Weird and wonderful vicars
Stockton has enjoyed some notable and eccentric vicars over the years. One such was the Rev. Willam Tuckwell, known as the Radical Parson. He spoke firmly in favour of land nationalisation and introduced allotments into the village, dividing up the Glebe land into plots for villagers, who eagerly took up their usage.
Stockton's most famous incumbent was Archdeacon Colley of Natal in South Africa, who was rector from 1901 until his death in 1912. He was deeply interested in spiritualism and conducted séances in the rectory. He was notorious for having himself carried round the church during an evening service in a glass-topped coffin, which he kept in the music room at the rectory. A keen musician, he occasionally summoned the congregation to worship by blowing a cornet from the church porch and delivered baritone solos from the pulpit.
In spite of his eccentricity he served the people of the village diligently and was particularly good with children, for whom he gave lively parties. Another of his ideas was the speakpipe. In the rectory garden there was an observatory against the wall with a pipe down to the road. The children would have to recite their lessons to him and if their answers were right, they were rewarded with apples, nuts or pennies.
