[6] As well as being distant from the growing village, St Helen's Church was small and in a ruinous condition.

Ore had become a poor, working-class area affected by unemployment and poverty (the workhouse was twice replaced with a larger building), and he wanted to provide greater spiritual support to the growing population.

Closely associated until 1848 with Robert Lewis Roumieu, who was known for curious and distinctive Gothic designs, Gough's ecclesiastical work often showed unusual touches and was sometimes criticised in the influential journal The Ecclesiologist.

The distinctive corner turret was comprehensively restored in 2003: work was carried out on its clock, bell, spire and the weathervane.

The most distinctive feature of the exterior[12] is the thin octagonal turret, bearing a clockface, containing a bell and topped with a spire and weathervane.

[16] The plan consists of a chancel, nave of five bays and with an aisle on the north side (on a brick base), organ chamber, two vestries (one originally a transept) and two porches with gables.

[10][12] The interior is noteworthy for its intricate naturalistic foliage carvings, especially on the capitals in the nave, on the corbels and on the chancel arch.

[12][16] Above both the chancel arch and the (liturgical) east window are painted decorative friezes; the latter was renewed in the early 1990s.

[10][12] Christ Church was listed at Grade II by English Heritage on 14 September 1976;[12] this defines it as a "nationally important" building of "special interest".