STOKE-near-NEWARK (EAST), a parish in the northern division of the wapentake of THURGARTON, county of NOTTINGHAM, 3 miles (S. W.) from Newark containing 424 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, with the perpetual curacies of Coddington and Syerston annexed, in the archdeaconry of Nottingham and diocese of York, rated in the king's books at £8. 13., and in the patronage of the Chancellor of the Cathedral Church of Lincoln. The church is dedicated to St. Oswald. The river Trent and the old Fosse road pass through the parish. An hospital, dedicated to St. Leonard, was founded here before the time of Henry I. for a master and brethren, chaplains, and several sick persons, whose revenue at the dissolution was valued at £9. On Stoke field was fought, in 1487, the decisive battle between the armies of Henry VII. and John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, who had espoused the cause of the impostor Lambert Simnel, in which the earl and four thousand of his followers were slain:. this is said to be the first action wherein cannon was used with success; human bones, fragments of armour, coins, &c., have been frequently ploughed up on the spot.