Wardell, a friend of the architect Augustus Pugin, built the church in a similar Gothic Revival style.

Around the church is a graveyard, dating to 1864, and contains the tomb of Charles West, the founder of Great Ormond Street Hospital.

A convert to Catholicism, he hosted the celebration of Mass in his home, Tudor Hall, in Chislehurst.

[3] On 8 December 1853, the foundation stone of the church was laid by the Bishop of Southwark, Thomas Grant.

On 8 August 1854, Bishop Grant returned to open the church, after nine months of construction.

[3] St Mary's was registered for the solemnisation of marriages on 27 August 1855,[4] and was consecrated on 23 April 1943 by Archbishop Peter Amigo.

[3] On 20 March 1871, the exiled Napoleon III, his wife Eugénie de Montijo, son Louis-Napoléon and household arrived in Chislehurst.

Within a couple of years, Empress Eugénie wanted a larger mausoleum for her family, so she founded St Michael's Abbey in Farnborough.

From 1892 to 1914, stained-glass windows were added, two made in Paris and six by Hardman & Co., as well as an organ gallery, six statues, and an altar rail.