Stoke Orchard is a village or

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

north-west of Cheltenham in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, England. Stoke Orchard was formerly home to the Coal Research Establishment of the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...

, which moved onto the site of a Ministry for Aircraft Production shadow factory run by the

Gloster Aircraft Company The Gloster Aircraft Company was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1917 to 1963. Founded as the Gloucestershire Aircraft Company Limited during the First World War, with the aircraft construction activities of H H Martyn & Co Ltd of Chelte ...

adjacent to RAF Stoke Orchard. At one point the famous aviatrix

Amy Johnson Amy Johnson (born 1 July 1903 – disappeared 5 January 1941) was a pioneering English pilot who was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia. Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, she set many long-distance records du ...

lived in the village. The CRE site has now been demolished, the site cleared and it has been developed by Bloor Homes having built 145 houses, a state-of-the-art community centre, a village Shop and a multi-use all-weather sports pitch. This development has effectively doubled the size of the village. Stoke Orchard is in the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

Tewkesbury Tewkesbury ( ) is a medieval market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town has significant history in the Wars of the Roses and grew since the building of Tewkesbury Abbey. It stands at the confluence of the Ri ...

, the Cheltenham

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...

, and on the Coombe Hill, Cheltenham, telephone exchange. Stoke Orchard neighbours Elmstone-Hardwicke, Tredington and

Bishop's Cleeve Bishop's Cleeve is a large village and civil parish in the Borough of Tewkesbury in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham. The village lies at the foot of Cleeve Hill, the highest point in the Cotswolds. Bishop's Cleeve ...

. Politically the village is twinned with neighbouring Tredington, as Stoke Orchard parish. The two villages are part of a large church parish with two other villages nearer to the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

. Stoke Orchard, in common with many villages in this part of Gloucestershire, has a sizeable church but no pubs. There is now a modern, eco-friendly community centre, with a community convenience shop attached called The Orchard Stores. The community centre is a fully self supporting building, which generates income through providing a great space for various classes, event days and parties, and recently won a national award from

Campaign to Protect Rural England CPRE, The Countryside Charity, formerly known by names such as the ''Council for the Preservation of Rural England'' and the ''Council for the Protection of Rural England'', is a charity in England with over 40,000 members and supporters. Forme ...

(CPRE) for the most ecologically-friendly village hall in the country. The church has early wall paintings of the life of St James - revealed when the whitewash applied at the time of the English Reformation was removed, and it was a staging post on the route for pilgrims making their way to

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of S ...

. Tredington Primary School was built halfway between Stoke and Tredington in order to serve both communities. Stoke Orchard is aligned with nearby Tredington to form the Parish of Stoke Orchard. The Parish Council, composed of local community volunteers, meets once per month, and is aligned with Tewkesbury Borough Council. The parish of Stoke Orchard had a population of 435 according to the 2011 census.

References

External links

https://www.stokeorchardandtredington.org.uk/ http://www.stokeorchard.org/ Villages in Gloucestershire Borough of Tewkesbury Civil parishes in Gloucestershire {{Gloucestershire-geo-stub