Stoke Dry is a village and

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 county of Rutland in the East Midlands of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, about three miles (5 km) southwest of

Uppingham Uppingham is a market town in Rutland, England, off the A47 between Leicester and Peterborough, south of the county town, Oakham. It had a population of 4,745 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 4,853 in 2019. It is known for its ...

Carving on shaft to chancel arch, St Andrew's Church, Stoke Dry - geograph

The village's name means 'outlying farm/settlement'. The village is positioned on a hill above a valley that may have been marshy in previous times and may have been drained. In 2007 it had a population of 39. At the 2011 census the population remained less than 100 and was included with the parish of Seaton. With only 14 homes this is a quiet village. St Andrew's Church, Stoke Dry has mediaeval wall paintings and Romanesque chancel arch. A myth claims that the

Gunpowder Plot The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sough ...

conspirators met in a small room above the porch; the only basis for this is that the manor was part of the estate of Sir

Everard Digby Sir Everard Digby (c. 1578 – 30 January 1606) was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Although he was raised in a Protestant household, and married a Protestant, Digby and his w ...

Stoke Dry is known as the site of the

Eyebrook Reservoir Eyebrook Reservoir (or Eye Brook Reservoir) is a reservoir and biological Site of Special Scientific Interest which straddles the border between Leicestershire and Rutland in central England. The closest towns are Corby and Uppingham. The rese ...

located at the bottom of the hill. The reservoir was used by Avro Lancasters flying from

RAF Scampton Royal Air Force Scampton or RAF Scampton is a Royal Air Force station located adjacent to the A15 road near to the village of Scampton, Lincolnshire, and north-west of the city of Lincoln, England. RAF Scampton stands on the site of a Firs ...

as the final practice run for

Guy Gibson Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson, (12 August 1918 – 19 September 1944) was a distinguished bomber pilot in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He was the first Commanding Officer of No. 617 Squadron, which he led in the "Dam ...

's No. 617 Squadron RAF prior to

Operation Chastise Operation Chastise or commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on Nazi Germany, German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by No. 617 Squadron RAF, 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using sp ...

, the Dambusters attack on the

Ruhr valley The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

dams on the night of the 16/17 May 1943. In 2009 the village was one of three (along with

Lyddington Lyddington is a village in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. The population of the civil parish was 397 at the 2001 census, and had fallen to 366 at the 2011 census. The village's name origin is uncertain. Perhaps, 'farm/ ...

and Thorpe by Water) to become the first in the UK to benefit from superfast broadband using sub-loop unbundling

References

Villages in Rutland Civil parishes in Rutland {{Rutland-geo-stub