St Mary's is most memorable for its mighty tower, which stands 120 feet (36.6 metres) high with pinnacled corner turrets. It can be seen for miles around and was featured in John Constable's rainbow painting Stoke-by-Nayland. The tower, like the main body of the church, was built in the 15th century. The south door with its intricately carved "Tree of Jesse" is outstanding, and there is a memorial brass to Catherine Howard, great-grandmother of two of Henry VIII's wives (his namesake and Anne Boleyn).
On School Street, you pass two splendid timber Tudor buildings: the Maltings and the Guildhall. As you leave the village along the B1068, look for Polstead's church across the valley on your right.
You walk down into the valley via Steps Farm (a timber-framed farmhouse with thatched barns) then follow Mill Lane, which takes its name from an old water mill that closed in 1926 and is now a private house. You cross the River Box, a tributary of the River Stour, then head into Polstead. Once widely celebrated for its Polstead Black Cherries, the village is best known today as the scene of an early 19th-century cause célèbre: the Red Barn Murder.
A young girl, Maria Marten, ran off with the local farmer's son, William Corder. Maria's mother grew concerned that she had heard nothing from her, her sleep continually interrupted by a dream that her daughter lay buried in a red barn. The dream proved true: Maria's corpse was found, and Corder was hanged for her murder.
Polstead's church has the only surviving medieval stone spire in Suffolk and is full of interest. Built around 1160, it was considerably altered in the late 14th century but still retains Norman elements in the nave arches, west doorway, and clerestory windows.
You return to Stoke-by-Nayland through pasture, woodland, and water meadows. The route provides more lovely views of the Polstead church spire and tower and the valley between them, and then along Scotland Street your attention is drawn to Stoke-by-Nayland's church, which is what you aim for to finish the walk.
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). There are some notable listed buildings to seek out: Thorington Hall in a separate hamlet to the south-east of the village; Downs Farmhouse; Street House in Church Street; and last but not least the Maltings, which you passed when setting out on the walk.
