Stoke Pero

Stoke Pero has a tiny Xllth century church, the highest on Exmoor at about 350 metres (1013 feet) above sea level. Little is known about the early hsitory but this is the oldest Christian site on Exmoor. The first church was probably built in Celtic times the name Stoke denoting an outlying settlement.

View towards South Wales from Stoke Pero Common - image supplied by kind permission of Somerset Tourism, Somerset County Council

The mediaeval church was pcobably built in the 13th Centuary. During the rebuilding In 1897 it was found that the walls of the church stood on the ground with no foundations and must have taken the place of a still older and smaller church. The 13th century building must have been built partly on the original churchyard, for when new foundations were dug in 1897 the remains of three human bodies were found directly under the site of the old north wall. The list of Rectors is complete from 1242, but nothing of the mediaeval village remains, and only the porch and tower date from that period. Until the Dissolution of the Monastries the Prior and Canons of Taunton held land here and were patrons of the living. In 1348, the time of the Black Death the parish had three rectors in one year. Twenty one years later Robert Thyryng is recorded as having kidnaped an lady called Alice of Buckethole, afarm just outside the parish, but the outcome is not known.

After the Disolution the patronage passed through a number of families untiul in 1989 the parish was united with Porlock and from then on the Rector, will be appointed by the Monarch. No Rector has lived in the parish since the 18th century- for example, the Rev. Robert Gould was appointed in 1857 but lived in Doverhay, near Poriock, riding from there to visit his scattered flock. It is interesting that this Rector was the father of Robert Freke Gould, one of the 'fathers' of English Freemasonry.

In 1897/8 the church was restored through the generosity of Sir Thomas Ackland, the owner of the nearby Holnicote Estate (now National Trust) and a good deal of land in Stoke Pero pariah. The donkey 'Zulu' earned fame (and his portrait hanging on the church wall) by plodding twice a day for many months bringing timber for the roof from Poriock. Stoke Pero is mentioned in the Doomsday Book

Stoke Pero Church

Inside Stoke Pero Church

Stoke Pero Church

Zulu the donkery who carried timber up for Stoke Pero Church

Picture of Zulu the donkery hanging in Stoke Pero Church

Stoke Pero Common

Stoke Pero Common

Contributed by: Julia Hart