Stoke Edith House

Stoke Edith was the principal manor of Sir Henry Lingen (1612 – 1662), Royalist cavalier. He and the resident rector, Henry Rogers, denounced for their political leanings, knew the property could be victimized at any time.{{cite book|last=Webb|first=John|title=Memorials of the civil war between King Charles I. and the Parliament of England as it affected Herefordshire and adjacent counties|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AW_SAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA19|accessdate=31 December 2011|edition=Public domain|year=1879|publisher=Longmans, Green, and co.|pages=19–}} Lingen's widow, Alice Pye of the Mynnd, sold the manor in the 1670s to the ironmaster Thomas Foley, who settled it on his second son Paul. Paul obtained licence from James II to empark up to 500 acres at Stoke Edith. After a visit by the leading garden designer, George London, in 1692, the park and gardens were remodelled to his suggestion, and it is likely that pleasure grounds would have been laid out around the house in a series of formal compartments with geometric walks, flower-beds and fountains. Paul rebuilt the timber-framed ancient mansion, Stoke Court, from 1695, when he became Speaker,Roy Peaccock, The Seventeenth Century Foleys: iron wealth and vision 1580-1716 (Black Country Society, 2011), 131-2 143 154-5. and it was mostly complete by 1698.{{cite book|last1=Whitehead|first1=David|last2=Patton|first2=Jane|title=A survey of historic parks & gardens in Herefordshire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TugfAQAAIAAJ|accessdate=31 December 2011|year=2001|publisher=Hereford and Worcester Gardens Trust|page=123}} It was finished by his son, Thomas, Auditor of the imprests. The house, subsequently known as Stoke Park, descended in the family to Thomas Lord Foley, who (having inherited the Great Witley estate from his distant cousin Thomas 2nd Baron Foley) settled Stoke Edith on his second son Edward Foley (1747–1803), an MP.

Image:Stoke in Herefordshire Vit Brit.jpg, Auditor of the imprests.]]

Many of the family were members of Parliament. Stoke Park remained their principal residence until it was destroyed by fire in 1927. The present Stoke Edith House (once the Rectory), the park and extensive agricultural and woodlands remain in the ownership of the Foley family. The former rectory became a Grade II listed building on 20 October 1952.{{cite web|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-155037-stoke-edith-house-and-garden-wall-to-nor|title=Stoke Edith House and Garden Wall to North and West, Stoke Edith|publisher=British Listed Buildings|accessdate=31 December 2011}}

A prior house, Elizabethan in style,{{cite book|title=Journal of horticulture and practical gardening|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YfZIAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA360|accessdate=31 December 2011|edition=Public domain|year=1875|pages=360–}} was characterized by its multiple shaped gables and stone detailing. That house was superseded by the present mansion, quadrangular in shape, and constructed of red brick, with wings. It was considered to be a good example of Williamite architecture from the late 17th century period.{{cite book|last1=Harris|first1=John|author2=Foundation American Institute of Architects|author3=Octagon (Washington, D.C.)|title=The design of the English country house, 1620-1920|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KjQ3AQAAIAAJ|accessdate=31 December 2011|year=1985|publisher=Trefoil|isbn=978-0-86294-067-6|page=98}} The interior included a state wing is to the west and a parlour room in the centre of the house. There was a long study, a drawing room, a wainscotted dining room, and an embellished hall. The east-wing stair was top-lit.{{cite book|last1=Gomme|first1=Andor|last2=Maguire|first2=Alison|title=Design and plan in the country house: from castle donjons to Palladian boxes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9QyzoRo_c0cC&pg=PA139|accessdate=31 December 2011|year=2008|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-12645-7|pages=139–}}

The Stoke Edith Wall Hanging, dating to 1710-20 and which originally hung in the house, is now on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1926, Paul Henry Foley donated 136 rare books in 242 volumes from the house to Hereford Cathedral's library.{{cite book|last1=Aylmer|first1=G. E.|last2=Tiller|first2=John Eric|title=Hereford Cathedral: a history|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SJKaw6iaRggC&pg=PA532|accessdate=31 December 2011|year=2000|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-85285-194-1|pages=532–}}

File:Stoke Edith Park Gatehouse.jpg

The grounds are terraced and are within a wooded park.{{cite book|last=Paterson|first=Daniel|authorlink=Daniel Paterson|title=Paterson's roads: being an entirely original and accurate description of all the direct and principal cross roads in England and Wales, with part of the roads of Scotland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zq8vAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA146|accessdate=31 December 2011|edition=Public domain|year=1826|publisher=Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green|pages=146–}}

Improvements to the park were made by Humphry Repton in the late 18th century, and to the formal garden by William Andrews Nesfield in the 1850s.{{cite web|url=http://www.parksandgardens.ac.uk/component/option,com_parksandgardens/task,site/id,3120/Itemid,292/|title=Stoke Edith Park, Hereford, England|date=October 18, 2010|publisher=Parks and Gardens UK|accessdate=31 December 2011}} This included an arabesque pattern, box edging, coloured walks, steep grass slope, and beech trees. Garden fittings included a statue of old Father Time and a sundial with the motto Horas non numero nisi serenas{{cite book|author1=Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club, Hereford, England|last2=Jack|first2=G. H.|title=Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club|url=https://archive.org/details/transactionswoo01jackgoog|accessdate=31 December 2011|edition=Public domain|year=1868|pages=[https://archive.org/details/transactionswoo01jackgoog/page/n113 67]–}} ("I count only the sunny hours").

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• [http://www.stokeedith.co.uk/ Official website]

Category:Country houses in Herefordshire

Category:Houses completed in 1697

Category:Grade II listed houses

Category:Grade II listed buildings in Herefordshire

Category:1697 establishments in England