STOKE, a parish in the higher division of the hundred
of WIRRALL, county palatine of CHESTER, comprising
the townships of Great Stanney, Little Stanney,
and Stoke, and part of that of Whitby, and containing 461
inhabitants,of which number, 129 are in the township
of Stoke, 4 miles (N. by E.) from Chester. The living
is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry and diocese
of Chester, endowed with £200 private benefaction, and
£200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of Sir H. E.
Bunbury, Bart. The church, which is the burial-place
of the Bunbury family, has a Norman doorway, some
ancient wooden screen-work, and a small chapel attached
to the south side of the chancel: it was partially rebuilt
in 1827, and has received an addition of fiftyfive
free sittings, the Incorporated Society for the enlargement
of churches and chapels having granted £50
towards defraying the expense. A school, founded here
about 1670, by Sir Thomas Bunbury, Bart., is endowed
with the interest of £200.