After 1066 William the Conqueror gave the manor to Osbern Giffard, one of his generals. It remained in the Giffard family until 1337 when it was granted to Maurice de Berkeley...

This happened after the death of the widow of Sir John Giffard, who was executed in 1324 after he had raided Edward II's baggage train. The king sent an army to destroy the family seat of Brimpsfield Castle "so that not one stone should stand upon another". Before this he had entered Gloucester by hiding in a bale of wool and captured the city. This was where he was hung, drawn and quartered. There is now no trace of the monument to his memory in Stoke Gifford (mentioned by a l7th century chronicler) but his effigy is in Leckhampton Church. His confiscated manors were given to the king's favourite Hugh Despenser, and after the King's murder to Sir John Matravers who married into the Berkeley family. The Giffard family had an aggressive reputation, having taken part in the Barons' Revolt in King John's time. Other Giffards had defied the abbot and sheriff of Gloucester. One Sir John Giffard-le-Rych was granted Llandovery Castle as a Marcher Lord and married Maud, the widow of the Earl of Salisbury. Their daughter became St. Katherine of Ledbury. There is a St. Katherine's well in nearby Bredon. The Berkeley family held the manor for four centuries. Their home was Stoke Park, (sometimes called Stoke House) which was rebuilt in 1760 by Norborne Berkeley, Lord Botetourt, the last of the Stoke Gifford Berkeleys. He became the Governor of Virginia, USA and after his death in Williamsburg in 1770 his sister Elizabeth and her husband, the fourth Duke of Beaufort, were granted the Manor. In 1878 the Duke of Beaufort leased Stoke Park to Admiral Close, a dynamic and controversial war veteran, who with his wife became much involved with the Church and villagers. In 1907 the Duke sold it to the Reverend Harold Nelson Burden and his first wife Katherine who were great philanthropists and founded Stoke Park Colony for children in need of "Care and Control". The rest of the Duke's property in Stoke Gifford was sold in 1915, mostly to sitting tenants. Although the Duke remained Lay Rector the patronage of the benefice at this time was passed to the Reverend Burden, and after his death to his second wife Gladys. After her death the Bishop of Bristol became patron. next>