Rodney Stoke

Close to the village is Westbury Camp, which represents the remains of an Iron Age enclosed settlement{{cite web | url=http://www.fortifiedengland.com/Home/Categories/ViewItem/tabid/61/Default.aspx?IID=1534 | title=Walton Castle | publisher=Fortified England | access-date=16 January 2011}} and has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.{{cite book |last=Firth |first=Hannah |title=Mendip from the air |year=2007 |publisher=Somerset County Council |location=Taunton |isbn=978-0-86183-390-0 }}{{cite web | url=http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/24269 | title=Westbury Camp hillfort, N of Stoke Woods, Rodney Stoke | work=Somerset Historic Environment Record | publisher=Somerset County Council A| access-date=16 January 2011}}

Rodney Stoke was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Stoches, meaning 'a stockaded settlement' from the Old English stoc. In 1291 the place name was recorded as Stokgifford. The Giffords were Saxon nobility at the time of Edward the Confessor with Walter Gifford (then spelt Gifard) as the Earl of Buckingham.{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Stephen |title=Somerset Place Names |year=1992 |publisher=The Dovecote Press Ltd |location=Wimborne, Dorset |isbn=1-874336-03-2}}

The parish was part of the Winterstoke Hundred.{{cite web|title=Somerset Hundreds|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Miscellaneous/|publisher=GENUKI|access-date=9 September 2011}}

The village was the home of, and is probably named after, Sir John Rodney (d. 1400). However Ekwall{{cite book |last=Ekwall |first= Eilert |title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Place-Names, 4th Edition |year= 1959 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=London }} indicates that Stoke Gifford was held by Richard de Rodene in 1303.

The first Baron Rodney was George Brydges Rodney (1718/19–92), a British naval admiral of Napoleonic times.{{cite book |last=Reid |first= Robert Douglas |title=Some buildings of Mendip |year=1979 |publisher=The Mendip Society |isbn=0-905459-16-4 }}

It is one of the nine Thankful Villages in Somerset which suffered no fatalities during World War I. There is a memorial window in the Parish Church together with a new plaque that testifies to the village's enduring pride in their good fortune.

The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council's operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council.

For local government purposes, since 1 April 2023, the parish comes under the unitary authority of Somerset Council. Prior to this, it was part of the non-metropolitan district of Mendip (established under the Local Government Act 1972). It was part of Wells Rural District before 1974.{{cite web|title=Wells RD|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10061581|work=A vision of Britain Through Time|publisher=University of Portsmouth|access-date=4 January 2014}}

The village is in the 'Rodney and Westbury' electoral ward. The ward starts in the north west at Draycott and passes through Rodney Stoke to end at Westbury-sub-Mendip. The total population of the ward as at the 2011 census was 2,127.{{cite web|url=http://www.ukcensusdata.com/rodney-and-westbury-e05006782#sthash.4hXnU9xs.dpbs|title=Rodney and Westbury ward 2011|access-date= 7 March 2015}}

It is also part of the Wells and Mendip Hills county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

The land is noteworthy for its importance as a flight corridor and feeding ground for the Greater Horseshoe Bat. Cheddar Complex, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, lies to the north and Mascalls' Wood, an ancient woodland and Somerset Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve, lies to the west. The cross roads may be the site of an old Roman road.{{cite web |url=http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/11224 |title=Extensive Cropmarks, SW of Cheddar |access-date=6 November 2007 |work=Somerset Historic Environment Record|publisher=Somerset County Council}}

Close to the village is the Rodney Stoke nature reserve, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

The church of St Leonard, was built around 1175 and is a Grade I listed building.{{NHLE | desc=Church of St Leonard | num=1058592 | access-date=20 July 2006}} The interior of the church contains a screen, bearing the date 1624, the gift of Sir Edward Rodney,{{cite web | title=St Leonards Church | work=HEVAC Heritage | url=http://www.hevac-heritage.org/items_of_interest/heating/churches_&_chapels/rodney_stoke_church/rodney_stoke_church.htm | access-date=20 July 2006}} which includes a representation of the martyrdom of St Erasmus, who was killed by having his entrails removed.

• Edward Rodney (1590–1657), MP for Wells and Somerset at various times between 1621 and 1642, lived in Rodney Stoke and was buried there.{{cite book |title=The Somerset Village Book |author=Somerset Federation of Women's Institutes |publisher=Countryside Books |year=1988 |isbn=978-1853060311}}
• John Rodney (died 1400), MP for Somerset, 1391–1393, lived in Rodney Stoke.
• Frances Southwell (died 1659), courtier and wife of Edward Rodney, lived in Rodney Stoke.
• Thomas Tremlett (1834–1894), first-class cricketer, was born in Rodney Stoke.

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{{Commons category|Rodney Stoke}}

• [http://www.somerset.gov.uk/archives/Maps/OS62htm/2702.htm Map of Bradley Cross c1900]

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{{Mendip Hills}}

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Category:Villages in Mendip District

Category:Civil parishes in Somerset

Category:Mendip Hills