Echoes From The Stones

A Historic Landscape

Stebbing village sits by Stebbing Brook, a tributary of the River Chelmer. Its location near the Roman road Stane Street helped shape its long history. Roman remains—including a building under The Green and roof tile fragments—show early settlement.

After the Romans, Saxons and Danes lived here. By 1066, the land was owned by a Saxon nobleman named Siward. After the Norman conquest, the Domesday Book of 1086 listed two main landowners: Henry de Ferrers and Ralph Peverel. It also recorded a priest in the village—highlighting Stebbing’s early church life. A commemorative plaque on the church marks this legacy.

The Church Through the Ages

St Mary’s Church was likely built on a former pagan site. In 1181, William de Ferrers gave the church and its lands to the Knights Hospitallers of St John, who oversaw it for nearly 400 years. Their legacy remains visible today in symbols on the church and village sign.

Much of the church was rebuilt in the 1300s during Edward III’s reign. It has endured the Reformation and Civil War, with arrowheads and bullets found in its beams during 19th-century repairs. Earlier church foundations were also uncovered beneath the nave.

In 1993, excavations in the vestry revealed graves, a possible tomb of William Ferrers (d.1371), and pottery dating back to the 12th century. These findings suggest the vestry was once a mortuary or chapel. Other discoveries—like stained glass, a double piscina, and an ancient wooden chest—confirm the church’s early size and importance.

The oldest recorded vicar dates back to 1245, and coins from Henry II’s time further confirm the church’s long-standing presence.

more history coming soon...

Reference Information

• '’An introduction to STEBBING’’ THE Hundred Parishes. Last Updated November 1, 2023, Stebbing.
• ‘’Stebbing,’’ Open Doomsday, last accessed June 6, 2025, https://opendomesday.org/place/TL6624/stebbing/.
• 6 page typed document c 1990’s.
• DD Andrews, Stebbing Church’s archaeological report into the vestry work 1993, (Essex County Council Field Archaeology Group) – (unbound document).
• Michael Gervers, The Cartulary of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in England, part 2; Prima Camera Essex, (British Academy, 1996).
• Michael Hodges, The Knights Hospitaller in Great Britain in 1540, (Mount House Press, 2019), p.14
• Millar Christy, Durrants Handbook for Essex, (1887), p.199.
• Norman Scarfe, Essex A Shell Guide, (Faber, 1968), p.165.
• RS & RL Greenlee, Stebbins Genealogy, (Privately Printed, 1904), pgs.15-21.
• SJB Fry, ‘’Function, Tradition, Ideology or Patron: What influenced the architecture of Knights Hospitaller Commandery Chapel and associated Churches in Britain 1140-1370’’ (Thesis, AA School, 2013), p.111
• Thomas Wright, The County of Essex, vol 2, (George Virtue 1836), p.50, 52