[4] After the Norman Conquest of England Walter Giffard held the manor of Hardwick, but the Domesday Book records that by 1086 he had given it to Robert D'Oyly in an exchange of lands.

[3] The advowson remained with the Fermors until the middle of the 19th century,[3] when their direct line died out and their estates at Tusmore and Hardwick were sold.

Dr Mary Lobel says the doorways are from late in the 12th or early in the 13th century,[3] but Sherwood and Pevsner states they are Decorated Gothic[7] which would give them a later date of 1250–1350.

[3] The east window of the chancel has some 14th-century Medieval stained glass plus a 19th-century Gothic Revival panel by Clayton and Bell.

Late in the 16th century and early in the 17th there were few recusants in Hardwick, but after the Fermors moved from Somerton to Tusmore in 1625 their numbers increased.

[3] A chapel was then established in the attic of Hardwick Manor Farm, which remained in use for worship until the priest died in 1830.

The chapel was succeeded in 1832 by a newly built Roman Catholic church at Hethe, just over 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Hardwick.