Suffolk, England

At the front entrance to the Church of St Augustine or St John the Baptist [disputed] there are some very stately Chestnut Trees which also leads to Stoke College which was formerly a Benedictine Prioryof late 11c.

The view of the college/priory can be viewed by walking via the footpath near to the churchyard and then ealking south down the minor road towards Ashen Village [Essex] and taking a right turn at the bridge on to the Stour Valley Footpath passing the weir.

Go past the college/priory and through a wood, retrace your footsteps to the church, the SVP continues towards Clare but the SVP deviates away from the River Stour past Claret Hall before joining the river again fairly near to Clare Priory.

The Church is large and boasts the narrowest pulpit in the country with an internal diameter of 28", fragments of 15c stained glass can be found in some windows, there are wall paintings and a one handed clock of c1670. Matthew Parker was the last Dean of Stoke College, he later became Archbishop of Canterbury appointed by Elizabeth I

Many times I have been to and travelled through Stoke-by-Clare and visited the Church of St Augustine [sometimes called St John the Baptist], here are my own notes and those of the church from one such visit on 24th April 1999

• Probably one of two named churches on the same site
• Remains of a 13c building work at the base of the present Tower
• Finely carved 15c pulpit claimed to be the smallest in England
• Wall Paintings of 16c
• 16c Font
• Parish registers date from 1538