side of a hill, and a flight of steps leads up from the nave to the altar. Although the building dates from the 14th century, the foundations are Saxon. The houses past Burr Meadow and the Windmill pub (left) are known locally as the Three Bears - Little Bear, Middle Bear (Ivy Cottage) and Big Bear (Standon House). On the first Monday in May the Standon Morris Men host groups from all over the region, and a grand assembly of morris men dance on the High Street.
An extract from from"North and East Hertfordshire Photographic Memories".

In many a village, the loss of its transport system and main employer in the course of a couple of years would have sounded its death knell; but for Standon the situation could not have been more different. The corn mill burned down in 1961, and then in 1964 Dr Beeching swung his axe and the pretty railway line from Buntingford to Ware was closed. All was set for Standon to slip into a decline. However, the village thrives today. It rarely looks back to the past and to the time when, for example, Daniel Clerk the grave digger kept a large basket of human bones in his kitchen, claiming that he knew whose remains each was. Maybe some things are best forgotten!
An extract from from"Hertfordshire Living Memories".