Stewkley
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Stewkley is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the Aylesbury Vale, about five miles east of Winslow, four miles west of Leighton Buzzard.
The village name Stewkley is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'woodland clearing with tree stumps'. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it was recorded as Stiuclai.
The principal manor in Stewkley once belonged to the son of Geoffrey Chaucer, who was an occasional visitor to the village.
The parish church, dedicated to St Michael and All Angels, is one of the least-altered of England's 6000 Norman churches. There is also a Methodist Chapel in High Street South, and a school, St Michael's Church of England Combined School, for children aged 4-11.
In 1969/70 Stewkley was earmarked to be destroyed to make way for the building of London's Third Airport, bigger than Heathrow, but was saved after villagers fought an environmental and political campaign.
It is reputedly has the longest village High Street in Britain, a title also claimed by Combe Martin in Devon, and Brinkworth in Wiltshire, whose two mile high street is not as continuously populated as Stewkley's 1.7 miles of High street.
[edit] Famous people
Stewkley's claim to fame is Al Murray, a comedian who has had many television shows his most recent on ITV, The Pub Landlord. Al has recently done a performance at the local Village Hall where he raised well over £5,000 towards a refurbishment project for the Hall.[citation needed]
