Stratford Tony, also spelt Stratford Toney, formerly known as Stratford St Anthony and Toney Stratford, 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in southern

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England. It lies on the

River Ebble The River Ebble is one of the five rivers of the English city of Salisbury. Rising at Alvediston to the west of the city, it joins the River Avon at Bodenham, near Nunton. Description The Ebble rises at Alvediston, to the west of Salisbur ...

and is about southwest of

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

.Stratford Tony
at genuki.org.uk

Geography

The parish is narrow in the east–west direction. To the south it extends onto high chalk

downland Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs. This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape in southern England where chalk is exposed at the surface. The name "downs" is deriv ...

, which is crossed by the A354 Salisbury-Weymouth road. In the north the parish boundary is the Shaftesbury Drove; now a byway, this was formerly used to drive cattle and other livestock from

Shaftesbury Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, Wiltshire, Salisbury and north-northeast of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hi ...

to markets at Salisbury and beyond. Salisbury Racecourse is just over the boundary, and some of its facilities are in the parish. Stratford Toney Down, south of the village, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its botanically rich chalk grassland.

History

After the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

, the Chalke Valley was divided into eight manors which were granted to new Norman lords. The

Domesday 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 ...

survey in 1086 recorded an estate at Stradford with 28 households and two mills, held by Earl Aubrey of Coucy. ''The National Gazetteer'' (1868) said of the parish: The area of the parish was reduced in 1885 when land was transferred to Britford, Coombe Bissett, and Homington parishes. Stratford Tony House, west of the church, has a 17th-century core behind a five-bay front of c.1730. Nearby is a timber-framed barn from the late 18th century. Towards the north end of the village, the manor house carries a date of 1833; it was built for George Purefoy-Jervoise (1770–1847), landowner and member of parliament. The population of the parish peaked at around 165 in the 1860s and has declined since then.

Parish church

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, ...

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 ...

of St Mary and St Lawrence is designated a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

and is in the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

. There is a

canonical sundial A tide dial, also known as a mass dial or a scratch dial, is a sundial marked with the canonical hours rather than or in addition to the standard hours of daylight. Such sundials were particularly common between the 7th and 14th centuries in Europ ...

on the south wall. Its parish registers survive in the

Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorse ...

for christenings, 1605–1985, marriages, 1562–1983, and burials, 1562–1988.

Local government

The civil parish does not elect a parish council. Instead the first tier of local government is a

parish meeting A parish meeting is a meeting all the electors in a civil parish in England are entitled to attend. In some cases, where a parish or group of parishes has fewer than 200 electors, the parish meeting can take on the role of a parish council, with ...

, which all electors are entitled to attend. The parish is in the area of

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council, known between 1889 and 2009 as Wiltshire County Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Wiltshire (district), Wiltshire in South West England, and has its headquarters a ...

, a

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

which is responsible for most significant local government functions.

Notable residents

John Bampton (1690–1751) was rector from 1718 until his death. He left money to establish the

Bampton Lectures The Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford, England, were founded by a bequest of John Bampton. They have taken place since 1780. They were a series of annual lectures; since the turn of the 20th century they have sometimes been biennial ...

at Oxford University, which continue to be given every second year. The

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painter

Wilfrid de Glehn Wilfrid Gabriel de Glehn (sometimes 'Wilfried') (1870 – 11 May 1951) was an Impressionist Great Britain, British painter, elected to the Royal Academy in 1932. Biography De Glehn's father was Alexander de Glenn of Sydenham, London, ...

(1870–1951) and his wife Jane Emmet (1873–1961, also a painter) lived at Stratford Tony

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

from 1942.

References

{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire