North Stoke, West Sussex

North Stoke is a hamlet in West Sussex, England located 3.5 kilometres (2 miles) north of Arundel and can be reached by road from Amberley station 1 kilometre to the north.

North Stoke is on a spur of slightly higher ground on the east bank of a loop of the River Arun. Another small settlement on the west bank, South Stoke is about 1 kilometre to the south east and can be reached on foot. North Stoke, mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1087, is a medieval village which has lost most of its population. This could be because of plague in the middle ages or because the landowner preferred to graze the land with sheep. This has left a fine example of an Early English church which has been redundant since the early twentieth century. The dedication of the church had been long forgotten, but has recently been rediscovered from a scrap of a vellum letter dated 1275 from the Bishop of Chichester to King Edward I as The Virgin Mary. It is now maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust.

See also

• GENUK map of parishes
• Photos and information on the church