Stoke St Michael History
STOKE-LANE, (or Stoke St. Michael), a parish in the hundred of Whitstone, county Somerset, 4 miles N.E. of Shepton-Mallet, its railway station and post town, and 8 W. of Frome. The village is situated about a mile N. of the turnpike road from Frome to Wells. A large portion of the land is in pasture, and 165 acres in woods and plantations.
The soil is light, but shallow; that portion of it being on the N. side of the Mendip hills, rests upon a laver of red gravel, and in the other parts it has a substratum of limestone and freestone.
The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Bath and Wells, value £120, in the patronage of the Vicar of Doulting. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, has a tower containing a clock and three bells. It was rebuilt in 1838. The register dates from 1644. The parochial charities produce about £7 per annum. There is a National school for both sexes. The Wesleyans have a chapel.
The village is considered a healthy spot, one-fourth of the persons dying within the last half century having exceeded 70 years. W. F. Knatchbull, Esq., M.P., is lord of the manor."
From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)