Stoke Poges

Stoke Poges () is a village and civil parish in south-east Buckinghamshire, England. It is centred north-north-east of Slough, its post town, and southeast of Farnham Common.

Etymology

In the name Stoke Poges, ''stoke'' means " stockaded (place)" that is staked with more than just boundary-marking stakes. In the 1086 ''Domesday Book'', the village was recorded as ''Stoche''. William Fitz-Ansculf, who held the manor in 1086 (in the grounds of which the Norman parish church was built), later became known as William Stoches or William of Stoke. Amicia of Stoke, heiress to the manor, married Robert Pogeys, Knight of the Shire 200 years later, and the village eventually became known as Stoke Poges. Robert Poges was the son of Savoyard Imbert Pugeys, valet to King Henry III and later steward of the royal household. Poges and Pocheys being an English attempt at Pugeys which ironically meant "worthless thing". The spelling appearing as "Stoke Pocheys", if applicable to this village, may suggest the pronunciation of the second part had a slightly more open "o" sound than the word "Stoke".

Stoke Poges Manor House

A manor house at Stoke Poges was built before the Norman Conquest and was mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book. In 1555 the owner, Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon, pulled down much of the existing fortified house. He replaced it with a large Tudor brick-built house, with numerous chimneys and gables. In 1599 it was acquired by Sir Edward Coke, who is said to have entertained Queen Elizabeth I there in 1601.

A few decades later, the married lady of the manor, Frances Coke, Viscountess Purbeck, the daughter of Sir Edward Coke, had a love affair with Robert Howard, a member of parliament. The affair's discovery was received as a scandal upon the three people involved, and in 1635 Lady Frances was imprisoned for adultery. She later escaped from prison to France, and eventually returned and lived at Stoke Poges Manor for a time. She died at Oxford in 1645 at the court of King Charles I.

Charles I himself was imprisoned at Stoke Poges Manor in 1647 before his execution.

Later the manor came into the possession of Thomas Penn, a son of William Penn who founded Pennsylvania and was its first proprietor. Thomas Penn held three-fourths of the proprietorship. The manor property remained in his family for at least two generations, as his son John Penn "of Stoke" also lived there. Thomas Gray's 1750 poem "A Long Story" describes the house and its occupants. Sir Edwin Henry Landseer was a frequent visitor to the house and rented it as a studio for some time. His most famous painting, '' The Monarch of the Glen'' (1851), is said to have been created at Stoke Poges, with the deer in the park used as models.

Education

Stoke Poges has a primary school called The Stoke Poges School. It was rated 'Good' by Ofsted in 2017. In May 1984 four pupils drowned at Land's End during a school trip. Their bereaved parents were angered by Buckinghamshire County Council's offer of £3500 compensation per child.

A Sikh faith secondary school called Pioneer Secondary Academy opened in 2022. On the site had been Khalsa Secondary Academy which had be rated 'Inadequate ' by Ofsted in 2019 and subsequently closed.

Larchmoor School in Gerrards Cross Road was a major school in England for deaf children which was opened in 1967 by Elizabeth II and ran by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People. It closed in the late 20th century.

Halidon House School was founded 1865, based in Slough and then in 1948 moved to Framewood Manor, Framewood Road. It was a girls school which closed in 1983.

Stoke House School in Stoke Green was a preparatory school from 1841 to 1913. In 1913 Ted Parry, the headmaster relocated the school to Seaford and later it was renamed Stoke Brunswick School.

St Giles' Church

Thomas Gray's " Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" is believed to have been written in the churchyard of Saint Giles. The church is a Grade I listed building. Other churches have claimed the honour, including St Laurence's Church, Upton-cum-Chalvey and St Mary's in Everdon, Northamptonshire.

Gray is buried in a tomb with his mother and aunt in the churchyard. John Penn commissioned James Wyatt to design a monument which is also located in the churchyard and is a Grade II* listed building. It bears lines from the Elegy. The monument stands adjacent to St Giles' church and owned by the National Trust.

A lychgate which is now located in the middle of the churchyard was designed by John Oldrid Scott and completed in 1887. In 2022 it became a national heritage asset being Listed Grade II. A gothic style rectory having a battlemented parapet was built by James Wyatt, 1802–1804 for John Penn of Stoke Park. It is now a private residence called Elegy House.

In media

*Stoke Poges is mentioned in the book ''Brave New World'' by Aldous Huxley, where it is the location of a frequently-visited golf course.
*1990 'Inspector Lynley' crime novel ''Well-Schooled in Murder'' by Elizabeth George, and its television adaptation, are set in Stoke Poges.
*The golf course at Stoke Park was the setting of a golf match in the James Bond film '' Goldfinger'' (1964), played between the principal characters.
*Stoke Park is also featured in the films ''Layer Cake'', ''Wimbledon'', '' Bride and Prejudice'', and ''Bridget Jones's Diary''.
*In the film ''I Could Go On Singing'' (1963), Judy Garland's character visits St Giles' parish church with her son.
* In 1969, Pinewood film studios hired a chemistry laboratory at Fulmer Research Institute for use as a film set for the film ''"The Chairman"'' (also known as ''"The Most Dangerous Man in the World"''), starring Gregory Peck.
*The 1981 James Bond film '' For Your Eyes Only'' filmed its opening sequence, when Bond visits his wife's grave, in the graveyard at St Giles' Church.
*Part of the 2007 series '' Jekyll'' was filmed on the boardwalk and surrounding area.
*In ''Nick Hancock's Football Nightmares'' Nick Hancock is trying to hitchhike to the Victoria Ground in Stoke-on-Trent, but keeps getting dropped off in, or just outside, Stoke Poges.
*In 2010, the BBC drama series Vexed (Series 1, Ep.2, TX 22 Aug 2010 – with Toby Stephens and Lucy Punch) was largely filmed in the grounds and inside Stoke Court – which had earlier been Bayer Group UK's conference centre.
*In the novel Sharpe's Triumph by Bernard Cornwell, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington's dragoon orderly Daniel Fletcher mentions that he is from Stoke Poges: Sharpe replies- "Never heard of it.”
*In 2017 the British media caused a furore after the National Galleries of Scotland had bought The Monarch of the Glen painting by Sir Edwin Landseer for £4 million and the view by some that it may have been painted at Stoke Park.
*In 2021, the lease of Stoke Park was bought by Reliance Industries (RIL) for £57 million from the International Group. Later in the year Stoke Park closed for refurbishment.
*In 2021, Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens featured in the BBC
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