The old church at Stoke Lacy, demolished in the 19th century

Stoke is a common place-name and is usually accompanied by a more precise definition to identify which Stoke is meant.  The Old English ‘stoc’ means a ‘dependent settlement’ but it sometimes is not clear what the settlement is dependent on. 

The history of Stoke Lacy is closely bound to the family from which it takes the second part of its name. William fitz Osbern become Earl of Hereford after the Conquest and a member of his household was Walter de Lacy a native of the place now called Lassy.  Stoke (Lacy) one of the manors which Fitz Osbern handed out to Walter, who then held them of the earl.  It is from Walter’s family the suffix Lacy derives.

Fitz Osbern died in 1072 and was succeeded by his son, Roger of Breteuil. In 1075 Roger forfeited his lands for revolt and Walter became a tenant-in-chief of the crown.  Walter’s other holdings included a swathe of land in the south-west of Herefordshire which was Welsh at the time of the Conquest.  This area was known as Ewyas Lacy and probably had its main stronghold at Pont Hendre Castle, near Longtown.  Also in this area is the village of Walterstone, which may have been named after him.

In 1085 Walter de Lacy was killed when he fell from his new church of St Peter in Hereford while it was building.  His large estates passed to his son Roger who is one of the principle Domesday landholders in Herefordshire.  The de Lacys held large estates in Herefordshire and the Welsh border including the boroughs of Longtown, Ludlow and Weobley.  Stoke Lacy was part of the honour of Weobley.

The present church of St Peter and St Paul at Stoke Lacy, by F R Kempson, 1863

The Domesday Book records of Stoke (Lacy) that ‘Aelmer held it; he could go where he would.’ The Aelmer who held it ‘TRE’ – in the time of King Edward the Confessor – has the superscript ‘Cilt’ above his name in the Domesday entry. The cilt seems to imply a membership of the English nobility.

Domesday records that there were ‘10 hides which pay tax. In lordship 3 ploughs; 22 villagers with 6 ploughs; a further 6 others would be possible. 11 slaves; a mill at 5s. Value before 1066 10s. now the same.’ At the time Stoke Lacy was in Plegelgate Hundred. The Manor at Nether Court subsequently passed to the Devereux family and then to the Berringtons.

Historic Herefordshire On Line holds records of several sites of archaeological interest in Stoke Lacy.

In 1988 a moat was recorded at Nether Court consisting of 2 arms, the NE and SE sides, which remained intact and water filled. The course of the NW arm is indicated by shallow depression along the modern hedge line, but the fourth side is now missing entirely. A round disturbance in the centre of the enclosed area was interpreted as possibly indicating the site of the original house.

A mill with house and garden is recorded 200 metres west of Nether Court in the 1840’s. It is shown on the tithe map as field number 224 (mill and garden) and 171(mill pond). This is the property currently known as Mill House.

The parish church is dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul.  Duncumb, writing in 1812, notes that the Abbey & convent of Gloucester had held it. He describes it as being a small building with one aisle, a chancel with a low tower with 4 bells, and that it had ‘lately undergone considerable repairs’. The churchyard is noted to be the ‘most extensive in county, 4 statute acres’. The church which Duncumb saw has now vanished and Pevsner notes that the church was entirely rebuilt in 1863 by F. R. Kempson. He describes it as being in the Early English style, and that it has a ‘specially ugly west tower; ugly in mixture of rockfacing & smooth dressings & in outline of spire. He states that ‘the nave is rock faced too, chancel of different masonry. Inside the chancel arch is Norman, but incorporates a reconstructed mid twelfth century chancel arch, and has a late fifteenth- sixteenth century screen’.

The Wye Valley Brewery at Stoke Lacy. This was formerly a cider factory.

Stoke Lacy is now the home of the Wye Valley Brewery.