OS grid reference TQ019107 Country England Post town Arundel Shire county West Sussex Dialling code 01798 UK parliament constituency Arundel and South Downs | Region South East Sovereign state United Kingdom Postcode district BN18 District Horsham District Civil parish Amberley | |
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North Stoke is a village in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is just over 2 miles (3 km) north of Arundel and 0.7 miles (1 km) south of Amberley railway station, and is at the end of a no through road from the station.
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Map of North Stoke, Arundel, UK
The village is on a spur of slightly higher ground on the east bank of a loop of the River Arun, surrounded by water meadows. It is in the middle of the gap eroded through the South Downs by the River Arun. Another small settlement on the west bank, South Stoke is about 0.5 miles (1 km) to the south east and can be reached by a footpath and a footbridge over the river. A suspension bridge on the path was rebuilt by British Army Gurkhas in 2009 after being damaged by a falling tree.
Manor
North Stoke is a medieval village, recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. It has lost most of its population, possibly due to Black Death in the Middle Ages or because the landowner preferred to enclose the land for sheep pasture. This has left a notable example of an Norman and Early English Gothic church, which is Listed Grade I.
Parish church
The Church of England parish church of the Virgin Mary is now redundant and maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust. The church's dedication had been long forgotten but in 2007 it was rediscovered from a scrap of a vellum letter dated 1275 from Stephen Bersted, Bishop of Chichester to Edward I. The church was accordingly rededicated to the Virgin Mary in December 2007.