Church Of All Saints

The Church of All Saints is a parish church located in Stoke Ash, dating back to the medieval period and restored in 1868. The building consists of a nave, chancel, west tower, and south porch, constructed from flint rubble with stone dressings and a roof made of concrete plaintiles. The south porch is made of red brick and features clay plaintiles. The late 14th-century square tower has an embattled parapet and is supported by three-stage diagonal buttresses on the west side. It includes a moulded west doorway with original doors, a renewed two-light window above, and a small trefoil-headed window at the ringing chamber level. The belfry has two-light openings, and a string course with central gargoyles is located beneath the parapet.

The nave has a late 12th-century core, with simple north and south doorways that have rounded heads. A restored three-light early 14th-century window is found in the northwest, while the other windows, mostly renewed, are in the Perpendicular style. The early 16th-century porch features a moulded entrance arch with shafted jambs and a cinquefoil-headed niche above, along with a restored arch-braced roof that is largely original. The chancel has 12th-century origins, with a north wall made of coursed rubble and a round-arched Priest's doorway. An early 14th-century north window has three graduated cusped lancets, and there are two renewed 15th-century south windows. The east window is a renewed three-light in the Decorated style.

Inside, the nave has a trussed rafter roof with scissor-braced collars, originating from the 14th century but with some later replacements and possible reconstruction. The chancel features a 15th-century arched-braced roof in three bays, with short king-posts above the collars. The principal components of the roof are moulded, and the collars and wallplates are also embattled, with rafters renewed in the 19th century. There is no chancel arch, but there is a tall narrow tower arch and an original door leading to the tower stair. A rood stair is located in the northeast nave, and there is a plain niche for a piscina with a drop-sill sedilia nearby. The church contains a 14th or 15th-century octagonal font on a chamfered square shaft, an early 17th-century carved pulpit, and benches from 1868. In the north sanctuary, there are two early 18th-century tablets dedicated to members of the Bedingfield family. Above the south doorway, the Arms of William IV are displayed, dated 1836.