England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Stoke St Michael

The Parish

The parish of Stoke lies in northeastern Warwickshire no more than 1 1/2 miles east of the city centre of Coventry. Stoke sits on the A4600 (Walsgrave Road) road which links Coventry with the modern M6 & M69 motorways. At the time of this transcript Stoke was a set of discrete small hamlets (Lower Stoke, Middle Stoke, Church End, Upper Stoke and Stoke Heath) sitting in open countryside east of the city, today Coventry has expanded to engulf these former hamlets making them mere eastern sub-districts of a vast urban area of over 6 mile from east to west whilst an urban corridor extends northwards as far and including Nuneaton. Stoke would have been a farming community and the soils were fertile and easily worked providing good crops, all lies beneath tarmac and people's homes and business premises today. Modern developments have come to the parish, the Coventry Canal skirts the western edges whilst the A4600 has been upgraded to urban dual-carriageway to speed traffic to the motorways. Stoke is drained southwards by the River Sowe which soon meets the Avon east of Kenilworth, the Avon eventually reaches the Severn westwards and then water heads determinedly south to the Bristol Channel. Stoke is sited at around 90 metres above the sea on what is the highest ground between Coventry and the valley of the Sowe. Stoke parish was relatively small covering just 920 acres yet supported a population of close to 900 parishioners, many more thousands today. Stoke is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Michael's church sits on the northern side of Walsgrave Road opposite to Church Lane and set back some distance behind a grassy frontage. The church was much enlarged during the 19th century but retains elements of its medieval origins. The earliest remaining feature is the southern aisle in a local red sandstone which dates from the early 14th century and is styled in the Decorated styling of that half-century. The western parts of the nave are contemporary with the southern aisle whilst the western tower is later and Perpendicular in style, either the latter half of the 14th or early 15th centuries. Enlargement became necessary as Stoke became a mere suburb of Coventry and population expanded, the Georgian period of 1822 added a northern aisle and arcade. The Victorian period saw further work in 1860-61 when both nave and aisles were extended further eastwards by two bays and the chancel then completely rebuilt albeit retaining its presumably original Decorated styling. The 20th century saw the southern porch rebuilt in 1921 and a vestry and hall added to the northwest in 1930, a chapel and organ chamber completed the chancel as additions in 1952. Parking on the Walsgrave Road is rather restricted but Church Lane opposite is well-used by locals for on-street parking. A broad lychgate at the western end of the site grants entry. The churchyard has many trees which make for a limited and restricted set of viewpoints and making for something of a challenge for the photographer.