Stoke Poges - Stoke Poges Manor House

Stoke Poges Manor House

See also the article Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire.

A manor house at Stoke Poges was built before the Norman Conquest; it was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. In 1555 the then-owner, Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon, pulled down much of the existing fortified house. He replaced it with a large Tudor brick house, with numerous chimneys and gables. In 1599 it was acquired by Sir Edward Coke, who is said to have entertained Queen Elizabeth I there in 1601.

A few decades later, the lady of the manor, Lady Purbeck, had a love affair with Robert Howard, a Member of Parliament. The affair's discovery caused a national scandal, and in 1635 Lady Purbeck was imprisoned for adultery. She escaped from prison to France. She later returned to Stoke Poges, where she died in 1645.

King Charles I was imprisoned at the manor house in 1647 before his execution.

Later the manor came into the possession of Thomas Penn, a son of William Penn who founded Pennsylvania and was its first proprietor. Thomas Penn held three-fourths of the proprietorship. The manor property remained in his family for at least two generations, as his son John Penn "of Stoke" also lived there.

Thomas Gray‘s poem, "A Long Story," describes the house and its occupants. Sir Edwin Henry Landseer was a frequent visitor to the house and rented it as a studio for some time. His most famous painting, 'The Monarch of the Glen' (1851), is said to have been created at Stoke Poges, with the deer in the park used as models.