Sunday, 13 November 2011

Stoke Orchard

Stoke Orchard is a village or hamlet north-west of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, England. Locally the village is often known as 'Stoke'.
Stoke Orchard is in the borough of Tewkesbury, the Cheltenham post town, and on the Coombe Hill, Cheltenham, telephone exchange. Stoke Orchard neighbours Elmstone-Hardwicke, Tredington and 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.
Stoke Orchard, in common with many villages in this part of Gloucestershire, has a sizeable church but no shops or pubs. 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.
Stoke Orchard was formerly home to the Coal Research Establishment of the National Coal Board, which moved onto the site of a Ministry for Aircraft Production shadow factory run by the Gloster Aircraft Company adjacent to RAF Stoke Orchard. The village is still home to Stoke Orchard Garage, owned by the Stojanov family who also own the former school at Elmstone-Hardwicke.
Tredington Primary School was built half way between Stoke and Tredington in order to serve both communities.

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