The parish registers for Grinton record that in August 1580, the Bishop of Chester, William Chaderton,[note 1] visited to ...allow the inhabitants there to baptize, marry and to bury and to minister the sacraments of the church according to the prescribed order set downe in the Booke of Common prayer.

Provided that the said inhabitants pay all their ecclesiasticall dutyes to the vicar of Grinton... [sic]"[1]Until the consecration of the graveyard, deaths occurring in Muker, Keld and Upper Swaledale, involved carrying the deceased along the Corpse Road to Grinton for burial, some 10 miles (16 km) to 14 miles (23 km) to the east.

[5][13] Earlier stonework, possibly from the 14th century, is included in the walls of the church, and the original bells in the tower were thought to have been brought up the valley from Ellerton Priory, after the Dissolution.

[12] The church has a variety of stained glass, one of which (the east window) depicts the surrounding countryside, the River Swale and Straw Beck.

[15] Besides the church, a grade II listed font is extant, though located in the churchyard, 9.8 feet (3 m) south of the porch door.