Ruined entrance to Standish Court and church

The main picture is of Standish church, and the ruined archway to the Court, but I wanted to also show an 'Extra' of the ancient Village Hall. I didn't manage to get a better picture unfortunately

I'd been to try buy some of their wonderful organic keffir from the nearby Hardwicke Farm but the stock was exhausted. On the way back I wandered down back lanes as usual and when I reached Standish, where I would have to join the main road, I felt the urge to stop. I'd noticed the lovely brightening light of springtime on the Cotswold limestone walls of the ancient village hall but without the shade normally cast by the surrounding trees. 

The track I'd driven along was likely to have been very wet before tar macadam was invented, as it closely follows a stream flowing down from the Cotswold escarpment towards the River Severn about four miles away. I think there would have been a village pond right in front of the hall as it seems to have been built on a slight mound with another lane leading to the adjacent church and now ‘ruined’ buildings of Standish Court which were abandoned in the 16th century. The owners then were the Barons Sherborne of Gloucestershire, who then replaced it with Standish House, which eventually became a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients own the national health service.

I first discovered this wonderful Grade 11 listed village hall when it was used by a local natural history organisation which held records of ancient woodlands that I wanted to research. It was built in 1350 by the monks of Gloucester, as well as an adjacent Almonry which they established here to distribute alms. The Almoner lived on the site now known as Standish Court, the entrance to which is through the now ruined pointed archway. I have shown it in the main picture with the church in the background.

The area is also interesting historically and I learnt a lot about it from a TV archaeology series called 'Time Team'. They produced a programme where they investigated two fields within a couple of hundred yards of the hall, where they confirmed evidence of not only a small Saxon settlement but also earlier a Roman and Iron Age presence in the same area. Through the wonders of online videos you can now watch the programme here: Time Team – no S12-E07 at Standish, Gloucestershire