Stoke Charity is a small village on the River Dever that lies within the Wonston (where the 2011 Census was included)

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

City of Winchester The City of Winchester () is a local government district in Hampshire, England, with a city status. The district covers the ancient settlement of the city of Winchester itself, but also covers a large area of central Hampshire including ...

district of

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. Its nearest town is Winchester, which lies approximately 6.1 miles (9.9 km) south-west from the village. In past centuries, the manor was also known as Old Stoke, still remembered in the street name "Old Stoke Road".

History

Stoke Charity is mentioned 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 manus ...

of 1086, where it appears as ''Stoches''. It appears as ''Stokecharite'' circa 1270. It was held by Henry de la Charite in the thirteenth century, so 'Charity' is thus a family name. Eilert Ekwall, ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names'', p.445. In 904,

Edward the Elder Edward the Elder (17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousin ...

probably granted the area of the present parish to

Hyde Abbey Hyde Abbey was a medieval Benedictine monastery just outside the walls of Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was dissolved and demolished in 1538 following various acts passed under King Henry VIII to dissolve monasteries and abbeys (see Dis ...

as part of the manor of

Micheldever Micheldever is a village in Hampshire, England, situated north of Winchester. It lies upon the River Dever . The river, and village, formerly part of Stratton Park, lie on a Hampshire grass downland, underlain with chalk and flint. Parts of th ...

. The

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 Britai ...

parish church of St Mary and St Michael dates mainly from the 12th and 13th centuries. According to the church's guidebook, the Norman nave and chancel may have been added to a small Saxon church to form the north aisle of an enlarged church. The church stands in a field just to the east of the village. Stoke Charity also had a manor house and home farm, which employed most of the population as farm labourers up until the late 19th century.

Watercress Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae. Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Europe and Asia. It is one of the oldest known leaf v ...

beds were well developed and numerous in Stoke Charity until recently. These were fed by the

River Dever The River Dever is a chalk stream in Hampshire in the south of England. It rises at West Stratton near Micheldever and flows westwards for to meet the River Test at Wherwell. Course The source is at Above Ordnance Datum (AOD) alongside the ...

, which is a tributary of the

River Test The River Test is a chalk stream in Hampshire in the south of England. It rises at Ashe near Basingstoke and flows southwards for to Southampton Water. Settlements on the Test include the towns of Stockbridge and Romsey. Below the village of ...

. Some watercress beds have been brought back into use as of 2020

References

External links

Villages in Hampshire {{hampshire-geo-stub