Architectural historian Ian Nairn comments that the Jacobean pulpit is "notable in a county which is poor in 17th century fittings".

[2] The parish of Botolphs came into existence in the Saxon era as one of several long, narrow divisions of land on the southern slopes of the South Downs near the River Adur, which reached the English Channel at the port of Shoreham.

Like neighbouring Beeding and Bramber, Botolphs' territory stretched for about 2 miles (3.2 km) from west to east.

[3][4] At the time of the Domesday survey in 1086, the manor of Hanyngedune was known; it was first named in 956, when King Eadwig gave it away, and the area it covered was identical to the later parish of Botolphs.

[3][5] The lie of the land meant that two settlements developed separately in the parish: there were two areas of high ground rising from a flood-prone alluvial plain.

The crossing point had apparently been in use for about 1,000 years (as suggested by the Roman rubble found nearby), and when it was lost the village could no longer thrive.

[7] Ian Nairn considered it "simple and mellow",[2] while others have praised the "clean lines [and] perfect setting"[9] of the "small, attractive church".

By the early 19th century the arches were filled in and the aisle was demolished—evidence of the declining population and importance of Botolphs, which had become a shrunken medieval settlement with only a few surviving houses.

When examined in about 1932 they were thought to be from a "Doom" scheme of painting, including depictions of St John and the Virgin Mary with a bishop.

[2] One of the three 1536 bells commemorates the old dedication to St Peter with the inscription "Sancte Petre ora pro nobis".

The tapsel gate was funded by the joint parish councils to facilitate the use of the church by visitors to the burial ground.

Most of the priory's holdings, including the advowson, were transferred to Magdalen College at the University of Oxford in the late 15th century, and except for a few years from 1475 this institution nominated the rector until 1953, when the right of presentation was voluntarily surrendered to the Bishop of Chichester.