Stokesay is a village in S Shropshire, now in the civil parish of Craven Arms, a small town a mile to the N. The nearest town of any size is Ludlow, 6 miles to the SE. The church is alongside Stokesay Castle, a 13thc fortified manor house built on the site of the Lacy's earlier castle by Laurence of Ludlow, a wool merchant. St John's is a sandstone rubble church consisting of nave with S porch, W tower and chancel. It is 12thc in origin but the nave was rebuilt in 1654 and the chancel in 1664. The only Romanesque feature is the S nave doorway.

Stokesay was held by Ealdred in 1066 and by Roger de Lacy in 1086. It was assessed for geld at 7 hides, and had a mill, a miller, a beekeeper, 9 female cottars and 20 villans: a good-sized if oddly populated manor. The manor was later held from the Lacys by the family of de Say, from whom it took its name (Summerson (2012), 25.

A date c.1100 is suggested for this plain doorway with its cushion capitals and heavy shafting.