1840 Tithe Map
(PDF file format)

Castle Street
Numbers
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6 Oriel Cottage
 7
 8 Oriel House
 9 Lion House
10 Wigmore House
11 Porch House
12 Epworth House
13
14 Bank Cottage
15 Clematis Cottage
17 The Priory
20
22
24
26
28 & 28A
30
32 to 42
44
46
48
50 Munday Cottage
Fairfield House
Stokefield House
Stokefield Cottages
The Hatch
Thornbury Cottage 
Thornbury House

Stokefield House is now the name of the Council Offices in Castle Street (see the photograph at the bottom of the page).  It was built for Adrian Stokes on a paddock that he bought from Joseph Parslow by indentures of indentures dated 28th and 19th 1821 and included  property acquired from  Benjamin and James Smith also in 1821. 

Until the local Council took it over and used it as offices in 1958  it was a private residence for a succession of influential families.  The photograph on the left shows Stokefield House when it was Council Offices owned by Thornbury Rural District Council.

In the early Land Tax records the property was described as "Stokes."  The first reference to the name "Stokefield" as applied to the main house appears in the will of the late Mrs. Eleanor Rodney dated the 4th March 1868.  In 1915 Lady Madeline Jenkinson bought the house and renamed it "Clouds."  We believe that it was only called "Clouds" during her occupation.

The deeds relating to the pasture on which Stokefield House was built are held by South Gloucestershire and are listed in an abstract of 1854 which begins with a mention of an indenture of 1733.  At this time the paddock seems to be adjoined to "one messuage or tenement situate within the Borough of Thornbury aforesaid wherein one Thomas Croome formerly dwelt and one William Barton since that."

The Owners of Stokefield House in Thornbury have been;

Adrian Stokes   1822-1853.  The house appears to have been built by Adrian Stokes on a paddock bought from Joseph Parslow and land acquired from Benjamin and James Smith in indentures of December 1821 and April 1822.  Adrian's heirs sold the property in December 1853 to Sir John Key.  We don't think Adrian Stokes used this house as a main property for most of his ownership.  He had homes at Stanshawes Court and Nailsworth and in the Censuses of 1841 and 1851 he was living in his brother's house at Avening near Nailsworth.  From 1827 to 1832 at least the Rate Books show that Adrian let the house to Caddell Holder. To read more about Adrian Stokes click here

John Key   1853 - 1855.  In indentures of December 1853 Sir John Key of Thornbury House acquired Stokefield House and the land associated with it.  We don't know why he bought it but it seems to have been a short term investment as it was advertised for sale on 21st October 1854 with two closes of land.   It was then said to be in the occupation of Major Hume.  "Major Hume" was John Gwennap Hume, the brother of Eleanor Rodney, Catherine Lloyd and Caroline Lewis.  Click here to read about the Hume family.  Click here to read about John Key

In 1854 Stokefield House in Castle Street in Thornbury was offered for sale and was said to be until lately the home of John Gwennap Hume.  Click here to read about the Hume family.

Eleanor Rodney lived at Stokefield from January 1855 and her daughter Catherine Dora the wife of Henry Craven St John continued to live there until her death in 1915.   On 27th August 1915 it was sold by Henry Percy St John, Ralph George Collins and Montague Rodney St John to Madeline Jenkinson.  Click here to read more about Eleanor Rodney

Madeline Jenkinson  1915-1927 The widowed Madeline, Lady Jenkinson,  bought the house in 1915 and renamed  it "Clouds."  She lived there until her death in 1927.  It was then sold by her daughter and heiress Georgina Isabel Jenkinson.  Click here to read about Madeline Jenkinson

William Charles Woodbury Hammond and Anita Mary Budd Leigh Walker  1927-1930.  On 28th September 1927 William Charles Woodbury Hammond of Walden Llantarnam Newport and Anita Mary Budd Leigh Walker of Leeds, William Reginald Haldane Jenkins of Marlwood Grange and George Rowe of Lincoln's Inn Fields were involved in a conveyance of Clouds formerly Stokefield House from Georgina Isabel Jenkinson.   We do not know why this couple bought the house but William Hammond was divorced by his wife Ivy in 1929.  They sold the house on 3rd November 1930 to Captain Dutson.

William John Francis Dutson  1930 - 1958.  Captain Dutson of Grove Lodge, Stoke Bishop in Bristol bought the property that comprised Stokefield House and its associated land from William Charles Woodbury Hammond and Anita Mary Budd Leigh Walker.  The thumbnail image on the right shows the property at this time.  Please click on it for a larger image. 

We believe that William John F Dutson was born in Bristol in 1895 and that he was the son of William Dutson, a tea traveller of Bishopston and his wife Edith.  He seems to have married Dorothy Huddleston in 1921.  The FreeBMD website shows that the births of four Dutson children with the mother's maiden name of Huddleston were registered in the Bristol area.  Unusually they were all called John;   "John G" in 1922, "John D" in 1924, "John A H" in 1925 and "John K" in 1928. 

When William Dutson bought Stokefield his address was given as Grove Lodge, Parry's Lane Stoke Bishop in Bristol.

The records of St Mary's Church show that on 24th September 1949  John Derek Dutson (presumably the second of the four Johns referred to) a farmer then aged 25 married Patricia Audsley of Fairfield House in Castle Street. 

The youngest son, John Kenneth Dutson married Sheila Gell in Solihull in 1955.  Sheila's obituary in The Gazette explains that Sheila was born in 1923 in Solihull.  The obituary said Sheila was a "perfect English lady" and described her  life in some detail.  Please click here to read the obituary.  Kenneth Dutson died in 2009.  Click here to read the announcement of his death.

Thornbury Rural District Council  1958 -1974.  Thornbury Rural District Council bought from William John Francis Dutson the building known as Stokefield and sometime as Clouds and 10.342 acres of ground, including Latteridge on 29th September 1958. 

Of the total area of 10.342 acres, the Rural District Council sold off 2.15 acres (the land that was developed to build Stokefield Close) in 1959 to  Robert Watson and Co. (Structural Engineers) for £2,400. 

During the period that it was owned by Thornbury District Council the building was extended as can be seen both from the photograph at the top of this page.  The plan, a thumbnail image of which is here on the right, shows both the land that was sold off for the housing development known as Stokefield Close and the alterations that were made to the old Stokefield House.   Please click on the image for  larger photograph.

Northavon District Council 1974- 1996.  Northavon District Council was created in 1974 under the local government reorganisation of the time.  On the 4th November 1985 work commenced on the construction of new civic offices for Northavon District Council.  During the construction the property now known as "Stokefield House" was demolished.  The building (shown here on the right) now occupying the site looks rather different from the original Stokefield House.

In 1996 the greater part of Northavon District Council was merged with Kingswood to become part of South Gloucestershire Council.

This page was last updated: 09/05/2012