The first church on the site was built in wood in 670. This was replaced by a stone building in 805 and this was further extended over the years. The remains of this old Anglo-Saxon and former collegiate church can still be seen in the churchyard although the prominent re-erected arches date from the 13th century when the chancel was rebuilt.

The railed area in front of the arches is
 the tomb of Josiah Wedgwood I

Saxon evidence survives in the baptismal font rescued from use as a garden ornament and restored in 1932.

Saxon baptismal font

The present parish church was designed by James Trubshaw and Johnson and built from 1826 and consecrated on October 6, 1830.

There are ceramic memorials in the church to many of the great potters of the district and there is a fine modern memorial to the great football player Sir Stanley Matthews. The title of "Stoke Minster" was conferred on this parish church by The Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill, Bishop of Lichfield, at a ceremony on May 17, 2005.

sacred to the memory of Josiah Wedgwood