At the entrance to village High Street you will see the remnants of Lower Green. Once a much larger open area it was also the site of the Stanford Cherry Feast held on the last Friday in July with roundabouts, swings and coconut shies. The stalls stretched from the pub across the road to the open area in front of Bear House. This was originally the village coaching inn as it caught the traffic from the turnpike road as well as the village. Opposite it lies Anvil Court for many years the site of one of the village blacksmiths and the last one to close. The Robinson family plied their trade here under a spreading horse chestnut tree.
Blacksmiths were one of the most important tradesmen, in addition to shoeing horses they would carry out a lot of work on the farms with gates being a speciality. For the houses they made furniture, firebacks, window latches etc. Dentistry was a sideline with extractions being the only option. Finally, the blacksmith would often be chosen as the village constable due to their great strength.
