Stoke Trister
Stoke Trister is a village and civil parish south-east of Wincanton and north-west of Gillingham close to the Dorset border in the county of Somerset, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Bayford.
History
The Stoke part of the name means place or dairy farm with the Trister part being a corruption of the name of Richard del Estre who was lord of the manor in the 12th century. Stoke Trister passed with Cucklington to the Phelips family in 1765 and was then held with Montacute.The parish of Stoke Trister was part of the Norton Ferris Hundred.
The manor house, which was built in the 16th century, is now Stoke Farm House. It was acquired around 1547 by the Earl of Pembroke and sold in 1602.
Physicwell House, which was formerly known as Horwood Well House was built around 1805.
Governance
The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept to cover the council’s operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council.For local government purposes, since 1 April 2023, the parish comes under the unitary authority of Somerset Council. Prior to this, it was part of the non-metropolitan district of South Somerset. It was part of Wincanton Rural District before 1974.
It is also part of the Glastonbury and Somerton county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.