There are several interesting historic buildings including the old village school, the tannery, and the former model farm that has now been developed as dwellings.

According to White's History, Gazetteer and Directory of Suffolk published in 1885 the village had 1,174 inhabitants at the 1881 census, although this does include Combs Ford, which nowadays is regarded as being a suburb of Stowmarket.

It also states that an artesian well had been sunk on the site at a depth of 895 feet (273 m) and a diameter of ten inches (254 mm) at the surface.

[citation needed] The north and south doorways are early 14th century, also the bold arches in the base of the tower suggest that it was begun about this time.

There was a great period of church building in Suffolk and here at Combs the nave, aisles and tower assumed their present appearance.

[citation needed] Before the Reformation, the interior must have been a kaleidoscope of colour and carving, providing a host of visual aids to teach the faith to ordinary people who could not read and were not Latin scholars.

A good amount of stained glass at St Mary's survived both the destruction of the Reformers and also the explosion at Stowmarket gun-cotton works in 1871.

The Archdeacon of Suffolk had them deposited in the Victoria and Albert Museum, where they were seen in 1939 by Miss Joan Howson, a stained glass expert from Putney, who offered to reassemble the fragments free of charge.

In 1995, through the generosity of Mr Clifford Cook, the western sections of the aisles were transformed by the building of a kitchen and toilet facilities on the north side and a vestry and meeting room on the south.