The church, dedicated to St. John, was built and endowed in 1838, at an expense of £6000, chiefly by three maiden ladies of the name of Moore; it is a neat edifice, with a tower and pinnacles.

A national school was built in 1840, by Sir John Cave Browne Cave, Bart., by whom, also, it is supported From: Kelly's Directory of Leicestershire & Rutland (1899) DONISTHORPE is a parish, formed in 1838, from the civil parishes of Church Gresley, Measham and Stretton-en-le-Field, and Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Seal, in Leicestershire, with a station on the Ashby and Nuneaton joint line of the Midland and London and North Western railways, 3 miles southwest from Ashby-de-la-Zouch, 8 southeast from Burton-upon-Trent and 114 northwest from London, in the Western division of the county, hundreds of Repton, Gresley and West Goscote, petty sessional division, union and county court district of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, rural deanery of Repton, archdeaconry of Derby and diocese of Southwell.

This parish, formerly in Derbyshire, was transferred to Leicestershire under the provisions of the Local Government (England and Wales) Act, 1888, by the counties of Derby and Leicester (Woodville &c.) Order, which came into operation Sept. 30, 1897.

The church of St John the Evangelist, erected in 1838, is a building of grey sandstone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of nave, west porch and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing a clock and one bell: the nave was restored in 1889—90, and further restorations were effected in 1891, at a total cost of £700, and again in 1898: there are 500 sittings, 200 being free.

The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £214, including 17 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Southwell, and held since 1885 by the Rev.

A former mining village, it is just under 4 miles (6 km) due east of Church Flatts Farm (near Coton-in-the-Elms, Derbyshire), the furthest point from coastal waters on the British mainland.

Donisthorpe was served by the Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway which opened a station near Church Street in a deep cutting including three arch bridges.

The site was still traceable after closure of the stub but has since been filled in and forms a footpath from Measham to Spring Cottage via Donisthorpe and Moira.

It is a listed Grade II building,[3] and within the ecclesiastical parish of Donisthorpe and Moira with Stretton-en-le-Field, Archdeaconry of Loughborough in the Diocese of Leicester.

The last dedicated vicar vacated his position in 2006; the church is now part of a team ministry based in the nearby village of Measham.

It was originally the village school, donated by Sir John Cave, later converted to the church hall, and subsequently fell into disrepair and sold.

[6] The late 17th-century timber framed thatched house, 58 New Street, was assessed in 1983 as a Grade II listed building.

[8] The Grange, 69 Church Street, a Grade II listed building, was thought to date from 1761 with early 19th-century additions.