In the 19th century the interior of the church was restored by George Gilbert Scott; some wall paintings were revealed, and stained glass was added.

It provides the usual services of an Anglican church and runs a number of organisations catering for children and adults.

The discovery nearby of fragments of stone with apparent Saxon decoration, coffin lids, and the lower stages of a cross – all of which might date from before the Norman conquest – suggest that an earlier church may have been on the site.

Architectural historian Andor Gomme dates this from about the middle of the 12th century and states that at that time the church would have been a simple rectangular building, and mainly timber-framed.

[1][A] Gomme suggests further that in the middle of the 13th century the east end of the church would have been rebuilt in stone, with a chancel and sanctuary.

Subsequently the rest of the body of the church was built, consisting of the nave and north and south aisles; the work was completed in the 14th century.

[1] During the English Civil War, while nearby Biddulph Hall was under siege, Sir William Brereton's Roundheads stabled their horses in the church.

The church was restored during the 19th century by Anthony Salvin,[3] and later, in about 1857, by George Gilbert Scott, who removed plaster from the walls and built a small gallery.

[2] The architectural historian Alec Clifton-Taylor draws attention to the crispness of the details of the stonework in the tower 500 years after it was carved, compared to the sandstone, which is prone to weathering.

[4] The church incorporates elements of Norman, Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular architecture.

[1] The body of the church consists of a seven-bay nave and chancel with no structural division, and north and south aisles.

This is exceptionally wide for a parish church, and slightly wider than the nave of Chester Cathedral.

The tower stands to the north of the west bay of the body of the church, and is joined to it by a short passage with a porch on its east side.

At the west front are diagonal buttresses, and in the bottom storey is a double doorway, over which is a canopied niche containing the weathered image of a saint.

The roofs are divided into panels and contain much carving, including bosses (protrusions), shields, inscriptions and three pendants.

[2] The chancel screen, dated 1500, is elaborately carved with representations of birds, roses, vines and foliage.

During the 1852 restoration whitewash was removed from the walls, revealing the royal arms of Henry VII, and paintings which include one of The Blessed Virgin knighting St George.

[1] In the north aisle is a small part of an Anglo-Saxon circular cross-shaft carved with interlace decoration dating from the late 10th or the 11th century.

These include the 14th-century tomb of Ralph Davenport with the recumbent figure of a knight wearing plate armour with a gorget (collar) of mail (armour consisting of linked metal rings) and a conical helmet,[2] a tomb chest of 1654, and a recumbent effigy (statue) of Lady Egerton, who died in 1599.

It was presented to the church by Stoke City Council in 1962 and was rebuilt and installed by Reeves and Merner.

Formerly inside the church, the tomb contains two figures, male and female, with their hands clasped in prayer.

The one to the north possibly depicts a cleric with his hands in prayer,[13] and the one to the south is a knight in armour with a missing leg.

[15][16] The gateway to the churchyard dates from the 17th century, and consists of a yellow sandstone arch with crocketed pinnacles and a battlemented parapet.

[4] Grade I listing means that the building is acknowledged to be "of exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important".

[20] The architectural historian Raymond Richards, writing in 1947, considered it to be one of the most beautiful churches in the county.

[23][24][25] It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Congleton.

[26] The church holds traditional Anglican services and activities for younger people on Sundays.

[34] A Andor Harvey Gomme (1930–2008) was Professor of English Literature and Architectural History at Keele University.