Stoke Bishop is a medium-sized outer city suburb in the north-west of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, located in between

Westbury-on-Trym Westbury on Trym is a suburb and council ward in the north of the City of Bristol, near the suburbs of Stoke Bishop, Westbury Park, Henleaze, Southmead and Henbury, in the southwest of England. With a village atmosphere, the place is partly ...

, Sneyd Park, and Sea Mills. Although relatively low, Stoke Bishop's population has increased due to substantial infilling on the ''Smelting Works'' sports ground and ''The Grove'' which used to belong to Clifton High school. The population of Stoke Bishop varies throughout the year because of the influx of students to the large campus of Bristol University halls of residence situated on the edge of the suburb and the Downs during term time. Stoke Bishop is also the name of a

council ward A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

, which also includes Sneyd Park, The Downs open green space, much of the

Avon Gorge The Avon Gorge () is a 1.5-mile (2.5-kilometre) long gorge on the River Avon in Bristol, England. The gorge runs south to north through a limestone ridge west of Bristol city centre, and about 3 miles (5 km) from the mouth of the r ...

. and a small area of Sea Mills along the

River Trym A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

. The suburb is concentrated around a small village hall and a row of shops on Druid Hill, with a number of small local businesses. The association with

Druids A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...

arose from a

megalithic monument A megalith is a large Rock (geology), stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterr ...

, apparently the remains of a burial chamber, discovered in 1811 off what is now Druid Hill. Druid Stoke House, a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

west of Druid Hill, dates from the late 18th or early 19th century. The suburb of Druid Stoke was developed in the grounds of Druid Stoke House in the 1930s. Within Stoke Bishop there is a church, St

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...

( CofE); one primary school, Stoke Bishop C of E Primary, sometimes called Cedar Park, because of its location; and a village hall, which is used for a variety of activities from

dog training Dog training is the application of behavior analysis which uses the environmental events of antecedents (trigger for a behavior) and consequences to modify the dog behavior, either for it to assist in specific activities or undertake particular ...

to karate. The historic Stoke House and Park lie in Stoke Bishop. The house was built in 1669 as a family mansion for Sir Robert Cann, Member of Parliament, Mayor of Bristol and Merchant Venturer. Stoke House is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and is currently occupied by

Trinity College, Bristol Trinity College, Bristol is an evangelical Anglican theological college located in Stoke Bishop, Bristol, England. It offers a range of full-time and part-time taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses which are validated by the University o ...

Stoke Lodge, built in 1836, is a

and hosts th
Stoke Bishop Adult Adult Education Centre
Alongside Stoke Lodge is a playing field, arboretum and a children's play park owned by

Bristol City Council Bristol City Council is the local authority of Bristol, England. The council is a unitary authority, and is unusual in the United Kingdom in that its executive function is controlled by a directly elected mayor of Bristol. Bristol has 34 wards ...

, the entire site has been held as education land since 1947. The playing fields are leased on a long-term basis to

Cotham School Cotham School is a secondary school with academy status in Cotham, a suburb of Bristol, England. The catchment area for this school is Cotham, Clifton, Kingsdown ,southern Redland, Bishopston, St Paul’s and Easton The school shares a sixth fo ...

; these fields are the subject of a protracted legal dispute which reached the High Court in 2018 with the decision of the court being that Bristol City Council Public Rights of way committee "erred erroneously and unlawfully" when making its decision to register the playing fields as a Town/Village Green (TVG) in 2016. Following the TVG application being finally rejected in June 2018 by the Public Rights of Way committee (in light of the findings of the court), Cotham School erected new signage on the site and announced plans to fence the site to allow the school to use the playing field in a safe and secure manner, the fence was finally completed in March 2019. Since the failure of the previous TVG application a new application to register the land was made to the Commons Registration Authority in September 2018, this application is yet to be decided.
Stoke Bishop Cricket Club
play at Coombe Dingle Sports Complex. The cricket club has two senior men's XIs: the 2010 season has just finished with the 1st XI winnin
Bristol & District League Division 1
(thus gaining promotion to the Senior Division of the Bristol & District League), while the 2nd XI finished 5th i
Bristol & District League Division 2
The club also boasts a thriving junior section composed of U9, U11, U13, U15 and U17 teams. Next to the primary school is Bristol Croquet Club, which has had many influential international members. In the 1930s Jared and Jethro Stride built "one-off luxury homes on plots they had bought in the area". The tradition was carried on by Jared's sons Arthur and Frederick, and later into the 1960s by their sons Leslie and Raymond. The 'Stride brothers' specialised in constructing individual style homes with the emphasis on location, finish and design. each house was built to a unique design - no two are the same - and well fitted out with oak floors, wood-panelled rooms and central heating. The small Roman port of Abona, now Sea Mills, at the mouth of the River Trym was used by the military forces passing in transit to settlements in what is now South Wales. There are ruins of a small Roman villa at the entrance to Roman Way from the Portway. The Roman legionaries had a transit camp on what were the grounds of Nazareth House (a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Orphanage An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...

) near that villa. Nazareth House was then demolished in 1970. Bombs fell in Roman Way during the Second World War, destroying one house completely.

Notable people

Elizabeth Ayton Godwin Elizabeth Ayton Godwin (4 July 1817 – 26 March 1889) was a Victorian era Christian hymn writer and religious poet. She was born at Thorpe Hamlet, Norfolk, England, 4 July 1817. Her father was William Ellis Etheridge. In 1849, she married Mr. C. ...

(1817–1889), hymn writer, religious poet. *

Sir Edward Payson Wills, 1st Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

( 1834 - 1910 ) Tobacco Manufacturer and a director of W.D. & H.O. Wills Tobacco Company. *

José Maria de Eça de Queirós José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced ...

(1845–1900), Portuguese novelist who was the Portuguese consul in Bristol from 1879 to 1888.

References

{{Districts of Bristol Areas of Bristol Wards of Bristol