Stowe, Buckinghamshire
Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK place
Stowe is a civil parish and former village about Template:Convert northwest of Buckingham in the unitary authority area of Buckinghamshire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Boycott, Dadford and Lamport.
Stowe House is a Grade I listed country house in the parish and is occupied by Stowe School.
History
Stowe's toponym probably refers to an ancient holy place of great significance in Anglo-Saxon times.<ref>Template:HarvnbTemplate:Page needed</ref> The manor of Stowe predates the Norman conquest of England.<ref name=Page>Template:Harvnb</ref> The Domesday Book of 1086 assessed the manor at five hides.<ref name=Page/> It listed William the Conqueror's half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux as the manor's feudal overlord and the Norman brothers-in-arms Robert D'Oyly and Roger d'Ivry as his tenants.<ref name=Page/> D'Oyly founded Oxford Castle and he and d'Ivry founded a college of secular canons there.<ref name=Page/> Not long after 1086 the manor of Stowe was transferred to the college's endowment, confirmed by a charter of Henry I in 1130.<ref name=Page/>
By 1150 the Augustinians of Osney Abbey had absorbed the college, and in 1278–79 it held three hides at Stowe.<ref name=Page/> Osney Abbey retained Stowe until it was forced to surrender its estates to the Crown in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539.<ref name=Page/> In 1542 the Diocese of Oxford was instituted and Osney Abbey was consecrated as its first cathedral.<ref name=Page/> The abbey's former estates, including Stowe, formed the bishopric's endowment.<ref name=Page/>
In 1590 John Underhill, Bishop of Oxford, conveyed Stowe to Elizabeth I, who in the same year granted it to new secular owners.<ref name=Page/> They sold it to John Temple of Burton Dassett in Warwickshire, whose grandson Sir Peter Temple, 2nd Baronet enclosed a deer park in 1651.<ref name=Page/> The village was probably abandoned at this time. The estate remained with the Temple-Grenville family until 1921, when it was sold by the Reverend Luis C.F.T. Morgan-Grenville (1889–1944).<ref name=Page/> Stowe School was founded here in 1923.
Parish church
The earliest mention of the parish church of the Assumption of the Blessèd Virgin Mary<ref>St Mary's Church, Stowe. (sic)</ref> is in Henry I's charter of 1130.<ref name=Page/> The oldest part of the building is the late 13th-century three-bay arcade between the nave and the north aisle.<ref name=Page/> The west tower was added in the first half of the 13th century, followed by the chancel in about 1350 and the south aisle and arcade in the latter part of the 14th century.<ref name=Page/> Late in the 15th century both aisles were rebuilt and the Perpendicular Gothic nave clerestory and south porch were added.<ref name=Page/> In the 16th century the Perpendicular Gothic north chapel was added, with an arcade of two bays between it and the chancel.<ref name=Page/> The church was altered in the 18th century and is now a Grade II* listed building.<ref>Template:NHLE</ref>
In the late 17th century a ring of five bells was hung in the bell tower.<ref name=Page/> James Keene, who had foundries at Woodstock, Oxfordshire and Bedford,<ref name=DovesFounders>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> cast the second, fourth and fifth bells in 1654.<ref name=DovesDetails>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Richard Keene cast the third bell in 1660 and the tenor in 1665.<ref name=DovesDetails/> In 1988 John Taylor & Co of Loughborough cast a new treble bell, increasing the ring to six.<ref name=DovesDetails/> The church has a Sanctus bell that was cast in about 1799.<ref name=DovesDetails/>
Stowe House
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Formerly the country seat of the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos, Stowe House is now occupied by Stowe School. The landscaped gardens and its many monuments were acquired by the National Trust in 1990, and are open to the public. The National Trust is overseeing a restoration programme of the grounds, temples and follies.
Stowe in film
Because of its picturesque surroundings Stowe has been the setting for many films, including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the Bollywood film Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Proof of Life, Stardust (2007), and The World Is Not Enough in the James Bond series.
Notable people
The teacher, author and murder victim Peter Farquhar taught at Stowe School and worshipped and preached at Stowe Parish Church.<ref name=guard>Peter Farquhar obituary. Michael Crick, The Guardian, 29 November 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2023.</ref><ref name="bbcevil">Template:Cite news</ref>