Purton Stoke is a small village in north

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, England, within the

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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Purton Purton is a large village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about northwest of the centre of Swindon. The parish includes the village of Purton Stoke and the hamlets of Bentham, Hayes Knoll, Purton Common, Restrop, The Fox and Widham. Th ...

. The village is located along a side road off the Purton to

Cricklade Cricklade is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in north Wiltshire, England, midway between Swindon and Cirencester. It is the first downstream town on the Thames. The parish population at the 2011 census was 4,227. History Cricklade ...

road, approximately north of Purton village. A small country lane gives access to the nearby hamlet of Bentham, to the southwest. The

River Key The River Key is a tributary of the River Thames in England which flows through Wiltshire. Course The river rises at Braydon Forest near Purton and runs north-east through Purton Stoke, joining the Thames on the southern bank near Cricklade, ...

, a small tributary of the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

, passes close to the west of the village.

History

Pond Farmhouse, south of the village, is from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries and is on an earlier moated site. The house is Grade II* listed. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the area along with the nearby village of Purton served as

Army Remount Service The Army Remount Service was the body responsible for the purchase and training of horses and mules as remounts for the British Army between 1887 and 1942. Origins Prior to 1887, the purchase of horses was the responsibility of individual reg ...

depots, and included staffing by illustrator G. Denholm Armour and Scottish-Australian balladist Will H. Ogilvie.

Amenities

Purton Stoke had a

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

chapel until 2012 when it was sold for use as a private residence. The chapel had opened in 1868, complete with outbuildings for stabling visitors' horses. The building itself had replaced another chapel which had been built in 1832 in Stoke Street. There was a Quaker Meeting House in the village during the late 17th century and early 18th century. The village also has a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

by the name of the ''Bell'', which is a property of the Arkell's Brewery. The village post office has closed. Until relatively recently, Purton Stoke had its own primary and junior schools in one building. It opened in 1894 and at its peak had 100 pupils. However, numbers dropped continually from the 1930s when older pupils were educated in Purton, until there were only around 30 pupils left in the 1970s. The school closed in 1978. The building is now used for the Jubilee Gardens Project and is situated on the Purton to

road.

Stoke Common Meadows

The

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Wiltshire Wildlife Trust is a conservation charity based in Devizes, England which owns and manages 40 nature reserves in Wiltshire and Swindon. It also works to encourage Wiltshire's communities to live sustainable lifestyles that protect the e ...

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

, Stoke Common Meadows, can be found in the vicinity. Situated at the end of Stoke Common Lane (), the meadows consist of a small wood and

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

s, with ancient hedgerows and

ditch A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ar ...

es. Wildlife found here includes mainly wildflowers:

Pepper-saxifrage ''Silaum silaus'', commonly known as pepper-saxifrage, is a perennial plant in the family Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) (the carrot family) found across south-eastern, central, and western Europe, including the British Isles. It grows in damp grasslan ...

sweet vernal-grass ''Anthoxanthum odoratum'', known as sweet vernal grass, is a short-lived perennial grass that is native to acidic grassland in Eurasia and northern Africa. It is grown as a lawn grass and a house plant, due to its sweet scent, and can also be f ...

heath spotted-orchid ''Dactylorhiza maculata'', known as the heath spotted-orchid or moorland spotted orchid, is an herbaceous perennial plant of the family Orchidaceae. It is widespread in mountainous regions across much of Europe from Portugal and Iceland east to ...

, adder's-tongue fern (''

Ophioglossum ''Ophioglossum'', the adder's-tongue ferns, is a genus of about 50 species of ferns in the family Ophioglossaceae. The name ''Ophioglossum'' comes from the Greek meaning "snake-tongue".

''),

bugle The bugle is one of the simplest brass instruments, normally having no valves or other pitch-altering devices. All pitch control is done by varying the player's embouchure. History The bugle developed from early musical or communication ...

ox-eye daisy ''Leucanthemum vulgare'', commonly known as the ox-eye daisy, oxeye daisy, dog daisy, marguerite (french: Marguerite commune, "common marguerite") and other common names, is a widespread flowering plant native to Europe and the temperate regions ...

and

common knapweed ''Centaurea nigra'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names lesser knapweed, common knapweed and black knapweed. A local vernacular name is hardheads. It is native to Europe but it is known on other ...

. Some of the fields are designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

'Purton Spa' or the 'Salt Hole'

To the west of the village there is a

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season) Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...

, whose

mineral water Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. Mineral water may usually be still or sparkling (carbonated/effervescent) according to the presence or absence of added gases. T ...

s supposedly carry medicinal properties. The water has a high concentration of

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...

. Locals had used the water for centuries for its health benefits; however, when the wealthy landowner, Dr Samuel Champernowne Sadler, MRCS, contracted an illness in the mid-19th century, he tried the water and became markedly better. After this, he erected a pump and pump house in 1859 and the water was sold commercially, in the 1920s selling for 8d. This continued until World War II, when petrol rationing made the business uneconomical.

References

External links

Purton Stoke village website
{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire