Rodney Stoke

infobox UK place
country = England
official_name= Rodney Stoke
latitude= 51.2476
longitude= -2.7357
civil_parish=
population = 1230 [cite web | title= Mendip Parish Population Estimates 2002 | work=Somerset County Council | url=http://www.somerset.gov.uk/media/030F1/mendip_02mye.pdf | accessdate=2006-11-25]
shire_district= Mendip
shire_county = Somerset
region= South West England
constituency_westminster= Wells
post_town=
postcode_district=BS27
postcode_area=BS
dial_code=
os_grid_reference= ST486501

Rodney Stoke is a small village and civil parish, located at gbmapping|ST486501, 5 miles north west of Wells, in the English county of Somerset. The village is on the A371 between Draycott and Westbury-sub-Mendip. The parish includes the hamlet of Nyland.

Close to the village is Westbury Camp which represents the remains of an iron age enclosed settlement, which has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. [cite book |last=Firth |first=Hannah |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Mendip from the air |year=2007 |publisher=Somerset County Council |location=Taunton |isbn=9780861833900 ]

Rodney Stoke was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Stoches", meaning 'a stockaded settlement' from the Old English "stoc". In 1291 the place name was recorded as Stokgifford. The Giffords were Saxon nobility at the time of Edward the Confessor with Walter Gifford (then spelt Gifard) as the Earl of Buckingham. [cite book |last=Robinson |first=Stephen |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Somerset Place Names |year=1992 |publisher=The Dovecote Press Ltd |location=Wimbourne |isbn=1874336032]

The village was the home of, and is probably named after Sir John Rodney (b c1561, d 06.08.1612).

The first Baron Rodney was George Brydges Rodney, (February 1718 – May 24, 1792) a British naval admiral of Napoleonic times.cite book |last=Reid |first= Robert Douglas |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Some buildings of Mendip |year=1979 |publisher=The Mendip Society |location= |isbn=0905459164 ]

It is one of the seven Thankful Villages in Somerset where all the men returned from World War I.

The church, dedicated to St. Leonard, was built around 1175. The interior of the church contains a screen, bearing the date 1624, the gift of Sir E. Rodney, [cite web | title=St Leonards Church | work=HEVAC Heritage | url=http://www.hevac-heritage.org/items_of_interest/heating/churches_&_chapels/rodney_stoke_church/rodney_stoke_church.htm | accessdate=2006-07-20] It is a grade I listed building. [cite web | title=Church of St Leonard | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=268105 | accessdate=2006-07-20] which includes a representation of the martyrdom of St Erasmus, who was killed by having his entrails removed.

Close to the village is the Rodney Stoke nature reserve, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

References