Stoke Prior is a village in the

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 ...

of Stoke in the

Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about northeast of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 (39,644 in the wider Bromsgrove/Catshill urban area). Bromsgrove is the main town in th ...

district of

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

. The parish includes the settlement of Stoke Wharf and

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Woodgate, along with neighbouring Stoke Heath.

History

In 1086 Stoke Prior was listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as ''Stoche'', in the ancient

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

Came A came is a divider bar used between small pieces of glass to make a larger glazing panel. There are two kinds of came: the H-shaped sections that hold two pieces together and the U-shaped sections that are used for the borders. Cames are most ...

in Worcestershire. The landlord and tenant-in-chief was the

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

of Worcester St Mary. When the hundred of Halfshire was formed (probably in the mid-12th century), Stoke Prior was one of three Came manors annexed to the hundred of

Oswaldslow The Oswaldslow (sometimes Oswaldslaw) was a hundred in the English county of Worcestershire, which was named in a supposed charter of 964 by King Edgar the Peaceful (died 975). It was actually a triple hundred, composed of three smaller hundreds.Ma ...

. In the 19th century, Stoke Prior was closely associated with the industrialist

John Corbett John Joseph Corbett Jr. (born May 9, 1961) is an American actor and country music singer. On television, he is best known for his roles as Chris Stevens on ''Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), Aidan Shaw on ''Sex and the City'' (2000–2003), ...

. In 1853, after he had sold his share of the family canal business, he purchased disused

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

works in Stoke Prior from the British Alkali Company. Corbett brought all the innovations of the

industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

to mechanise and commercialise the business, soon making his salt workings the largest in Europe and built a great fortune. The Parish Church of St Michael and All Angels dates from the 12th century.St Michael, Stoke Prior, Worcestershire
accessed 21 November 2020

Economy

The

Worcester and Birmingham Canal The Worcester and Birmingham Canal is a canal linking Birmingham and Worcester in England. It starts in Worcester, as an 'offshoot' of the River Severn (just after the river lock) and ends in Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. It is long. There a ...

passes through the parish. In the 19th century,

turned the salt works in Stoke Prior into one of the largest in Europe. The tall chimney of the Stoke Salt Works was for many years a dominating landmark. Stoke Prior still houses the headquarters of LG Harris Ltd, a paint brush and decorators tool manufacturer (known locally as "Harris Brush" or just "The Brush").

Sports

Stoke Prior houses two football teams, Stoke Prior FC and Stoke Prior Youth FC, the main team being managed by Jamie Maycroft and the youth team being managed by Alan Banks. Both teams play their home games at Stoke Prior Sports and Country Club, with the adult team playing their games in the Bromsgrove and District Football League, whilst the youth team play in the Central Warwickshire Youth Football League.

Notable people

Zoë Lister Zoë Lister is an English actress and writer, known for portraying the role of Zoe Carpenter in the Channel 4 soap opera '' Hollyoaks''. In 2014, she began working as a television writer, including work on ''Hollyoaks'', '' The Lodge'' and ' ...

was born in Stoke Prior. *

, the ''Salt King'', buried in the churchyard of St Michaels, Stoke Prior.

Gallery

File:Church between Stoke works and Stoke Heath - geograph.org.uk - 182434.jpg, Gate to St Michael's Church File:Harris Brush Works - geograph.org.uk - 106559.jpg, Harris Brush Works Track - geograph.org.uk - 203978.jpg, Track in the fields File:Stoke Wharf - geograph.org.uk - 522424.jpg, Stoke Prior Wharf

References

Villages in Worcestershire Bromsgrove {{Worcestershire-geo-stub