Stokenchurch - <>

Stokenchurch is a village and civil parish within Wycombe district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, about 3mi south of Chinnor in Oxfordshire and 6mi west of High Wycombe. It is located along the A40 road next to junction 5 of the London to Birmingham M40 motorway near the Stokenchurch Gap. This easy access to London and Oxford and its rural location also make Stokenchurch a well placed commuter village. The Stokenchurch BT Tower outside the village to the West is a highly visible landmark on the edge of the Chilterns and pinpoints the village's location for miles ahead.HistoryThe village name is Old English in origin, although there is a difference of opinion among scholars as to its original meaning. Patrick Hanks points out that 13th century manorial records describe the village as Stockenechurch, which would logically come from OE stoccen + cirice, literally "logs church". This therefore means, he argues, that the village's name originated from a description of a church made from logs. However Starey and Viccars, in their study of the village point to the geography of the local area and the fact that in 1086 Stokenchurch was a woodland in the chapelry of Aston Rowant in Oxfordshire. They present the Hanks opinion as a credible origin however argue that due to the geography the name is more likely to come from the alternative meaning for the Anglo Saxon word stocc, which is an outlying farm or secondary settlement.

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