Rodney Stoke

Human settlement in England

Rodney Stoke

District

Mendip

Somerset

Region

South West

CountryEnglandSovereign stateUnited KingdomPost townCHEDDARPostcode districtBS27Dialling code01749Police Avon and Somerset Fire Devon and Somerset Ambulance South Western UK Parliament

Wells

List of places: UK; England; Somerset

51°14′51″N 2°44′09″W / 51.2476°N 2.7357°W / 51.2476; -2.7357

Rodney Stoke is a small village and civil parish, located at grid reference 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 larger village of Draycott. South of the A371 the parish includes an area of the Somerset Levels, extending to the River Axe. North of the A371 the southern slopes of the Mendip Hills rise to an area of the parish on the Mendip plateau. The parish is therefore an area of high biodiversity supporting local rare species of plants and animal life.

History

Close to the village is Westbury Camp, which represents the remains of an Iron Age enclosed settlement^[2]^[3] and has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.^[2]^[4]

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.^[5]

The parish was part of the Winterstoke Hundred.^[6]

The village was the home of, and is probably named after, Sir John Rodney (d. 1400). However Ekwall^[7] indicates that Stoke Gifford was held by Richard de Rodene in 1303.

The first Baron Rodney was George Brydges Rodney (1718/19–92), a British naval admiral of Napoleonic times.^[8]

It is one of the nine Thankful Villages in Somerset which suffered no fatalities during World War I. There is a memorial window in the Parish Church together with a new plaque that testifies to the village's enduring pride in their good fortune.

Governance

The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council's operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council.

The village falls within the Non-metropolitan district of Mendip, which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, having previously been part of Wells Rural District,^[9] which is responsible for local planning and building control, local roads, council housing, environmental health, markets and fairs, refuse collection and recycling, cemeteries and crematoria, leisure services, parks, and tourism.

Somerset County Council is responsible for running the largest and most expensive local services such as education, social services, libraries, main roads, public transport, policing and fire services, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning.

The village is in the 'Rodney and Westbury' electoral ward. The ward starts in the north west at Draycott and passes through Rodney Stoke to end at Westbury-sub-Mendip. The total population of the ward as at the 2011 census was 2,127.^[10]

It is also part of the Wells county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Geography

The land is noteworthy for its importance as a flight corridor and feeding ground for the Greater Horseshoe Bat. Cheddar Complex, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, lies to the north and Mascalls' Wood, an ancient woodland and Somerset Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve, lies to the west. The cross roads may be the site of an old Roman road.^[11]

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

Religious sites

The church of St Leonard, was built around 1175 and is a Grade I listed building.^[12] The interior of the church contains a screen, bearing the date 1624, the gift of Sir Edward Rodney,^[13] which includes a representation of the martyrdom of St Erasmus, who was killed by having his entrails removed.^[8]

Notable residents

Edward Rodney (1590–1657), MP for Wells and Somerset at various times between 1621 and 1642, lived in Rodney Stoke and was buried there.^[14]
John Rodney (died 1400), MP for Somerset, 1391–1393, lived in Rodney Stoke.
Frances Southwell (died 1659), courtier and wife of Edward Rodney, lived in Rodney Stoke.^[14]
Thomas Tremlett (1834–1894), first-class cricketer, was born in Rodney Stoke.

References

^ "Rodney Stoke Parish". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
^ ^a ^b Firth, Hannah (2007). Mendip from the air. Taunton: Somerset County Council. ISBN 978-0-86183-390-0.
^ "Walton Castle". Fortified England. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
^ "Westbury Camp hillfort, N of Stoke Woods, Rodney Stoke". Somerset Historic Environment Record. Somerset County Council A. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
^ Robinson, Stephen (1992). Somerset Place Names. Wimborne, Dorset: The Dovecote Press Ltd. ISBN 1-874336-03-2.
^ "Somerset Hundreds". GENUKI. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
^ Ekwall, Eilert (1959). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Place-Names, 4th Edition. London: Oxford University Press.
^ ^a ^b Reid, Robert Douglas (1979). Some buildings of Mendip. The Mendip Society. ISBN 0-905459-16-4.
^ "Wells RD". A vision of Britain Through Time. University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
^ "Rodney and Westbury ward 2011". Retrieved 7 March 2015.
^ "Extensive Cropmarks, SW of Cheddar". Somerset Historic Environment Record. Somerset County Council. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
^ Historic England. "Church of St Leonard (1058592)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 July 2006.
^ "St Leonards Church". HEVAC Heritage. Retrieved 20 July 2006.
^ ^a ^b Somerset Federation of Women's Institutes (1988). The Somerset Village Book. Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1853060311.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rodney Stoke.

