[3] In 1494, a chantry chapel dedicated to St Mary the Virgin was endowed by Gilbert Leygh in Middleton It closed at the time of the Reformation.

[4] The Middleton Estate and Colliery Company was granted a licence to mine a seam of coal under the church in 1917 resulting in subsidence and damage to the tall spire which was taken down in 1939.

[6][7] The church is built in coursed sandstone ashlar with slate roofs in the Early English Gothic Revival style.

There is a three-stage south west tower with an embattled parapet, angle buttresses and a porch with a Gothic arch and planked door with ornate hinges.

[8] There are two late-Victorian windows made by Barnett of Newcastle and the rest of the church is glazed in clear leaded lights.