Churchstoke (; also spelled as Church Stoke) is a village,

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

and

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire ( ) was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was named after its county town, Montgomery, Powys, Montgomery, which in turn was named after ...

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Located in the southeast of the

Vale of Montgomery The Vale of Montgomery () is an area of low land straddling the border between Shropshire, England and the former county of Montgomeryshire (part of modern Powys), Wales. The three principal settlements within it are the former county town of Mon ...

, it is overlooked by Todleth Hill, Roundton Hill and

Corndon Hill Corndon Hill () is a hill in Powys, Mid Wales, whose summit rises to height above mean sea level, above sea level. It has a topographic prominence of , so is listed as a List of Marilyns in the British Isles, Marilyn. It is surrounded on thre ...

. The rivers Caebitra and Camlad have their confluence just outside the village. The nearest town is Montgomery. In the 2011 census the village had a population of 708. The

of Churchstoke covers a wider area than the village, including the neighbouring villages of

Hyssington Hyssington () is a parish in the South-Eastern corner of the historic county of Montgomeryshire in Wales and borders the county of Shropshire in England. It is now within the area of the Church Stoke community council in Powys. It is dominated b ...

and The Marsh. Recently the detached part of the community around Weston Madoc was transferred to Montgomery's community. The community is situated on a salient and covers an area of over .

Etymology

The

placename Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper nam ...

identifies it as a farm (or settlement) with a church; it was recorded as 'Cirestoc' in 1086 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

St. Nicholas Church

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

today is largely the result of 19th-century rebuilding, but retains its 13th-century tower with a later timber

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

. From the period before the 19th century, only a

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

, a stoup and a chest have survived up to three phases of restoration and reconstruction. The main body of the church with its large high pitched roof dates to the second half of the 19th century, although the sequence of construction is not completely clear. The layout of the

churchyard In Christian countries, a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church (building), church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster S ...

and its location immediately above the

River Camlad The River Camlad (or just Camlad) is a minor river in Powys and Shropshire. It forms part of the border between Wales and England in places, before flowing into the River Severn. It is notable for being the only river to cross from England into ...

suggests an early

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

origin. In 1881 the interior was laid out in its present form and the church was rededicated to

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

(having previously been dedicated to St. Mary). The church has a 13th-century square tower at the western end, reduced in height in 1812 with a typical

style

timber-framed Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

belfry and a pyramidal roof which was re-tiled with oak

roof shingle A roof’s shingles are a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements. These elements are typically flat, rectangular shapes laid in courses from the bottom edge of the roof up, with each successive course overlapping the joint ...

s in 2005. The tower was used as a place of refuge during 14th-century feuds and later in

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

battles. In 1646 the Parliamentarians attacked the

Royalists A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gover ...

who were planning to stay overnight at Churchstoke. The Royalists took refuge in the church and in the ensuing battle the Parliamentarians set fire to the church door forcing the Royalists to surrender. The wooden belfry and the

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

were added in 1815. The clock was installed in 1887. There is a suggestion that the tower was originally higher than it stands now. In 1751 the south wall of the church was taken down and a new south aisle was constructed. In 1812 the old church was taken down and a new nave was built using stone from Churchstoke Hall and Churchstoke Quarries. It was roofed with slate from Corndon Hill and included a schoolroom and galleries. The present iron columns, made in

Coalbrookdale Coalbrookdale is a town in the Ironbridge Gorge and the Telford and Wrekin borough of Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called The Gorge, Shro ...

, presumably carried the galleries. The columns, which have octagonal stone bases and square decorative capitals, now support the lowered roofline. In 1881 the schoolroom and galleries were removed along with the old

box pew A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in c ...

s and the interior was laid out in its present form. The exterior buttresses were added together with the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

windows and the ground level lowered around the church. The north and south walls of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

were rebuilt, and a new south porch was added. The aisles are divided from the nave by arcades of six bays above which is a frieze of timber arcading. The chancel is supposed to have been added in 1867 and is narrower than the

. There are encaustic floor tiles throughout the chancel and sanctuary, and the tiled

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

has recently been uncovered. There is a

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...

in the south wall of the chancel, and three 19th Century brasses. These were probably added in 1867. The south

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

houses the organ and the north transept forms the choir

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

underneath which is the boiler house. The church is situated in a raised sub-circular churchyard which has been extended in recent times. A few signs of

