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Stoke Park is a park on the edge of the town centre of
Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...
,
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
, England donated to Guildford by the Lord Onslow in 1925 with the express wish that it "remain for all time a lung of the town".Guildford- A Residential Centre. The official Guide of the Corporation of Guildford. 11th Ed. 1946 Between London Road and Parkway, two of the four arterial roads to the A3, Stoke Park is the largest park within the town signed area of Guildford. It is also a
Green Flag award The Green Flag Award is an international accreditation given to publicly accessible parks and open spaces, managed under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a UK Government department, by Keep Britain Tidy, ...
winning park. The park and its woodland have remained more or less intact since they were laid out in the 18th-century. Then, there was the
manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
which owned slightly more land remaining from the manor of Stoke-next-Guildford, complete with walled garden and icehouse.


Geography

To the west of the park is
Guildford College Guildford College of Further and Higher Education (GCFHE) in Guildford, Surrey was a Surrey County Council-funded educational establishment for students of age 16+ undertaking full-time and part-time studies, established in 1939. It became pa ...
. The other side of the college, away from the park, is St John's Church. To the south of the park is Guildford Community Church, Guildford High School and London Road (Guildford) railway station. Surrounding the park to the south and east is the A3100 road. This meets the A25 road, which runs along the north side of the park, in the northeast corner close to the Guildfordian Bisons RFC pitches. To the north of the A25 road is the Guildford Spectrum with which the park shares its facilities.


History

Stoke was originally a parish south of the
River Wey The River Wey is a main tributary of the River Thames in south east England. Its two branches, one of which rises near Alton, Hampshire, Alton in Hampshire and the other in West Sussex to the south of Haslemere, join at Tilford in Surrey. Onc ...
. In 1894, it became part of
Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...
, when the parish of Stoke was split into two, Stoke-within-Guildford and Stoke-next-Guildford. Before 1762, the site of Stoke Park was called the Paddocks, it was owned by a Mr Dyson who laid out its dimensions. In 1780, it was purchased by a Mr Aldesey. He bought it along with Stoke Mills. The road that later became the A320 Stoke Road/Woking Road was diverted in 1780 to the west end of St. John's Church in Stoke away from Stoke Park. It runs north to south, to the west of the ornamental gardens and the model boating lake in the park. In 1879 Samuel Budgett bought 100 acres of the estate, along with the mansion for £35,000, from Lord Onslow.


Sport

It was home for many years to the Old Guilfordians RFC before their merger with Guildford and Godalming RFC to form Guildford Rugby Club in 2003. Following this, the junior rugby section of the club stayed at Stoke Park under the name of Guildfordians Rugby. They were joined in 2002, by disaffected Old Guildfordians, who had gone to Guildford and Godalming, thus forming Stoke Park Bisons RFC. At the beginning of the 2008–09 Season the RFU allowed the club to be named Guildfordian Bisons RFC, thus forming a link between both the senior and junior sides. The Guildford Crows Aussie Rules FC train at Stoke Park during the summer.


Facilities

Stoke Park contains sports pitches, tennis courts, woodland areas, formal gardens, climbing frames, a water cascade, an outdoor ‘trim trail’, crazy golf course, children's play area with slides, a paddling and model boating pool, concrete
skatepark A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, Freestyle scootering, scootering, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairw ...
and other large expanses of grass.


Events

Stoke Park used to be the home of the annual Surrey County Show held during the second bank holiday weekend in May. The show has not taken place since 2019 following its cancellation due to the pandemic. Stoke Park was the site of the annual music festival GuilFest, and it holds the annual ''Guildford Lions Firework Fiesta'' on 5 November every year. The event includes many fairground attractions and food stands and starts with a torch lit procession from Guildford High Street and ends with a 20-minute firework finale. A 5 km run against the clock is organised by the group
Parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of 5K run, events for runners, walkers and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across five continents. Parkrun was founded by Paul Sinto ...
most Saturday mornings.


References


External links

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Green Flag Award winners – Stoke Park, Guildford
{{Guildford Sports venues in Guildford Parks and open spaces in Surrey