The stone-built church, with its tall spire and well-regarded "living churchyard" nature reserve, is now Hadlow Down's only remaining place of worship.

[4] These were both more than three miles away,[3] and the owner of Buxted Lodge (a large house in Hadlow Down), Benjamin Hall, was concerned about the number of villagers who could not attend church.

In 1834, he wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Howley, seeking permission and funds to build a church in the village—adding that "very many poor children [were] wandering about the lanes in ignorance of almost every duty, moral or religious".

He then listed the people and bankers who would be in charge of receiving donations—including himself, the 3rd Earl of Liverpool (owner of nearby Buxted Park) and the Vicar of Mayfield—and included a list of all benefactions received so far, with names, place of residence and value: from the £100 subscriptions from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Vicars of Mayfield and Buxted and other prominent local figures to donations of five shillings from local farmworkers.

[9] A "Queen Anne's Bounty" of £200 was also received from the fund established in 1704 to help improve the incomes of Anglican clergy,[11] and the 5th Earl De La Warr gave £200 worth of stone to build the walls.

[6][9][13] He worked mainly in London, but also designed several Gothic Revival churches in the north of Sussex—at Forest Row, Holtye Common, Horsham and Uckfield.

[15] Moseley adopted a cost-saving technique in his design for the tower and spire—which ended up damaging the building—[12] and provided space for about 420 worshippers, in both private rented pews (82) and free seats (260, plus an 80-capacity gallery).

[9] Building work started on 21 April 1835 (prompting the Vicar of Mayfield to write a commemorative poem)[16] and finished in 1836, and Archbishop of Canterbury William Howley consecrated the church on 6 May 1836 in front of 500 guests.

[21] Charles Lang Huggins jp, a relative of Benjamin Hall, paid for the building to be rebuilt to a design by architect George Fellowes Prynne.

[24] A document issued on 31 October 1931[25] observed that its "overgrown" state gave "the appearance of sad neglect", and proposed that grave mounds would be levelled, shrubbery would be removed and elaborate gravestones would no longer be permitted.

[6][13] Fittings include a wrought iron rood screen attributed to Fellowes Prynne,[6][15] a stained glass east window of the early 20th century, small stained glass windows in the Lady chapel inserted in 1949–50,[15] and a version of the Madonna of the Magnificat painted by the architect's brother Edward Arthur Fellowes Prynne.

[23] Fellowes Prynne completed the painting in 1899 and exhibited it at the Royal Academy; Charles Lang Huggins bought it but donated it to St Mark's Church instead of displaying it in the private chapel at his house as originally intended.

[28] St Mark's Church was listed at Grade II by English Heritage on 31 December 1982;[27] this defines it as a "nationally important" building of "special interest".