St Mary's Church

The church was rebuilt in the 15th century and renovated in 1865, and appears several times in John Constable's paintings, though not always in the right place. The most notable feature is the red-brick tower; completed about 1470 and surmounted by stone spires, the buttresses are laced with canopied image niches. On the north side there is a Tudor porch, but the south porch, the main entrance, was entirely refaced by the Victorians. However, the windows and corbels reveal it to be one of the earliest parts of the church, an early 14th-century addition of two storeys to the building that was then replaced in the late 15th century.^[3] The tower is 126 feet (38 metres) high to the pinnacles. ^[4]

Listed buildings

Stoke-by-Nayland's many listed buildings consist mainly of Grade II houses and cottages, mostly timber-framed and rendered with plain-tile roofs, although some are thatched or slated.

Thorington Hall, in a separate hamlet to the south-east of the village, is a 17th-century timber-framed and plastered house with much original detail. There are cross wings at the north-east and south-west ends, and a staircase wing rises to above eaves level on the south-east front. The north-east wing has a jettied gable on both fronts, carved bressummer and bargeboards. The south-west wing has an oriel window on the upper storey on the north-west side, on four shaped brackets. It also includes a jettied gable with carved bressummer and bargeboards. The windows are mostly mullioned and transomed casements with leaded lights, some with the original 17th-century fastenings. There are some original windows, blocked. On the south-east front includes a modern glazed door with an 18th-century door-case and a scroll pediment on brackets. There are two heavy chimney stacks, one finely done with 6 grouped octagonal shafts.

Downs Farmhouse, no longer used as such, dates from the early 16th century, with later extensions. It is timber-framed and rendered; with rear extensions partly faced in 19th-century red brick. Of two storeys and on a 3-cell plan, its roofs are plain-tiled with the original chimney-stack set externally on the rear wall of the hall, and a cross entry. The stack has been rebuilt in plain red brick.

Street House is in Church Street and has a plain-tile roof above timber-framed construction behind a render finish.

The Maltings, backing onto the churchyard, and the Old Guildhall, facing it across the road, each has exposed timber-framing and jettied fronts designed to be seen. Both these buildings are of four bays divided into tenements.

Historical writings

The village features in the 1868 National Gazetteer of Great Britain, volume 10, as:^[5]

STOKE-BY-NAYLAND, a parish in the hundred of Babergh, county Suffolk, 1½ mile N.E. of Nayland, and 5 miles E. of Bures railway station. Colchester is its post town. The village, which was formerly a market town, is situated near the river Stour. The par. contains the chapelry of Leavenheath, and had a monastery endowed by the Saxon Earl of Algar, traces of which are still existing. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely, value £278. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient structure, with a tower and six bells. There is also a district church at Leavenheath, the living of which is a perpetual curacy, value £56. The parochial charities produce about £25 per annum, exclusive of some almshouses. £8 go towards Lady Windsor's hospital. There is a National school for both sexes. Tendring Hall is the principal residence.

In 1870–72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described the village as:^[6]

STOKE-BY-NAYLAND, a parish, with a village, in Sudbury district, Suffolk; 1½ mile NE of Nayland, and 6 E by N of Bures r. station. It has a post-office under Colchester. Acres, 5,277. Real property, £9,299. Pop. in 1851, 1,406; in 1861, 1,275. Houses, 302. The decrease of pop. was caused partly by the closing of silk-mills. The property is divided among a few. Tendring Hall is the seat of Sir R. Rowley, Bart.; and Giffords Hall, of P. Mannock, Esq. A monastery was founded here by the Saxon Earl A1gar. The living is a vicarage the diocese of Ely. Value, £355.* Patron, Sir R.Rowley, Bart. The church is later English, with a lofty tower; and was restored in 1865. The p. curacy of Leavenheath is a separate benefice. There are a Roman Catholic chapel, a national school, alms houses, and other charities £25. Lord mayor Capel, ancestor of the Earl of Essex, was a native.

In 1887, John Bartholomew also wrote an entry on Stoke Nayland in the Gazetteer of the British Isles with a much shorter description:^[7]

Stoke (by Nayland), par. and vil., Suffolk - par. 5277 ac., pop. 1150; vil., 2 miles NE. of Nay land and 6 miles E. of Bures; P.O.