Stoke / Stoke St. Michael's

The Victoria County History (Warwick, vol. 8, 1969) notes: "A chapel was in existence at Stoke in the early 12th century when it was listed among the chapelries restored to Coventry Priory by the Earl of Chester. [...] In 1410-11 the chapel was called 'the chapel of the hamlets of Stoke and Bigging'. The priory was then to ensure, by ancient custom, that services were held on three days each week, but the absence of references to a chaplain at that time suggests that the chapel was served from Coventry. [...] the church had been a chapel of ease until the reign of Henry VII, a parochial church thereafter [...] The parish church of ST. MICHAEL stands in its graveyard on rising ground to the north of Walsgrave Road. It consists of an aisled nave, a chancel flanked by organ chamber and north chapel, north vestries, south porch, and west tower. The tower, the three western bays of the nave, and the corresponding bays of the south aisle, represent the only medieval work in the church; there are no visible remains of the 12th-century building. [...] The octagonal stone font is of the 14th or 15th century". The parish site [www.stokestmichaels.co.uk/history.html] [accessed 13 March 2015] informs of a move of the font in the late-20th century: "in 1992 the chancel screen was removed to open up again the unity and spaciousness of the whole building and the font which had been situated next to a pillar at the rear of the south aisle was moved nearer the door to allow families to gather easily around for baptisms."