Stochov (; german: Stochau) is a town in

Kladno District Kladno District ( cs, okres Kladno) is a district ('' okres'') within the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. The capital of the district is the city of Kladno. List of municipalities Běleč - Běloky - Beřovice - Bílichov - Ble ...

in the

Central Bohemian Region The Central Bohemian Region ( cz, Středočeský kraj, german: Mittelböhmische Region) is an administrative unit ( cz, kraj) of the Czech Republic, located in the central part of its historical region of Bohemia. Its administrative centre is in ...

of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. It has about 5,300 inhabitants.

Administrative parts

Vllages of Čelechovice and Honice are administrative parts of Stochov.

Etymology

According to legend, the name is derived from ''sto chův'' (i.e. "hundred nannies") and refers to nannies, who take care here of young

Saint Wenceslaus Wenceslaus I ( cs, Václav ; c. 907 – 28 September 935 or 929), Wenceslas I or ''Václav the Good'' was the Duke ('' kníže'') of Bohemia from 921 until his death, probably in 935. According to the legend, he was assassinated by his younger ...

. In fact, the name is derived from the personal name Stoch, who had a court here.

Geography

Nové Strašecí is located about west of

Kladno Kladno (; german: Kladen) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 67,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the region and together with its adjacent suburban areas has a population of more than 110,000. ...

and west of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. It lies in the geomorphological mesoregion Džbán.

History

The first written mention of Stochov is from 1316. It used to be a small village until the second half of 20th century, when a large

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States a ...

was built west of Stochov to accommodate the increasing number of people working in

coal mines Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

in the Kladno area in the 1950s and 1960s. Subsequently, Stochov gained town status in 1967.

Demographics

Transport

The town is located on a railway line leading from Prague to

and Rakovník. There is a train station which is served by regional trains. The D6 motorway runs next to the town.

Sights

According to legend,

was born in Stochov and his grandmother

Saint Ludmila Ludmila of Bohemia (c. 860 – 15 September 921) is a Czech saint and martyr venerated by the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics. She was born in Mělník as the daughter of the Sorbian prince Slavibor. Saint Ludmila was the grandmother ...

then planted an

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

tree to commemorate this event. The aged and half withered oak tree, estimated to be about 700–1,000 years old and called Saint Wenceslaus' Oak (''Svatováclavský dub''), is the main sight of the town, and is considered to be one of the oldest and most significant trees in the Czech Republic. A sandstone statue of St. Wenceslaus from 1887 stands in front of the oak tree.

Twin towns – sister cities

Stochov is twinned with: *

Bourbon-Lancy Bourbon-Lancy is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is a rural town on the river Loire with a walled medieval area on the dominant hill. It has an authentic medieval belfry, ...

, France *

Saarwellingen Saarwellingen (, french: Sarrevailingue) is a municipality in the district of Saarlouis in Saarland, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous count ...

, Germany

References

External links

* {{authority control Cities and towns in the Czech Republic Populated places in Kladno District