Stoke Golding
Encyclopedia
Stoke Golding is a village and civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in the Hinckley and Bosworth
Hinckley and Bosworth
Hinckley and Bosworth is a local government district with borough status in south-western Leicestershire, England, administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Its only towns are Hinckley, Earl Shilton and Market Bosworth...

 district of Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, which lies in the heart of England, in South West Leicestershire, close to the Warwickshire county border. According to the 2001 census the total population was 1,721, living in just over 700 houses. The village is 16 miles from the City of Leicester, about three miles north-west of the market town of Hinckley
Hinckley
Hinckley is a town in southwest Leicestershire, England. It has a population of 43,246 . It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council...

, and 4 miles along scenic country lanes from the village of Fenny Drayton, the birth place and childhood home of George Fox (the founder of the worldwide Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) movement).
Stoke Golding has an impressive Grade 1 listed Saxon church, that of St Margaret of Antioch, a Church of England church in the Diocese of Leicester. The church is roughly in the centre of the village, and is a good example of the churches of that period of time.
The primary school children (4 years to 11 years) of Stoke Golding and nearby villages mostly attend the well respected St Margret's Church of England Primary School that is located next to the church within the village. The village is bordered on one side by the Ashby Canal, well used for recreational purposes.
There is a Methodist church in the village that was first opened in 1857.
Three pubs and The Stoke Golding Club have regular entertainment.

History

Stoke Golding's unique historical claim to fame, is that in 1485 the people of the village witnessed the rural coronation of Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch. After his defeat of King Richard III, last of the Plantagenets at the Battle of Bosworth Field marking the end of the Wars of the Roses and heralded the accession to the throne of three Tudor Kings and two Queens. So doing Stoke Golding claims to be the "Birthplace of the Tudor Dynasty".
After Henry Tudor
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....

 was victorious over Richard III at the Battle of Bosworthfield, which took place in the healthy marshland known as the Redemore between Stoke Golding, Dadlington, Shenton, and Sutton Cheney. Henry's entourage retired to hilly ground near the village of Stoke Golding. Here the impromptu coronation of King Henry VII was performed with a circlet by tradition retrieved from a nearby thornbush. This area became known as Crown Hill and Crownhill Field.
Historical local accounts of the Battle of Bosworth field tell of the villagers climbing on to the battlements of the church of St Margaret of Antioch to view the bloody battle on the 22nd August 1485.
The window sills of the Church show grooves which legend has it were caused by the soldiers sharpening their swords and axes on the eve of the battle.
After the fighting large pits were dug around Stoke Golding and the villages of Dadlington and Fenny Drayton, the nearest villages to the complete site of the battlefield, for the burial of the dead.
King Henry VII then reward some of his followers and Knighting the more senior of his supporters.

The claim to the birthplace of the Tudors is also claimed by Penmynydd
Penmynydd
Penmynydd is a village on Anglesey situated on a slight hill on the B5420 road between Menai Bridge and Llangefni, at...

 on Anglesey
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...

.

Notable people

  • Sir Henry Firebrace
    Sir Henry Firebrace
    Sir Henry Firebrace was a courtier to Charles I, serving during his conflicts with Parliament throughout the era of the English Civil Wars...

  • Martine Croxall
    Martine Croxall
    Martine Sarah Croxall is an English journalist and television news presenter.-Education:Croxall was educated at St Margaret's, Church of England Primary School in the village of Stoke Golding, Leicestershire. The school is situated near to the exact place where King Henry VII was crowned...

    - English journalist and television news presenter.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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