Churchstoke (Welsh: Yr Ystog; also spelled as Church Stoke) is a village, community and electoral ward in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales.
The parish church today is largely the result of 19th-century rebuilding, but retains its 13th-century tower with a later timber belfry.
From the period before the 19th century, only a font, a stoup and a chest have survived up to three phases of restoration and reconstruction.
The main body of the church with its large high pitched roof dates to the second half of the 19th century, although the sequence of construction is not completely clear.
The layout of the churchyard and its location immediately above the River Camlad suggests an early medieval origin.
In 1881 the interior was laid out in its present form and the church was rededicated to Saint Nicholas (having previously been dedicated to St.
The columns, which have octagonal stone bases and square decorative capitals, now support the lowered roofline.
The exterior buttresses were added together with the nave windows and the ground level lowered around the church.
A few signs of musket shots from the skirmishes in the Civil War can still be seen, notably on the soffit of the upper storey round-headed window on the north wall of the tower.
The parishioners in Churchstoke voted by 390 to 70, and those in Hyssington with Snead by 108 to 33, to remain part of the Church of England.
[8] The village has many facilities including a large supermarket (Midcounties Co-operative, formerly Harry Tuffins), as well as a primary school, two public houses (The Horse and Jockey and The Court House Hotel), a Chinese takeaway and fresh locally made ice cream.
[11] Admiral Sir Michael Pollock (1916–2006) lived at Churchstoke following his retirement from the Royal Navy[12] while the Australian artist and lecturer, May Marsden, was born here in 1876.