Stoney Stanton is a large village in the Blaby district of Leicestershire, 8 miles SW of the centre of Leicester. The church is in the centre of the village and is an imposing building of random granite rubble and dressed stone with ashlar dressings. It has a W tower with a tall spire, an aisled nave with N and S porches and a chancel with an organ chamber on the S side and a vestry on the N. The W tower is Perpendicular with 4 storeys and a spire with lucarnes set back behind an embattled parapet. The N arcade is Perp too, but the nave clerestorey, chancel and S aisle are the work of H. Goddard in 1842-43, while the N aisle and vestry are the work of W. Bassett Smith in 1888. The S porch was added in 1910. Above the vestry door is a reset Norman tympanum, and this is the only Romanesque feature.

In 1086 Stoney Stanton was held by Robert Despenser. Thereafter, Nichols reported that it was held by Simon Basset from Robert de Marmion by 1279.

The tympanum has been an object of interest since Nichols published it in 1811. He described it as Norman, and 'representing a religious person or shepherd entreating Providence to preserve his cattle from the fury of a dragon which has already nearly conquered a dog who guarded them. An eagle is seen descending, and attacking the dragon.' This interpretation was repeated in a description of the carving in the Hinckley Times of 1910. Keyser's description in both his 1882 and 1910 publications identified the human figure as a bishop, or abbot, and notes a 'small, deeply-cut window opening by his left hand'. This had also been noted by Rambler in the Leicester Chronicle in 1882 who suggested that it was sufficient to indicate a church, from which the clergyman was exorcising evil spirits. This explanation would be more convincing if the slit appeared on Pridden's drawing of 1788, but as it doesn't, and as it appears to go all the way through the tympanum it seems more likely that it was made later for a Lewis pin to help move the stone to its new location.

In the 1882 article, Keyser compares the South Ferriby tympanum with those at Stoney Stanton, Danby Wiske, Little Paxton and others, but the comparisons are not especially convincing.

More recently, the List Description of 1957 describes the object as 'a re-set C11 tympanum with an allegorical scene.' Pevsner (2003) called it a 'very odd representation. On the l. an ox(?) and behind it a bishop with crozier and blessing right hand. The ox attacks a dragon (lion?) whose head is drawn back. From the r. a wyvern attacks it and an eagle perches on it. What can it all mean?'

The present author is inclined to point out that all the animals shown have claws, so that references to oxen and other farm animals are probably wrong. The dragon, of course, could represent the devil, while the lion and eagle are more positive creatures, usually associated with Christ. Hence the tympanum presents the clergyman as the representative of Christ in his constant warfare against the old enemy. This would be appropriate on the main entrance to the church for parishioners, and, when it was moved, as a reminder to the vicar as he entered the church through his personal doorway.