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 times, including The Domesday Book.

A small, scattered village, Stanningfield centres on the green, the Red House inn and the nearby community shop.

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

[2] The novelist, playwright and actress Elizabeth Inchbald (née Simpson) was born into a Catholic farming family in the village on 15 October 1773.

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, from whom the Santa Claus customs derive.

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.

[3] The bell-chamber stage of the 15th-century tower was reduced in height in the late 19th century and a slated pyramid roof added.