[9] The church was built on hilly ground overlooking Bolney from the south, and was reached by a twitten (a narrow lane) from the village street.

[11][12] The churchwarden at the time was John Bolney, also a significant and wealthy landowner in the parish, whose family was long established in the area.

Described as the "moving spirit" behind "an inspired community effort involving the whole village",[11] he paid for the tower to be built and arranged for dozens of villagers to use their skills and any money they could offer to quarry the sandstone, cut and shape it, build temporary bridges and paths to transport the material to the church, build tools and wooden scaffolding, and erect the 66-foot (20 m) tall, 12-by-12-foot (3.7 m × 3.7 m) structure at the west end of the church.

The project was completed in 1538, and a new west doorway was inserted below John Bolney's coat of arms and the commemorative wording This Stepl is 66 Foot high.

[13] A porch was built on the south side in 1718, enclosing the Saxon/Norman doorway;[14] and as part of a Victorian restoration, the capacity was increased in 1853 when the nave was extended with a north aisle.

[5] A modern stained glass window by prolific Sussex-based firm Cox & Barnard was inserted in the south aisle in 1982; it depicts a rural scene.

[7] A mid-19th-century rector planted the churchyard and rectory grounds with a wide range of trees, many of which survive—including Bhutan pines and oaks from Somerset.

[7] Another of Huth's sons, Alfred Henry Huth—who also became a book-collector and author, and who died in 1910—is commemorated by a memorial tablet inside the church; its style was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "neo-late 17th-century".

Above the Perpendicular Gothic[8] west doorway, which has "nicely carved"[10] and moulded spandrels and a four-centred arch, are John Bolney's coat of arms (whose heraldic description is Or a crescent with two molets gules in the chief) and the inscription This Stepl is 66 Foot high which was added in 1538 upon completion of the tower.

[14] The "extremely interesting" decoration on the exterior consists of carved v-shapes (not identical to standard Norman chevron ornamentation) with inward- and outward-facing points at various intervals.

[22] A common feature on the south side of ancient churches was a mass dial—a type of sundial that served as a "do-it-yourself clock".

[23] They consisted of circular markings engraved in a wall, with lines dividing the hours and a hole in which to place a gnomon or stick.

In the 19th century it was taken up by the Bishop of Chichester himself; in 1901 it passed to Edward Huth in exchange for the advowson of Etchingham parish in East Sussex.