Stoke-by-Nayland


Stoke-by-Nayland is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England, close to the border with Essex. The village, located within Babergh district, has many cottages and timber-framed houses and all surround a recreation field. Possibly once the site of a monastery, the population of the civil parish at the 2001 census was 703, falling to 682 at the Census 2011.

History

The village is first recorded in 946 in the will of Ælfgar, an Earl, where he endowed land to a community in the village, possibly a monastery.

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.

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:
In 1870–72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described the village as:
In 1887, John Bartholomew also wrote an entry on Stoke Nayland in the Gazetteer of the British Isles with a much shorter description:

Amenities

Stoke-by-Nayland contains two schools, one primary, Stoke by Nayland Church of England Primary School, and one independent school, Focus School. The village hall was established in 1911 as the Stoke by Nayland Institute. Now a registered charity the hall is now a general meeting place and hosts variety of events. Stoke By Nayland Hotel Golf and Spa is home to a golf course with two 18 hole courses. The club hosts two international PGA Tour events; the Senior Tour since 2006 and the EuroPro Tour since 2004. James Andrews Golf School moved to Stoke by Nayland Hotel, Golf and Spa in 2018 https://www.jamesandrewsgolfschool.co.uk

Image:Cherry Wood Robin.jpg|A Robin in Cherry Wood

Transport

The village is served by buses connecting it to Hadleigh, Polstead, Langham, Colchester, Ipswich, Sudbury, Leavenheath, and Great Horkesley.

Notable persons with connections to Stoke by Nayland