Click here for a map

The village of Stody was originally known as STODHAEG (Old English) and meant a pasture for horses. It was also known ESTODEIA (1086 Latin). 

St. Mary’s Stody has an interesting round tower built from local flint in the 11th Century and there are a number of indications that it may well have been built before 1066. These round towers are a peculiarity to East Anglia and in particular Norfolk. During the 15th Century the church either fell down or was so badly in need of repair that except for the tower, the church was entirely rebuilt. 

Some of the 13th Century windows and earlier building material probably put back into the church at the time of the rebuild. The rebuild has been compared with two churches in Norwich, St. Peter’s Hungate and St. Mary’s, Coslany, which has led some to believe that all three churches were (re) built around 1460. 

From the 15th –18th Centuries, there were three bells in Stody but in 1759 the two smaller were sold. The remaining bell bears the inscription “Santa Maria Ora Pro Nobis” (Holy Mary pray for us) – a reminder that the church was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The bell also shows the mark “bells and crosskeys” signifying that it was cast at the Bury St. Edmund foundry and is believed to have been paid for by a legacy left by the then Lord of the Manor, Robert Braunche in 1502. 

The church was restored in the early 20th Century, with the pulpit and choir stalls being installed in 1906 and the solid oak pews in 1912. 

The Font is said to be 13th Century and is of purbeck marble, supported by purbeck marble shafts. 

The church contains a Floor Slab showing a dolphin – the heraldry arms of Symonds. This is probably connected with William Symonds Ghent who was buried here in 1689. There is also a slab for Robert Britiffe, a retired sea captain. 

On the North wall of the Chancel, there is a memorial to Josiah Webb Flavell, the Rector from 1801 to 1848, who was also a magistrate in Norfolk.

In the Graveyard, there is the grave of John Crisp Paterson, who volunteered and fought in the First World War and died in 1923 aged 27. During the fierce battles of the War, he was severely shell shocked and so, at the end of the War he tried to start a new life in Stody. Sadly the effects were too severe and he committed suicide by shooting himself in the doorway of the farmhouse where he lived.