The architect was George Frederick Bodley but he died before the church was completed and it was finished by his partner Cecil Greenwood Hare.

Work started in 1905 and the church dedication to Saint Chad of Mercia took place in 1910.

The building includes a polygonal vestry and a detached north-west tower linked to the body of the church by a vaulted passage.

It has been described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "the finest building by far in Burton-on-Trent" and in the listing text as "one of Bodley's best later works".

The organ has a stop key system and has pure tin pipes which gives it a sweet sound.