Designed by Edward Welby Pugin to replace a medieval church, it was built in 1866-77 at the expense of Thomas Pemberton Leigh, the first Lord Kingsdown.
The only Anglican church completely designed by E. W. Pugin it remains almost exactly as he conceived it - glass, furnishings, decorations. With a needle-sharp spire and richly coloured stained glass the church is described by the Churches Conservation Trust as "a time capsule of Victorian church design".