Stoke is a former civil parish, now in the parish of Stoke and Hurleston, in the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The parish was predominantly rural with a total population of around 200, measured with the inclusion of Hurleston at 324 in the 2011 Census. The largest settlement was Barbridge, which lies 3½ miles to the north west of Nantwich. The parish also included the small settlements of Stoke Bank and Verona. Nearby villages include Aston juxta Mondrum, Burland, Calveley, Haughton, Rease Heath and Wardle.

The Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal is located in Cheshire, in the north west of England, and runs between Middlewich, where it joins the Trent and Mersey Canal, and Barbridge Junction, where it joins the main line of the Shropshire Union Canal. It is 10 miles (16 km) long, and was planned as part of the Chester Canal, which was authorised in 1772, but the company ran out of money, and construction did not begin until 1827. The Trent and Mersey insisted that there should be no direct connection at Middlewich, and instead built the short Wardle Canal to join the two, charging large compensation tolls for traffic passing along it.