Stoke is a common place-name derived from Old English, typically meaning a secondary settlement or outlying farmstead.

[13] Edward Anderton Reade, the local squire at Ipsden, had worked with the Maharajah of Benares in India in the mid-nineteenth century.

Recalling Reade's help in creating the Azimgurgh well in 1831 and his stories of water deprivation in his home area of Ipsden[citation needed] the Maharajah commissioned the well at Stoke Row and it was sunk in 1863.

The well and pavilion can be seen in a small park on the north side of the main road through Stoke Row village.

Another Indian aristocrat, Maharaja Sir Deonarayun Singh, probably motivated the Stoke Row project, donated a well to the nearby village of Ipsden.

[19] Built in 1642 the pub is reputed to have once been the hideout of highwayman Dick Turpin, who was said to have been in love with the landlord's daughter, Bess.

In June 1989 the British progressive rock band Marillion played its first performance with Steve Hogarth as frontman at the pub; a documentary DVD called From Stoke Row To Ipanema – A Year In The Life was subsequently produced.