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually dis ...

shots from the skirmishes in the Civil War can still be seen, notably on the soffit of the upper storey round-headed window on the north wall of the tower. The graveyard extension to the west of the church was consecrated in 1868. The earliest gravestone recorded is a sandstone slab to Sarah (died 1749) and Hugh Pugh (died 1768). There is a

sundial A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...

without

gnomon A gnomon (; ) is the part of a sundial that casts a shadow. The term is used for a variety of purposes in mathematics and other fields, typically to measure directions, position, or time. History A painted stick dating from 2300 BC that was ...

on the south side of the church near the entrance porch. There are many fine mature trees in the graveyard, which are protected by law, as they are in the

Conservation Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

. Although physically in Wales, the churches at Hyssington and Churchstoke are within the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Diocese of Hereford The Diocese of Hereford is a Church of England diocese based in Hereford, covering Herefordshire, southern Shropshire and a few parishes within Worcestershire in England, and a few parishes within Powys and Monmouthshire in Wales. The cathedral i ...

. When the

Welsh Church Act 1914 The Welsh Church Act 1914 (4 & 5 Geo. 5. c. 91) is an act of Parliament (UK), act of Parliament under which the Church of England was separated and disestablishment, disestablished in Wales and Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire, leading to ...

had been passed to disestablish the

Church in Wales The Church in Wales () is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The position is currently held b ...

, Churchstoke, and Hyssington with Snead parishes both straddled the

England-Wales border England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Engli ...

. The

Welsh Church Commissioners The Welsh Church Commissioners (whose full official title was "The Commissioners for Church Temporalities in Wales") were set up by the Welsh Church Act 1914 to deal with the disendowment of the Church of England in Wales, as part of its disestablis ...

therefore carried out a ballot of parishioners in 1915 to decide whether the parishes of Churchstoke and

with Snead should remain part of the Church of England, or form part of the

. The parishioners in Churchstoke voted by 390 to 70, and those in Hyssington with Snead by 108 to 33, to remain part of the Church of England.

Methodist church

Churchstoke English

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

church was built in 1879. A

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

building, it is built of polychromatic brick under a slate roof. A plaque records the building's construction.

Today

The village has many facilities including a large

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

(

Midcounties Co-operative The Midcounties Co-operative Limited is a consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom with over 758,000 members. Registered in England under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, it is a member of Co-operatives UK and Fe ...

, formerly Harry Tuffins), as well as a primary school, two

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

s (The Horse and Jockey and The Court House Hotel), a Chinese takeaway and fresh locally made ice cream. A market is also held here on Sundays. The central area of Churchstoke is a

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

. According to the 2011 Census, Churchstoke is the community with the 2nd lowest proportion of

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

speakers in Wales. Only 4.3% of people in the community claim to speak the language. According to details published by the

Co-operative Group The Co-operative Group Limited, trading as Co-op and formerly known as the Co-operative Wholesale Society, is a British consumer cooperative, consumer co-operative with a group of retail businesses, including grocery retail and wholesale, leg ...

on its bottles, both Co-op Fairbourne Springs Water and their Sparkling Natural Mineral Water are bottled at source in Churchstoke.

Governance

Churchstoke has a

community council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. ...

representing the community's interests, with nine councillors elected from Churchstoke and three from

. The Churchstoke electoral ward is represented by a county councillor on

Powys County Council Powys County Council () is the local authority for Powys, one of the 22 principal areas of Wales. The council is based at County Hall in Llandrindod Wells. History The county of Powys was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act ...

. Since 1995 the ward has elected an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

councillor.

Notable people

Admiral Sir

Michael Pollock Michael or Mike Pollock may refer to: * Michael Pollock (Royal Navy officer) (1916–2006), British Admiral of the Fleet and First Sea Lord * Michael Pollock (tenor) (1921–2003), American operatic tenor, opera director, and voice teacher * Mike Po ...

(1916–2006) lived at Churchstoke following his retirement from the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

while the Australian artist and lecturer, May Marsden, was born here in 1876.

References

External links

Photos of Churchstoke and surrounding area on geograph.org.ukChurchstoke Conservation AreaOutline Map of Churchstoke ParishChurchstoke at Streetmap.co.ukChurchstoke and its Townships
at Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust {{authority control Historic Montgomeryshire parishes Communities in Powys Villages in Powys Wards of Powys