Church of St Mary at Stoke
CHURCH OF ST MARY AT STOKE, STOKE STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1235601
- Date first listed:
- 19-Dec-1951
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Mary at Stoke
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY AT STOKE, STOKE STREET
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2003-04-15
- Reference:
- IOE01/10201/10
- Rights:
- © Mr Hubert Smith. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1235601
- Date first listed:
- 19-Dec-1951
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 04-Aug-1972
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Mary at Stoke
- Statutory Address 1:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY AT STOKE, STOKE STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY AT STOKE, STOKE STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Suffolk
- District:
- Ipswich (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TM 16239 43819
Details
642/12/13 STOKE STREET 19-DEC-1951 CHURCH OF ST MARY AT STOKE (Formerly listed as: BELSTEAD ROAD CHURCH OF ST MARY AT STOKE)
I Anglican town church. Probably C14 NW tower; C15 N aisle; N transept and SW porch 1863 to the designs of Phipps (information from John Barbrook), the rest of the church thoroughly rebuilt by Butterfield in 1870-1871 in the Perpendicular style. Plan of nave and chancel, N aisle (the former C15 nave) and NE chapel, N and S transepts, NE vestry roofed parallel to the N transept, NW tower, SW porch. Knapped flint and freestone with slate roofs and pierced C19 ridge tiles to the nave and chancel, brick parapet to tower. The nave and chancel are decorated with stone bands and some chequerboard decoration in the gables and the porch has flushwork decoration. EXTERIOR: The Butterfield chancel has diagonal buttresses and a 5-light traceried E window. Buttressed nave with 3-light traceried windows, the W window narrow. The N transept has a 3-light N window and diagonal buttresses. NE chapel has a 3-light E window with a transom in the tracery and diagonal buttresses. The N transept has diagonal buttresses and 3 light windows; 3-light windows to the N aisle. Unbuttressed W tower with a C19 moulded W doorway below a 2-light Tudor-arched W window; Y-traceried belfry openings. Richly-decorated SW porch with a coped gable and diagonal buttresses, the gable filled with chequered flint and ashlar blocks and a roundel window with Flamboyant tracery. There is flushwork blind arcading above the doorway which has a square-headed frame and carved spandrels. INTERIOR: Plastered and painted. No chancel arch. The tower arch has been blocked by a later screen, but its W face shows a double-chamfered arch. Simple moulded doorway into the vestry is said to be the doorway to the former rood loft stairs, preserved when the vestry was built. The N aisle preserves a very fine hammerbeam roof with 2 tiers of purlins, the hammerbeams carved with figures holding shields depicting the symbols of the passion. An engraving of 1854 shows that the heads of the figures were lost and the existing heads are later replacements. Butterfield arch braced roof to nave and chancel, plastered behind the rafters, with pierced tracery decoration above the collar. 5-bay arcade with corner shafts to the piers, the W bay narrower and taller than the others. The braces on wooden posts on carved stone corbels. 3-bay stone panelled reredos by Butterfield, the panelling extending across the E wall of the sanctuary and infilled with C20 painting. C19 encaustic tiles to the chancel. Ogee-arched aumbry in N wall with a crocketted finial, painted white and gilded. Choir stalls with shouldered ends and poppyhead finials to the rear row. The backs of the 2nd row are decorated with blind tracery. c. early C20 timber drum pulpit on a low wineglass stem, the sides carved with blind tracery. C19 stone font with an octagonal bowl with carved sides and a brattished cornice on an octagonal stem and plinth. The front has been painted white and gilded. C19 nave benches with square-headed ends, moulded tops and 2 vertical panels. Stained glass includes an 1871 E window to the designs of Clayton and Bell and an E window in the N aisle of 1864, to the designs of P R Burrell. Heaton, Butler and Bayne window in the nave signed with a memorial date of 1905.
A fine C14-C15 church with an outstanding hammerbeam roof in the N aisle (formerly the nave). The C19 rebuilding is mostly by Butterfield and there are good fittings and stained glass.
Sources Pevsner. Suffolk, 1974, 293. Information from John Barbrook.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 426379
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Suffolk, (1974), 293
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 10-Jun-2026 at 11:04:25.
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