Stretton-on-Fosse is a village in the Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire, England. It is situated between the towns of Moreton-in-Marsh and Shipston-on-Stour. The village is situated along the ancient Fosse Way road which runs from Exeter in Devon to Lincoln in Lincolnshire. The road bypasses the village to the east and is now the modern-day A429 road. The village is close to the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire border. While the lower ground of the village is heavy clay the upper parts are composed of sand and shingle. During commercial extraction of sand important graves of the Roman-British and Anglo-Saxon periods were uncovered and interesting skeletons and personal belongings were unearthed. These burials were the result of internecine warfare between local tribal factions.[2][3]
History
Some of the historic stone cottages feature thatched or slate roofsExterior of the Plough Inn
Stretton means "settlement on a Roman road" (from the Old Englishstræt and tun). In this case the road is Fosse Way. Two of the manors in Stratone, as Stretton-on-Fosse was then called,[4] using its Saxon name[5] are listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. Two significant manor houses still remain. The Manor House was built in 1886[6] and is a Grade II listed property.[7] Stretton House, also Grade II listed, was built in the early 1600s but was substantially altered in the early 1800s.[8] By comparison, the 1931 population was 282.[9] The village has about 200 buildings, made of Cotswold stone or locally made red bricks.[3] Of these, 18 are Grade II listed by Historic England.[10] At one time, the village was known as Stretton upon Fosse.[11]
Amenities
Some of the current cottages were previously used for other purposes, such as Tea Cosy Cottage which was the village post office in the early 1900s[12] and The Bakery cottage which retains its old bread oven.[13] The village website indicates that until recently, the community consisted of several farms, with housing for local residents occupied in cultivation of the land and the trade association of the rural economy, such as, shops, Post office, school,[14]inns, blacksmith, and three religious buildings. However, of these, only the Church of St Peter and the 17th-century Plough Inn[15] are still used for their intended purpose.[16][3]
The village also had another pub/lodging, the Golden Cross Inn (or Hotel)[17] across the tracks from the railway station; photographs of the two establishments suggests that the Plough Inn is not the same building.[18] A new village hall was built in 1990 to replace the postwar wooden hut.[19] The old railway line and station are now gone.[3][20] The four acres of gardens of Court House in the village have been opened under the National Garden Scheme.[21]
Religion
The site contained a church since the late 12th century when it was presented to residents by Ralph le Breton. Originally, it was a chapel of the nearby village of Blockley.[22] The current Grade II listed building, St Peter church, made of Cotswold stone and roofed with slate, was erected in the late 16th Century. Since then, it has been extensively modified; in 1841, for example, it was rebuilt and enlarged.[23] A 1949 description of the building provides these specifics:[9]
The parish church of ST. PETER ... consists of a chancel with a south vestry, nave (50 ft. long), and a west porch and bellturret. No ancient architectural features remain. The small chancel has a traceried east window of four lights; the nave, divided by buttresses into four bays, has a two-light window in each bay in the north and south walls. The entrance is at the west end from a porch that is flanked by a small north chamber and a south staircase to a gallery. Over the porch is an octagonal bell turret lighted by windows in gables, the whole crowned by a small stone spire. The walls are of ashlar, the roofs covered with slates.
A recent report describes the interior of this Grade II listed church:[24][23]
The interior is simple and unpretentious, and darker than one might expect despite it's [sic] cream-washed walls. The furnishings are mostly of a piece with the building, including the west gallery which supports a modest organ. The only later additions appear to be the mural painting that enlivens the paneling behind the altar and the two stained glass windows at the east end of the nave.
The now deserted medieval village of Ditchford Frary (1066 to 1539)[25] stood about a mile southeast of St Peter church on the Paddle Brook stream. In 1086, Ditchford Frary was held by Robert de Stafford.[26] At one time, the settlement included St. Gileschapel.[9] In 1410, its "mother church" was Great Wolford;[27] the chapel was a ruin by the 17th century and the rectory was annexed to Stretton in 1642.[3][9] Earthwork evidence of the chapel still existed at the time of the Ordnance Survey of 1967.[28]
Transportation
This June 2009 map, posted in the village, defines the use and name of the buildings
