BRAUGHING HUNDRED 



knighting of his eldest son and the marriage of hia 

 eldest daughter. 11 



In 1399 there were twenty 'free tenants of the 

 borough,' and among the names of those living in the 

 town those of Fanmaker, Dyer, Lokyer, Couper, 

 Tanner, &c, are common in the 14th century. 18 

 There is evidence also that maltmaking was carried on 

 then. 13 New Street, which runs westward from the 

 village at right angles to the northern end of the 

 High Street, was made to facilitate communication 

 with Ermine Street about the beginning of the 13th 

 century, when the name appears in deeds. 14 In the 

 1 6th century a farm of 66s. %d. was still paid by the 

 burgesses as the fee farm of the borough. 16 At the 

 present day the borough is distinct from the manor of 

 Standon, and there still survive some copyholds which 

 are held of the former. 



STANDON 



The construction of railways is said to have struck 

 the death-blow to the trade of Standon, 18 which after 

 the lapse of the local market depended on the road 

 communication with the neighbouring market towns. 

 It is now only a country village, attractive in appear- 

 ance from the wide main street, numerous trees and 

 fine church. Some of the old houses still remain. 

 The oldest is probably the house now used by Standon 

 Endowed School south of the church. This is a 

 brick and timber house of two stories with a 

 projecting upper story and tiled roof. It has been 

 much repaired, but probably dates back to the later 

 mediaeval period. It is said to have belonged to the 

 Knights Hospitallers, who, as rectors and lords of the 

 manor of Standon Friars, may have had a court-house 

 here after they had begun to grant leases of the manor 

 in the 14th century. The school, which was founded 



Standon market had lapsed before 1668, when 

 Walter Lord Aston obtained a grant of a market to 

 be held on Friday and two fairs, one on St. Mark's 

 Day (25 April) and the other on 26 August. 16 This 

 market, however, had also lapsed long before 1738. u 

 The fair on St. Mark's Day is still held in the wide 

 part of Standon Street (evidently the original market- 

 place) and in the meadow opposite the post office. 

 There is a tradition that the August fair was a horse 



before i6ia, 19 is now a public elementary school. 

 The girls' school adjoining this is a modern building. 

 On the east side of the main street is a row of two- 

 storied 17th-century cottages, five of which have had 

 the fronts renewed. One of these is the Wind Mill 

 Inn. On the opposite side of the road is the Star 

 Inn, a house of the same date. At the north end of 

 the street opposite the flour mill is a block of timber 

 cottages with thatched roofs and central chimney 

 stack. A little further south is the smithy. The 



zo, no. 8 ; Ct. R. IG Pat. 20 Chas. II, pt. viii, m. 17, 



i, no. 37, &c. no. 7. " The date of Salmon's history. 



12, p. 260 ; 14.67- ,s It is noticeable that in 1545 a larger 



number of inhabitants was assessed in 

 7921 ; Anct. D. Standon than in any other place in the 



hundred except Ware. See Subs. R. 



1 in Her, 



Gen. i 



l » See V.C.H. Hern 



349 



