Stoke-by-Clare is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in Suffolk located in the valley of the River Stour, about two miles west of Clare. In 1124

Richard de Clare, 1st Earl of Hertford Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare (died 15 April 1136) 3rd feudal baron of Clare in Suffolk, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman. A marcher lord in Wales, he was also the founder of Tonbridge Priory in Kent. Life Richard was the eldest son of Gilbert F ...

, moved the Benedictine Priory that had been established at his castle in Clare to Stoke-by-Clare.

The Priory The Priory Hospital, Roehampton, often referred to as The Priory, is a private mental health hospital in South West London. It was founded in 1872 and is now part of the Priory Group, which was acquired in 2011 by an American private equity firm ...

, which was controlled by the monastery of Bec in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, enjoyed by 1291 rents from 17 parishes in Suffolk. During the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...

the Prior's revenues were in part diverted to the English crown and in 1415 the Priory was replaced by Stoke College, intended to support a small community of priests and choristers under the patronage of

Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, 7th Earl of Ulster (6 November 139118 January 1425), was an English nobleman and a potential claimant to the throne of England. A great-great-grandson of King Edward III of England, he was heir presumptive to ...

, who was also buried here. The village is home to the Elwes Baronetcy which was created in 1660 by King Charles II for

Gervase Elwes Gervase Henry Cary-Elwes, DL (15 November 1866 – 12 January 1921), better known as Gervase Elwes, was an English tenor of great distinction, who exercised a powerful influence over the development of English music from the early 1900s up u ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Sudbury and

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. At the time of the

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

, the Dean of the college was

Matthew Parker Matthew Parker (6 August 1504 – 17 May 1575) was an English bishop. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder (with a p ...

. Under his authority the College became a centre of the 'New Learning' and reforms brought him into conflict with the Priory at Clare. The college was suppressed in 1548 and the estate was purchased by John Cheke and

Walter Mildmay Sir Walter Mildmay (bef. 1523 – 31 May 1589) was a statesman who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth I, and founded Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Origins He was born at Moulsham in Essex, the fourth and youngest son of Th ...

. The reputed miser Sir Hervey Elwes lived here in the 18th century and was succeeded by his nephew

John Elwes (politician) John Elwes é Meggot or Meggott MP (7 April 1714 – 26 November 1789) was a member of parliament (MP) in Great Britain for Berkshire (1772–1784) and an eccentric miser, suggested to be an inspiration for the character of Ebenezer Scrooge in ...

in 1763.'Colleges: Stoke by Clare', A History of the County of Suffolk: Volume 2 (1975), pp. 145-150. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=37945 Date accessed: 26 July 2009. Major-General

Edward Loch, 2nd Baron Loch Major-General Edward Douglas Loch, 2nd Baron Loch (4 April 1873 – 14 August 1942) was a senior British Army officer and peer. After serving in Cape Colonial Forces in South Africa he joined the Grenadier Guards in 1893. He first saw active s ...

CB CMG MVO DSO, a senior

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer, is buried in the churchyard of St John the Baptist and there is memorial to him within the church. At the 2011 census the population of Stoke-by-Clare was recorded as 512. Its church, St John the Baptist, houses

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

. There are also several unique wall paintings one of which is said to date to the reign of Mary I. Stoke College is now an independent school for 11-18 year olds. The village formerly had a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

on the

Stour Valley Railway The Stour Valley Railway is a partially closed railway line that ran between , near Cambridge and in Essex, England. The line opened in sections between 1849 and 1865. The route from Shelford to Sudbury closed on 6 March 1967 leaving only th ...

Notable residents

Gilbert Fitz Richard Gilbert Fitz Richard (–), 2nd feudal baron of Clare in Suffolk, and styled "de Tonbridge", was a powerful Anglo-Norman baron who was granted the Lordship of Cardigan, in Wales . Life Gilbert, born before 1066, was the second son and an heir ...

(c1066-c1117), 2nd

feudal baron A feudal baron is a vassal holding a heritable fief called a ''barony'', comprising a specific portion of land, granted by an overlord in return for allegiance and service. Following the end of European feudalism, feudal baronies have largely been ...

of Clare and founder of the local Cluniac priory *

(1504-1575), clergyman and

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

from 1559 until his death in 1575.

References

External links

Photos of the church
Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Borough of St Edmundsbury {{Suffolk-geo-stub