Map of Bradley Cross c1900

Towns, villages and hamlets in the Mendip district of Somerset, England

v t e Mendip Hills
Settlements	Ashwick Axbridge Banwell Bishop Sutton Blagdon Bleadon Burrington Charterhouse Cheddar Chewton Mendip Churchill Compton Bishop Compton Martin Cross Draycott East Harptree Easton Hinton Blewett Hutton Leigh-on-Mendip Litton Oakhill Priddy Rodney Stoke Rowberrow Sandford Shepton Mallet Shipham Ubley Webbington Wells West Harptree Westbury-sub-Mendip Winscombe Wookey Hole
Rivers and lakes	River Axe Cheddar Yeo River Chew River Yeo Lox Yeo River Blagdon Lake Cheddar Reservoir Chew Valley Lake Litton Reservoirs
Hills	Axbridge Hill Black Down Bleadon Hill Burledge Hill Crook Peak Fry's Hill Pen Hill Purn Hill Shute Shelve Hill Wavering Down
Caves and gorges	Attborough Swallet Aveline's Hole Axbridge Ochre Mine Banwell Caves Banwell Ochre Caves Burrington Combe Charterhouse Cave Cheddar Gorge Compton Martin Ochre Mine Cox's Cave Eastwater Cavern Ebbor Gorge Fairy Cave Quarry GB Cave Goatchurch Cavern Gough's Cave Hunter's Hole Lamb Leer Longwood Swallet Manor Farm Swallet Picken's Hole Pierre's Pot Priddy Caves Read's Cavern Reservoir Hole Rhino Rift Rod's Pot Shatter Cave Shute Shelve Cavern Sidcot Swallet St Cuthbert's Swallet St. Dunstan's Well Catchment Stoke Lane Slocker Swildon's Hole Thrupe Lane Swallet Tyning's Barrow Swallet Upper Flood Swallet W/L Cave Wookey Hole Caves
Quarries	Batts Combe Callow Rock Cloford Cloud Colemans Cook's Wood Doulting Stone Dulcote Emborough Fairy Cave Gurney Slade Halecombe Hobbs Holwell Moon's Hill Torr Works Viaduct Whatley Windsor Hill
SSSIs	Asham Wood Axbridge Hill and Fry's Hill Banwell Caves Banwell Ochre Caves Barns Batch Spinney Blagdon Lake Bleadon Hill Brimble Pit and Cross Swallet Basins Burledge Hill Burrington Combe Chancellor's Farm Cheddar Complex Cheddar Reservoir Cheddar Wood Chew Valley Lake Cloford Quarry Compton Martin Ochre Mine Cook's Wood Quarry Crook Peak to Shute Shelve Hill Dolebury Warren Draycott Sleights Ebbor Gorge Emborough Quarries Harptree Combe Hobbs Quarry Holwell Quarries Kingdown and Middledown Lamb Leer Priddy Caves Priddy Pools Perch Rodney Stoke St. Dunstan's Well Catchment Sandpit Hole and Bishop's Lot Shiplate Slait Viaduct Quarry Windsor Hill Quarry Wurt Pit and Devil's Punchbowl
History	Priddy Circles Cheddar Man Drove Cottage Henge Dolebury Warren Charterhouse Roman Town Fosse Way King John's Hunting Lodge, Axbridge Priddy Mineries Somerset Coalfield Somerset Coal Canal Cheddar Valley line East Somerset Railway
Transport	Mendip Rail Mendip Way Monarch's Way National Cycle Route 24 A37 road A39 road A368 road A371 road
Councils	Bath and North East Somerset North Somerset Somerset
Surrounding areas	Chew Valley Somerset Levels North Somerset Levels