History
The village was originally recorded as Stoches in the Domesday Book of 1086, from the Old English word stoc meaning an outlying farm or hamlet. The suffix Mandeville was first recorded in 1284 when the manor was listed as being in the hands of the powerful Norman de Mandeville family. The former medieval parish church on the outskirts of the village was condemned in the mid 20th Century and was demolished in January 1966. The newer red brick parish church of St Mary, consecrated in July 1866 by Bishop of Oxford Samuel Wilberforce, remains as the only church in the village apart from the Methodist church in Eskdale Road.
Stoke Mandeville was also the location of the Stoke Mandeville Games, which first took place in 1948 and are now known as the World Wheelchair and Amputee Games. The Games, which were held eight times at Stoke Mandeville, were the inspiration for the first Paralympic Games, also called The Stoke Mandeville Games, which were organised in Rome in 1960. The wheelchair aspects of the 1984 Paralympics were also held in the village. The London 2012 Summer Paralympics mascot, Mandeville, is named after the village due to its legacy with the Games. Stoke Mandeville Stadium was developed alongside the hospital and is the National Centre for Disability Sport in the United Kingdom, enhancing the hospital as a world centre for paraplegics and spinal injuries.
On May 13, 2000, the new Stoke Mandeville Millennium sign was unveiled. It stands on a small brick plinth on the green outside the primary school. The sign shows aspects of village life over the centuries.
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