Stoke Poges
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stoke Poges is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the south of the county, about three miles north of Slough, a mile east of Farnham Common.
The name "Stoke Poges": Stoke means a stockaded place. If sufficiently large and important it became known as "Stoke" or "The Place". Thus William Fitz-Ansculf who held the Manor in 1086 (in the grounds of which the Norman Church was built) became known as William Stoches or William of Stoke. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the village was recorded as Stoche. The affix 'Poges' came later, and refers to the family that owned the manor in the 13th century. Two hundred years after the time of this William, Amicia, heiress of the then occupant of the Manor, who was known as Amicia of Stoke, married Robert Pogeys, who was Knight of the Shire. Thus the name was given to Stoke Poges.
The manor house in Stoke Poges was once a very grand place, and Queen Elizabeth I was entertained here in 1601. Later, in the middle of the 17th century the lady of the manor, Lady Purbeck, caused great national scandal when she had a love affair outside her own marriage. In 1635 she was imprisoned for adultery but escaped from prison to France, later returning to Stoke Poges where she died in 1645. In 1647 the manor house was the place where King Charles I was imprisoned before his execution.
Later the manor came into the possession of William Penn, who founded Pennsylvania, and remained in his family for at least two generations.
Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is believed to have been written in the churchyard of the St Giles Church in Stoke Poges, although there are other local claimants. Certainly, Thomas Gray is buried at St Giles. Stoke Poges is also mentioned in 20th century literature, in the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, where it is the location of a frequently visited golf course.
More recently, the James Bond film Goldfinger features a golf match played between the principal characters, James Bond and Auric Goldfinger, at Stoke Poges Golf Club. The golf club has also featured in the films 'Layer Cake', 'Wimbledon', 'Bride and Prejudice' and the first 'Bridget Jones'!
