Stanningfield is a village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

, since 1988 in the parish of Bradfield Combust with Stanningfield, in the

West Suffolk West Suffolk may refer to the following places in Suffolk, England: * West Suffolk (county), a county until 1974 * West Suffolk District, a local government district established in 2019 * West Suffolk (UK Parliament constituency), an electoral dist ...

district of the county of Suffolk, England. The village lies just off of the

A134 road List of A roads in zone 1 in Great Britain beginning north of the River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is ...

, about 5 miles (8 km) south-east of Bury St Edmunds, 5 miles/8 km north-west of

Lavenham Lavenham is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is noted for its Guildhall, Little Hall, 15th-century church, half-timbered medieval cottages and circular walks. In the mediev ...

, and 10 miles/16 km north of Sudbury.

Governance

Stanningfield belongs to the

district of the shire county of Suffolk. The three tiers of local government are Suffolk County Council, St Edmundsbury Borough Council and Bradfield Combust with Stanningfield Parish Council. The parish currently lacks a parish plan or design statement.

History

Stanningfield takes its name from the Early English name "Stanfella" or "Stansfelda" meaning "stony field". It is known that the area was occupied early in recorded British history as traces of Roman occupation has been found on one local farm. Occasional documentary references mention the village in Anglo-Saxon and

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

times, including The Domesday Book. The oldest building, St Nicholas' Church, dates back at least to the Norman period. The 1838 Tithe Map shows the same internal road patterns as today, with roads leading out to the neighbouring villages of

Hawstead Hawstead is a small village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It is located south of Bury St. Edmunds between the B1066 and A134 roads, in a fork formed by the River Lark and a small tributary. The ...

Lawshall Lawshall is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. Located around a mile off the A134 between Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury, it is part of Babergh district. The parish has nine settlements comprising the three main settlements of The St ...

Great Whelnetham Great Whelnetham (sometimes Great Welnetham) is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located around two miles south of Bury St Edmunds, in 2005 its population was 820. The parish also contains ...

, Sicklesmere,

Bradfield Combust Bradfield Combust (or Burnt Bradfield) is a village and former manor and civil parish, now in the parish of Bradfield Combust with Stanningfield in Suffolk, England, located on the A134 between Windsor Green and Great Whelnetham. In 1961 ...

and Cockfield. The nearest railway station was located in the last until it closed to passengers in 1961. The

River Lark The River Lark is a river in England that crosses the border between Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. It is a tributary of the River Great Ouse, and was extended when that river was re-routed as part of drainage improvements. It is thought to have ...

is a dominant feature, as are several village greens. Hoggard's Green, the largest, has long played an important part in community life. The pond on that green has long gone, but in 1996 a successful reclamation of an ancient pond at Old Lane was undertaken.

Recent years

A small, scattered village, Stanningfield centres on the green, the ''Red House'' inn and the nearby community shop. The inn was built in 1865; Henry Cornish was recorded as landlord in 1871. In 1877, it was bought by the brewers Greene King, along with its outbuildings and adjacent cottages. There is a picturesque area around St Nicholas's Church, which includes the village hall (formerly the church hall), the old rectory and several old farmhouses. On the

side of the village stands Coldham Hall, dating from

Tudor times The Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603 in England and Wales and includes the Elizabethan period during the reign of Elizabeth I until 1603. The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England that began with t ...

. One remarkable feature is the continuity of Roman Catholicism from the Middle Ages to the present day, in a predominantly

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

area.

Ambrose Rookwood Ambrose Rookwood (c. 1578 – 31 January 1606) was a member of the failed 1605 Gunpowder Plot, a conspiracy to replace the Protestant King James I with a Catholic sovereign. Rookwood was born into a wealthy family of Catholic recusants, and edu ...

Coldham Hall Coldham Hall is a Grade I listed building, built in 1574, that is located in the parish of Bradfield Combust with Stanningfield in Suffolk. The Hall is very close to the village of Lawshall, and part of the Coldham estate is located within this ...

was executed for his involvement in the

Gunpowder Plot The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sough ...

. The novelist, playwright and actress

Elizabeth Inchbald Elizabeth Inchbald (née Simpson, 15 October 1753 – 1 August 1821) was an English novelist, actress, dramatist, and translator. Her two novels, '' A Simple Story'' and '' Nature and Art'', have received particular critical attention. Life Bo ...

