Bishopstoke, a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

, is a

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 ...

in the borough of Eastleigh in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

, England. Bishopstoke was also mentioned when King

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bo ...

's grandson King Eadred, granted land at "Stohes" to Thegn Aelfric in 948 AD. The village is about a mile east of Eastleigh town centre, and is on the eastern bank of the River Itchen. It adjoins

Fair Oak Fair Oak is a large village to the east of Eastleigh in Hampshire, England. Together with the village of Horton Heath, which lies to the south, it is part of the civil parish of Fair Oak and Horton Heath. History Fair Oak takes its name from a ...

on the east, in the Fair Oak and Horton Heath parish. The village was annexed to Eastleigh in 1932, and was split out again as an independent civil parish later. It forms part of the Southampton Urban Area.

Itchen Valley Navigation

The Itchen Valley Navigation between Winchester and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

was completed in 1710 and in use until 1869. Much of it runs through Bishopstoke, including a sluice in use until the closure.

Stoke Park Woods

Bordering the village to the North and comprising about 207 ha (512 acres), the Stoke Park area contains 61 per cent woodland and 39 per cent arable. Its many plant species include rare

quaking grass ''Briza'' is a genus of Annual plant, annual and perennial plants in the Poaceae, grass family, native to northern temperate regions of Eurasia, North Africa, and certain islands in the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic. The group is generally referred ...

. Originally these woods were owned by the

Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' (except ...

. King

John of England John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin ...

hunted them in 1205. In 1540 they were licensed by

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

as a fenced deer hunt. The woods were bought by the

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also resp ...

in 1948 and are now community woodland managed by Forestry England to produce wood for

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distribu ...

pulp and

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

. Local groups have been set up to fight council plans for a new housing development, that they argue, would destroy the inter-woodland countryside and significantly damage the ancient woodland around Stoke Park, including Upper Barn, Crowdhill copses, Bishopstoke and Fair Oak Local Green Space. Popular sites include the locally popular

Eastleigh Falls Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...

, a semi-natural rapidly flowing chalk stream that supports a variety of locally rare plant and animal species. The site has been recognised as important habitat for

Northern crested newt The northern crested newt, great crested newt or warty newt (''Triturus cristatus'') is a newt species native to Great Britain, northern and central continental Europe and parts of Western Siberia. It is a large newt, with females growing up to ...

(Triturus cristatus). There are ongoing efforts by local activists to classify the area as an SSSI ensuring its protection from the proposed development projects.

Notable people

Among those born or resident in Bishopstoke have been: * Richard Dummer (1589–1679), early settler in New England described as "one of the fathers of Massachusetts" *

Edith Escombe Edith Escombe (1866–1950) was an English writer of stories and essays born in Manchester. Several of her works concern marriage and the demands it makes on women. Two of her novellas were republished in 2010 and 2011 by the British Library. F ...

(1866–1950), fiction writer and essayist * William Gilbert (1804–1890), novelist and Royal Navy surgeon, father of dramatist

W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most fam ...

Henry Hamilton Bailey Henry Hamilton Bailey (1 October 1894 – 25 March 1961) was a British surgeon. Bailey became one of the most influential authors of surgical textbooks in the 20th century; when publishing, and perhaps for much of his working life, he dropped h ...

(1894–1961), influential author of surgical textbooks. * Samuel Sewall (1652–1730),

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

judge, best known for involvement in the

Salem witch trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...

Today

Bishopstoke contains one infant school, Stoke Park Infant School, and one Junior School, Stoke Park Junior School. which feeds the secondary school in Fair Oak, Wyvern College. The village has a Girl Guide group off West Drive, including Rainbow, Brownie and Guide units. It is also home to both the 13th Eastleigh Scouts in St Paul's Church and 12th Eastleigh Scouts on West Drive. Eastleigh's museum in the High Street, which is open from Tuesday to Saturday, holds several files containing information about Bishopstoke's historic past and associated personalities, such as

John Bale John Bale (21 November 1495 – November 1563) was an English churchman, historian and controversialist, and Bishop of Ossory in Ireland. He wrote the oldest known historical verse drama in English (on the subject of King John), and developed ...

, Samuel Sewall, and Dean Garnier. Bishopstoke still retains many buildings dating from the 18th century, although the village is expanding and now has a number of newer built residential and commercial premises. It has effectively become divided into '' Old Bishopstoke'' and ''New Bishopstoke'', heading roughly West to East, reflecting the recent housing requirements within the area. There are four churches in the village: St. Mary's and the St. Paul's, both

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

, Bishopstoke Evangelical Church in Stoke Park Road, and Bishopstoke

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 ...

Church in Sedgwick Road.

Farm land

The Eastleigh borough council has been purchasing farmland in order to protect against

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

and increase diversity. https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/19933343.amp/

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Hampshire Borough of Eastleigh