East Stoke is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in Nottinghamshire situated about half a mile to the east of the River Trent and lying about six miles southwest of

Newark-upon-Trent Newark-on-Trent or Newark () is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road bypasses the town on the line of th ...

. The population of the civil parish (including Thorpe as taken in the 2011 Census was 152. The A46 Fosse Way ran through East Stoke for many years: cutting the village in two with constant traffic: but since 2012 has been replaced by a new multi-lane A46 which now runs half a mile to the east. East Stoke is thought to have been the site of the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

settlement of Ad Pontem; the "place of the bridges" – though this is disputed. In 1487 East Stoke was the scene of possibly the bloodiest battle in British history: the Battle of Stoke Field between

Yorkist The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, t ...

rebels (supported by largely Irish and Swiss mercenaries) facing the army of Henry VII. The Yorkists were arrayed on the brow of a hill to the south east of the village, with their right flank anchored on a high spot known as Burham Furlong. The Yorkists were routed by Henry VII's army and fled towards the Trent : many were killed in the retreat. A popular tale is that the Yorkists were slaughtered in a ravine known as the Bloody Gutter. However, any local will be happy to inform you that the damp cutting you can still view on the site today was known as the Red Gutter. This was because it was the local source of red clay. The burial pits on the battlefield all lie off to the west along Church Lane. To signify his victory Henry raised his standard on Burham Furlong. The spot is marked by a stone memorial with the legend ''"Here stood the Burrand Bush planted on the spot where Henry VII placed his standard after the Battle of Stoke 16 June 1487"'' It is thought that several thousand combatants lost their lives in less than three hours. Battle of Stoke Field

Notes

External links

Brown, 1896

Battle of Stoke Field

Image of the commemoration stone to the battle
{{authority control Villages in Nottinghamshire Newark and Sherwood

See also

Notes

External links