Purton Stoke

Purton Stoke is a small village in north Wiltshire, situated within the civil parish of Purton. The village is located along a side road off of the Purton to Cricklade road, approximately one mile north of Purton village. A small country lane gives access to the nearby hamlet of Bentham, to the south.

Amenities

Purton Stoke has a Methodist chapel. The current building opened in 1868, complete with outbuildings for stabling visitors' horses. There was a Quaker Meeting House in the village during the late 17th century and early 18th century. The village also has a public house by the name of 'The Bell', which is a property of the Arkells Brewery. The village's Post Office has closed. Until relatively recently Purton Stoke had its own primary school. It opened in 1894; and at its peak had 100 pupils. However, numbers dropped continually from the 1930s when older pupils were educated in Purton, until there were only around 30 pupils left in the 1970s. The school closed in 1978. The building is now used for the Jubilee Gardens Project and is situated on the Purton to Cricklade road.¹

Stoke Common Meadows

The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve, Stoke Common Meadows, can be found in the vicinity. Situated at the end of Stoke Common Lane in Purton Stoke, Stoke Common Meadows consist of a small wood and grasslands, with ancient hedgerows and ditches Wildlife found here includes mainly wildflowers: Pepper-saxifrage, sweet vernal-grass, heath-spotted orchid, adder’s-tongue fern (Ophioglossum), bugle, ox-eye daisy and common knapweed. Some of the fields are designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Grid reference: SU 070 904.³

'Purton Spa' or the 'Salt Hole'

To the west of the village there is a spring, whose mineral waters supposedly carry medicinal properties. The water has a high concentration of lime phosphate. Locals had used the water for centuries for its health benefits; however, when the wealthy landowner, Dr Samuel Champernowne Sadler, MRCS, contracted an illness in the mid-19^th century, he tried the water and became markedly better. After this, he erected a pump and pump house in the 1850s and the water was sold commercially, in the 1920s selling for 8d. This continued until the Second World War ¹, when petrol rationing made the business uneconomical². Another reason that has been suggested about the decline of the business is that free medical treatment became available from the NHS, after the Second World War.⁴

References

* ¹ "Purton's Past", A. Robbins, 1991, Purton Historical Society.
* ³ [http://www.wiltshirewildlife.org/ Wiltshire Wildlife Trust website:]

Further Information

* [http://www.purtonstoke.com/ Purton Stoke village website]
* ² [http://people.bath.ac.uk/liskmj/living-spring/journal/issue1/indepth/kjorspa3.htm Detailed information about 'Purton Spa']
* ³ [http://www.wiltshirewildlife.org/ Wiltshire Wildlife Trust website]
* ⁴ [http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getcom.php?id=186 Wiltshire County Council entry on 'Purton Spa']
* [http://www.purtonmuseum.com/graphics/t0284.gifLabel showing composition of water from 'Purton Spa', from the 1920s]