Stoke Gabriel
Fisherman probably first came to Stoke Gabriel to fish salmon and gain access to the River Dart. The village has an approximately 1,000-year-old yew tree in the churchyard of The Church of St Mary and St Gabriel, a church which has stood since Norman times. Legend has it that if you walk backwards seven times round the yew's main stem you will be granted a wish.
The village has two public houses; The Church House Inn and The Castle Inn. Until relatively recently there were three pubs. The other being The Victoria and Albert Inn. The Church House Inn was built to accommodate the masons who constructed the church and also served as the courthouse. The old stocks can be seen outside the inn today.
Stoke Gabriel is the template for the fictional village of Thornford Regis in C. C. Benison's crime novels Twelve Drummers Drumming and Eleven Pipers Piping.
Notable people
- John Davis (ca.1550 – 1605), one of the chief navigators of Queen Elizabeth I.
- George Jackson Churchward CBE (1857–1933), an English railway engineer and chief mechanical engineer of the Great Western Railway, he lends his name to the local football club's ground - Stoke Gabriel & Torbay Police F.C.
References
- ^ "Parish population 2011". Retrieved 19 February 2015.
- ^ "East Dart ward 2011". Retrieved 19 February 2015.
- ^ "The Yew Tree". Stoke Gabriel Church. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
- ^ "The Parish Church of St Mary and St Gabriel". Retrieved 31 December 2016.
- ^ "Church House Inn". Stoke Gabriel Church. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
- ^ Beazley, Charles Raymond (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). pp. 868–869.
External links
- Stoke Gabriel Parish Council
- Stoke Gabriel Church
- Stoke Gabriel Football Club
- Stoke Gabriel Pre-School
- Stoke Gabriel School