STOKE-near-NAYLAND, a parish in the hundred
of BABERGH, county of SUFFOLK, 2 miles (N. E. by N.)
from Nayland, containing 1393 inhabitants. The living
is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Sudbury, and diocese
of Norwich, rated in the king's books at £19. 0.10.,
and in the patronage of Sir William Rowley, Bart. The
clvurch, dedicated to St. Mary, is a spacious structure,
in the later style of English architecture, with a finelyproportioned
tower. A monastery existed here in the
middle of the tenth century, to which Earl Alfgar and
his daughters JEthelfled and JJgelfled made considerable
donations, it being the burial-place of that noble
family.