Pre-1650
Stoke Bishop or Bishop's Stoke was given to the Bishop of Coutances, Normandy (Geoffrey de Montbray), after the Norman invasion in the eleventh century. The manor of Stoke Bishop later passed to the Bishops of Worcester and then to the crown.
'Stoke Bishop is a very considerable tithing. It was called Stoke Bishop or Bishop's Stoke because it belonged to the Bishop of Constance in Normandy, and to distinguish it from Stoke Gifford in this neighbourhood... The manor of Stoke Bishop was afterwards vested in the Bishops of Worcester and held by them in succession till it was alienated to the crown by Doctor Heath (in the first year of Edward VI).'
Samuel Rudder, A New History of Gloucestershire (1779)
In 1547 King Edward VI granted Stoke Bishop, along with other local parcels of land, to Sir Ralph Sadleir, an agent of King Henry VIII in the dissolution of the monasteries. The following extract is a translation from the Latin letter confirming this transaction.
'We give also, and for the afore-said consideration through these presents have granted to the above-mentioned Ralph Sadleir all that our lordship or manor of Suffhoppestoke, otherwise called Stoke Bishop in the County of Gloucester with all its rights members and appurtenances, lately parcels of the possessions of the Bishop of Worcester...'
In H.J. Wilkins, The Letters Patent of King Edward VI granting...Stoke Bishop...to Sir Ralph Sadleir
Bibliography
S. Rudder, A New History of Gloucestershire (1779; reprinted Gloucester: Sutton, 1986)
H.J. Wilkins (ed), The Letters Patent of King Edward VI granting Henbury Manor and Church, Stoke Bishop, Sneyd Park, Pen Park, Olveston, etc. to Sir Ralph Sadleir (Bristol: Arrowsmith, 1909)