Stoke Row

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Village in Oxfordshire, England

title: "Stoke Row" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["civil-parishes-in-oxfordshire", "villages-in-oxfordshire"] description: "Village in Oxfordshire, England" topic_path: "general/civil-parishes-in-oxfordshire" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoke_Row" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Village in Oxfordshire, England ::

::data[format=table title="infobox UK place"]

Field	Value
official_name	Stoke Row
static_image_name	StokeRow StJohnE southeast.jpg
static_image_caption	St John the Evangelist parish church
coordinates
os_grid_reference	SU6884
label_position	top
area_total_km2	6.08
population	651
population_ref	(2011 Census)
civil_parish	Stoke Row
shire_district	South Oxfordshire
shire_county	Oxfordshire
region	South East England
country	England
post_town	Henley-on-Thames
postcode_district	RG9
postcode_area	RG
dial_code	01491
constituency_westminster	Henley and Thame
website	Stoke Row
::

Stoke Row is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills, about 5 mi west of Henley-on-Thames in South Oxfordshire and about 9 mi north of Reading. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 651.

History

The earliest known surviving record of the name is from 1435. Stoke is a common place-name derived from Old English, typically meaning a secondary settlement or outlying farmstead. With the affix "row" it means a "row of houses at Stoke". Stoke Row was a hamlet divided between the ancient parishes, and later civil parishes, of Ipsden, Newnham Murren and Mongewell. It was made a chapelry in 1849. From 1932 it was divided between Ipsden and Crowmarsh, into which Newnham Murren and Mongewell were merged. In 1952 Stoke Row was made a new civil parish.

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of St John the Evangelist was consecrated in 1846. It was designed in 13th-century style by the architect RC Hussey and is built of knapped flint with stone dressings. The church has a north tower with an octagonal belfry and short spire with a wood shingle roof. The ecclesiastical parish is now a member of The Langtree Team Ministry: a Church of England benefice that also includes the parishes of Checkendon, Ipsden, North Stoke, Whitchurch-on-Thames and Woodcote.

Independent chapel

The history of Dissenters meeting in the village dates from 1691. Stoke Row Independent Chapel was built in 1815. It is a Georgian building with flint footings and a hipped roof of slate. In 1884 a Sunday school room was built at the back of the chapel. An extension was built in 1956.

Ministers

1959–65: Pastor Ernest Dickerson
1967–72: Rev John Potts
1973–75: Rev Arthur Tilling
1977–90: Rev Padre Bernard Railton Bax
1990–2004: Rev John Harrington
2004–10: Rev David Holmwood
2010–16: Revs David and Sonia Jackson
2016– present: Rev Mark Taylor

Maharajah's Well

Edward Anderton Reade, the local squire at Ipsden, had worked with the Maharajah of Benares in India in the mid-nineteenth century. Under Reade's leadership, a well was sunk in 1831 to aid the community in Azamgarh. Reade left the area in 1860, and after his departure, the Maharajah decided to make a contribution to Reade's home area in England. Recalling Reade's help in creating the Azimgurgh well in 1831 and his stories of water deprivation in his home area of Ipsden the Maharajah commissioned the well at Stoke Row and it was sunk in 1863. and completed the pavilion over the well in 1864. The pavilion is open-sided with a cupola on top and a golden-coloured elephant above the well mechanism. The well and pavilion can be seen in a small park on the north side of the main road through Stoke Row village.

Another Indian aristocrat, Maharaja Sir Deonarayun Singh, probably motivated the Stoke Row project, donated a well to the nearby village of Ipsden.

Amenities

The village has two 17th-century pubs: the Cherry Tree Inn, a Brakspear tied house and the Crooked Billet a free house. Built in 1642 the pub is reputed to have once been the hideout of highwayman Dick Turpin, who was said to have been in love with the landlord's daughter, Bess. It was England's first gastropub and was the venue for Titanic star Kate Winslet's wedding reception. In June 1989 the British progressive rock band Marillion played its first performance with Steve Hogarth as frontman at the pub; a documentary DVD called From Stoke Row To Ipanema – A Year In The Life was subsequently produced. In the 1851 Census the head of the household at No 1 Stoke Row was George Hope, who built "The Hope" public house. This was later called "The Farmer" and today is Hope House, at the junction of Main Street with Nottwood Lane. The parish has a Church of England primary school.

Notable residents

George Cole (1925–2015), actor, lived in Stoke Row for more than 70 years.
Carol Decker (born 1957), former singer of T'Pau, in 2006 became a joint tenant of the Cherry Tree Inn which her husband Richard Coates had established. It closed in 2012, but later reopened under new ownership.
Nick Heyward (born 1961), singer-songwriter and guitarist, has lived in the village since 2014.

Gallery

File:The Crooked Billet Pub - geograph.org.uk - 412533.jpg|The Crooked Billet pub File:The Cherry Tree, Stoke Row - geograph.org.uk - 36354.jpg|The Cherry Tree Inn File:Stoke Row Independent Chapel.jpg|Stoke Row Independent Chapel File:Scholz R StokeRow StJohnE.jpg|Grave of a Free Czechoslovak airman in St John's parish churchyard File:StokeRow MaharajahsWell wide.jpg|The Maharajah's Well, with Well Cottage behind the hedge on the right file:Maharajahs Well cupola UK Oxfordshire.jpg|Maharajah's well cupola with wording "His Highness the Maharajah of Benares" File:Maharajahs Well elephant inside.jpg|Maharajah's Well - golden elephant inside

References

Sources

References

"Stoke Row Parish".
{{harvnb. Watts. 2010
{{harvnb. Wilson. 1870–72
"Crowmarsh CP". [[University of Portsmouth]].
"Stoke Row CP". [[University of Portsmouth]].
{{harvnb. Sherwood. Pevsner. 1974
{{NHLE
"Locations". The Langtree Team Ministry.
(1833). "Journals of the House of Lords".
(12 September 2015). "Independent Chapel". Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust.
{{NHLE
(27 June 2015). "Celebrating 200 years of worship". Higgs Group.
The [[Wallingford, Oxfordshire. Wallingford]] firm of RJ and H Wilder made the well mechanism in 1863{{harvnb. Williamson. 1983. (July 2018)
{{NHLE
[http://www.thecherrytreeinn.co.uk/ Cherry Tree Inn]
{{NHLE
{{NHLE
[http://www.thecrookedbillet.co.uk/ The Crooked Billet]
"History". The Crooked Billet.
"Steve Hogarth's first Marillion Gig at The Crooked Billet".
(February 2002). "Stoke Row Census Return 1851". Angela Spencer-Harper.
[http://www.stoke-row-school.co.uk/ Stoke Row Church of England Primary School]
Ward, Victoria. (31 August 2013). "Actor George Cole in dispute over local sawmill". [[Daily Telegraph]].
(15 February 2006). "The Sugar Loaf gets a makeover and a new style of cuisine (From Bucks Free Press)". Bucksfreepress.co.uk.
(19 January 2012). "Last orders for The Cherry Tree". getreading.
(August 2014). "Nick Heyward". Henley Life.

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