William de Lovetot, Lord of Hallamshire, had built the Church of St. Mary, Ecclesfield, nine kilometres to the east, at the end of the 11th century, to which St. Nicholas, Bradfield became a chapel of ease until 1868 when it became a parish of its own.

A square bell tower was added in the 14th century before it was largely rebuilt in the Gothic Perpendicular style during the 1480s, using some of the original masonry which consisted of local gritstone.

The cross is roughly fashioned in local gritstone and is simply decorated with five bosses on the head, which was the Saxon way of depicting the crucifixion.

Music in the church was originally provided by a local band of musicians featuring a bassoon and violoncello accompanying the choir.

The east window, which is the largest, was donated by the Wilson family in 1870, and depicts the nativity, baptism, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Christ.

[citation needed] It is one of ten windows in the church attributed to William Francis Dixon (1848–1928) of the Clayton & Bell company.

The original Norman baptismal font is still in place; it is made of magnesian limestone with no decoration at all and is believed to have been built and presented by the Cistercian monks of Roche Abbey in the 12th century.

A slate plaque presented by the local water authority in 1989 stands in the south aisle and commemorates the Great Sheffield Flood of 1864, when the nearby Dale Dike Reservoir broke and 270 people drowned.

Records show Bradfield's bells were not only rung on Sundays but also to commemorate events of national importance, such as on 5 November "for the Gunpowder Treason" and from 1660 onwards on 29 May (Oak Apple Day) to celebrate The Restoration.