Stoke Hammond Tourist Information

The village of Stoke Hammond is to be found in the north eastern quadrant of the great County of Buckinghamshire. It was described by Arthur Mee in his ‘King's England' series as "Prettily situated above the valley, through which runs the Grand Union Canal, it has thatched and timbered cottages and a 17th Century Inn with five chimneys." Most certainly the Three Locks Public House on the Grand Union Canal continues to thrive and the village is set to benefit shortly from a new by-pass.

The village's name comes from the Old English ‘Stoc' – an outlying farmstead or hamlet, together with the affix taken from one Hamon Brito, the son of Mainfelin Brito, a 12th century descendant of the holder of the manorial rights recorded at the time of the Domesday Book.

The village has also been in the possession of the very powerful Duke of Norfolk and local family names such as Fountane and Disney have exerted influence.

The Parish Church of St Luke was built in the 13th Century with its tower added one hundred years later. There is a charming Jacobean alms box close to the door dated 1618 and much else to please the eye of anyone interested in the beauty of a well tended English Parish Church.

Stoke Hammond suffered no fatalities in the Great War of 1914 to 1918 and was the only ‘Thankful Village' in the County of Buckinghamshire.

Description by Rod Morris