Standon, Hertfordshire

Description
Standon, a large village and a parish in Herts. The village stands on the river Rib, which is here crossed by an iron bridge of two arches, 6 miles NNE of Ware, and 8 NE from Hertford. It has a station on the Buntingford branch of the G.E.R., and a post office under Ware; money order and telegraph office, Puckeridge. The parish contains also the hamlets of High Cross and Colliers End, and comprises 7745 acres; population of the civil parish, 2153; of the ecclesiastical, 1464. For parish council purposes it is divided into two wards, Standon St Mary and High Cross St John, the former returning eight, and the latter four members to the parish council The manor belongs to the Duke of Wellington. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St Albans; gross value, £397 with residence. The church is an ancient structure of flint chiefly in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, S and W porches, and an embattled tower and spire. The chancel is raised fourteen steps above the nave, and has on its S side a fine monument to Sir Ralph Sadleir, who died in 1587. There are also within the church many other ancient and interesting tombs and memorials. The vicarage of High Cross is a separate. benefice, and with the hamlet is noticed separately. At the hamlet of Old Hall Green, about a mile W of Standon, is a Roman Catholic college dedicated to St Edmund, with a chapel which was built in 1850 from designs by A. W. Pugin, and a beautiful refectory and library. The college accommodates about 120 students, many of whom are prepared for holy orders, and some fourteen professors. There is also a small Roman Catholic chapel for the village and district.