(''née'' Simpson) was born into a Catholic farming family in the village on 15 October 1773.

St Nicholas's Church

There has been a church in Stanningfield since before 1086, when the Domesday Book curtly recorded that Stanfella had a church with 16 acres (6.5 ha) of free land. Situated in a secluded spot about half a mile from the present centre of the village, Stanningfield Church is dedicated to St Nicholas of Myra in

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, from whom the Santa Claus customs derive. Each period has added a contribution to the fabric of the church. The most remarkable exterior feature is a Decorated chancel, a bequest from the Rookwood family in the 14th century, noted for the design and craftsmanship of the window tracery. Much restoration was undertaken in the last third of the 19th century and early years of the 20th. Above the chancel arch is a 15th-century "Doom", painted on plaster in black line with some red background. This was expertly restored in 1995. The bell-chamber stage of the 15th-century tower was reduced in height in the late 19th century and a slated pyramid roof added. Tradition has it that the repair resulted from a Colchester earthquake felt over a 150-mile radius, but subsidence of the medieval foundations is more likely. The tower had three bells, of which one has been hung again to a wooden frame just below the cap. The other two, with inscriptions from the 16th and 17th centuries, stood on the nave floor until as recently as 1967, when they were melted down for scrap. The church is currently one of seven parishes forming the Benefice of St Edmund Way.

Listed buildings

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

lists the following

listed buildings In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

within Stanningfield. The details given represent the names and addresses in use at the time of listing. Grade I: *St Nicholas's Church, Church Road *Coldham Hall, Coldham Hall Lane Grade II*: *Former Roman Catholic Chapel, 5 miles/8/km east of Coldham Hall, Coldham Hall Lane Grade II: *Fox House, Bury Road – Images of England *Newhall Cottage, Bury Road – Images of England *Old Cottage, Chapel Road – Images of England *Homestead and Sunrise, Chapel Road – Images of England *Bakers Farmhouse, Church Road – Images of England *Church Farmhouse, Church Road – Images of England *Stable And Coach House Block, 80 metres East of Coldham Hall, Coldham Hall Lane – Images of England *Outbuilding With Bell Turret, 20 metres North East of Coldham Hall, Coldham Hall Lane *Coldham Hall Cottage, Coldham Hall Lane *Dovecote 150 Metres South of Coldham Hall, Coldham Hall Lane *Hall Farmhouse, Donkey Lane *Makins Farmhouse, Donkey Lane – Images of England *Barfords, Donkey Lane *Thatched House, The Green – Images of England *Orchard Cottage, The Green – Images of England *Moorside, Old Lane, IP29 4SA – Images of England *Little Saxes Farmhouse – Images of England *K6 Telephone Kiosk, Ixer Lane

Transport

The village has an hourly daytime bus service on Monday to Saturday to Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury. Some buses connect with trains to Cambridge and Ipswich (at Bury) or London, Liverpool Street (at Sudbury).

Demography

At the

United Kingdom Census 2001 A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for Nationa ...

, the parish of Bradfield Combust with Stanningfield had a population of 503 in 231 households. This rose to 578 in 253 households at the 2011 Census. The parish population was put at 587 in 2019.City Population. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
/ref>

Population change

Notable people

(1753–1821) – actress, author, diarist and playwright *Residents of

: **

(c. 1578–1606) – member of the failed 1605

, a conspiracy to replace the

King

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

with a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

monarch ** David Hart (1944–2011) – adviser to Margaret Thatcher, a writer and businessman who lived at Coldham Hall and Chadacre Hall *Current residents include: **

Matthew Vaughn Matthew Allard de Vere Drummond (born Matthew Allard Robert Vaughn; 7 March 1971) is an English filmmaker. He has produced films including ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' (1998) and '' Snatch'' (2000), and directed ''Layer Cake'' (2004 ...

(born 1971) – film producer and director **

Claudia Schiffer Claudia Maria Schiffer (; born 25 August 1970) is a German model and actress based in the United Kingdom. She rose to fame in the 1990s as one of the world's most successful models, attaining supermodel status. In her early career, she was compa ...

(born 1970) – German model and actress

Location grid

References

External links

Suffolk ChurchesStanningfield page on Parish Council site
{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Former civil parishes in Suffolk Borough of St Edmundsbury Thedwastre Hundred