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GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE.

VOL. XXXII. PHILADELPHIA, FEBRUARY, 1848. No. 2.

STOKE CHURCH AND PARK.

THE SCENE OF GRAY'S ELEGY, AND RESIDENCE OF THE PENNS OF PENNSYLVANIA

BY R. BALMANNO.


[Illustration: Manor of Stoke]

The Manor of Stoke, with its magnificent mansion and picturesque park,
is situate near the village of Stoke Pogeys, in the county of
Buckingham, four miles north-west of Windsor.

About two miles distant from Stoke lies the village of Slough,
rendered famous by the residence of the celebrated astronomer, Sir
William Herschel, and a short way further, on a gentle <DW72> continued
the whole way from Stoke, stand the venerable towers of time-honored
Eton, on the bank of the Thames, directly opposite, and looking up to
the proud castle of the kings of England, unmatched in its lofty,
commanding situation and rich scenery by that of any royal residence
in Europe.

Stoke, anciently written Stoches, belonged, in the time of William the
Conqueror, A. D. 1086, to William, son of Ansculf, of whom it was held
by Walter de Stoke. Previous thereto, it was in part held by Siret, a
vassal of Harold, and at the same time, a certain Stokeman, the vassal
of Tubi, held another portion. Finally, in the year 1300, during the
reign of King Edward the First, it received its present appellation by
the intermarriage of Amicia de Stoke, the heiress, with Robert de
Pogeys. Under the sovereignty of Edward the Third, 1346, John de
Molines, originally of French extraction, and from the town of that
name in Bourbonnais, married Margaret de Pogeys; and, in consequence
of his eminent services, obtained license of the king to make a castle
of his manor-house of Stoke Pogeys, fortify with stone walls
embattled, and imparke the woods; also that it should be exempt from
the authority of the marshal of the king's household, or any of his
officers; and in further testimony of the king's favor, he had summons
to Parliament among the barons of the realm.

During the wars of the rival Roses, the place was owned by Sir Robert
Hungerford, commonly called Lord Moleyns, by reason of his marriage
with Alianore, daughter of William, Lord Moleyns.

This Lord Robert, siding with the Lancasterians, or the Red Roses,
upon the loss of the battle of Towton, fled to York, where King Henry
the Sixth then was, and afterward with him into Scotland. He was
attainted by the Parliament of Edward the Fourth; but the king took
compassion on Alianore, his wife, and her children, committing her and
them to the care of John, Lord Wenlock, to whom he had granted all her
husband's manors and lands, granting them a fitting support as long as
her said husband, Lord Robert, should live. But the Lancasterians
making head in the north, he "flew out" again, being the chief of
those who were in the castle of the Percys, at Alnwick, with five or
six hundred Frenchmen, and being taken prisoner at the battle of
Hexham, he was beheaded at Newcastle on Tyne, but buried in the north
aisle of the cathedral of Salisbury.

Lady Alianore, his widow, lies buried in the church of Stoke Pogeys;
and her monument may still be seen, with an epitaph commencing thus:

    _Hic, hoc sub lapide sepelitur Corpus venerabilis
    Dominae Alianorae Molins, Baronissiae, quam
    prius desponsavit Dominus Robertus Hungerford,
    miles et Baro. &c. &c._

Notwithstanding the grant to Lord Wenlock, Thomas, the son and heir of
Lord Robert Hungerford, succeeded to the estate. For a time he sided
with the famous Earl of Warwick, the king-maker, who took part with
Edward the Fourth, but afterward "falling off," and endeavoring for
the restoration of King Henry the Sixth, was seized on, and tried for
his life at Salisbury, before that diabolical tyrant, crook-back Duke
of Gloucester, afterward Richard the Third, where he had judgment of
the death of a traitor