Stoke Park is situated to the S of the town of Stoke Gifford, on Purdown ridge, commanding wide views over Bristol, Kingswood and the adjacent Frome valley.
There were probably 3 different manor houses, all built on different sites. The first is no longer extant and its location is conjectural; the second, as shown on the 1712 engraving here presented, was on the site of the the present house. The present Stoke Park House consists of a central block with wings, forming an 'H,' dating primarily from the 1750s--60s. The rooms on the E side are on the site of the Elizabethan great hall. The only visible 16th c. remnants are the rampart and terrace on which the house stands and a late 16th c. balustrade.
Privately owned; currently (2004) under conversion into flats for sale.
1337 Manor granted to Sir Maurice de Berkeley, a younger son of Maurice, 2nd Baron Berkeley. Berkeley built a house on a different site than the old manor house, possibly near the present Court Farm, to the E of St Michael's Church.
1543 Leland describes the house as 'a manor place of the Barkeleys in ruine, and a parke waulle.'
1553 Sir Richard Berkeley built Stoke House on the current site.
1749--52 and 1760--4 House and gardens completely remodelled by Thomas Wright of Durham for Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt, becoming Stoke Park.
1770--86 House passed to Baron Botetourt's sister, Elizabeth, Duchess of Beaufort, who continued work on the estate under Wright's supervision. At this time the house became known as the Dower House. After the Duchess' death in 1799, the house was occupied by a succession of tenants.
1896--1906 The 8th Duke and Duchess of Beaufort resided at Stoke Park Dower House.
1908 Leased (and in 1915 purchased) by Rev. Harold Nelson Burden and his wife. They founded a 'colony' for mentally-handicapped children. The stables were converted and renamed Ivy Lodge; the Orangery was used as a chapel.
1913 Hosptial block built to the N.
1936 Surgical building built to the N, which became the Burden Neurologocal Institute in 1939.
1985 Hospital closed and patients removed. Site redeveloped for housing.
ca. 2000 Hospital buildings demolished (except for a battlemented Clock Tower) and the grounds developed for housing.
ca. 2002 House converted to flats; conversion still in progress, and the house surrounded by builder's fencing, at the time of visit and photography (July 2004).
| Name | Dates | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley, Maurice | 1400-1464 | Knight |
| Berkeley, Richard | 1531-1605 | Knight |
