It was an Old Minster and established before 757 AD when Pope Paul I wrote to Eadberht, King of Northumberland, about the appointment of an abbot.

The abbess or abbot ruled Coxwold, Stonegrave and a third house, Donamuthe, near where the Old Don met the Trent and Humber at Adlingfleet.

Today's west wall may be a remaining feature of this;[2] its early date is shown by the proportions of the tall, narrow doorway, still centrally placed, with a very roughly constructed arch above two irregular jambs.

Later, the side walls of the original church were pierced by arches of the Norman north and south arcades.

They all differ clearly from the cross fragments in neighbouring churches: they are abstract and free from animal forms; the interlace is open and arranged in double plait lines on all but the earliest.

At the top of the shaft is a seated figure, praying with book held aloft in the fashion of the Celtic Church.

[citation needed] In the 19th century, the great cross was placed on an unrelated base and both were put on the only stone with Norse carving, probably a gravestone.

Arches were pierced through the north wall and a new aisle made for the chapel of St Leonard, the patron saint of prisoners of war (one of the de Stonegraves was a POW in the Near East).

The one nearest to the tower, probably that of William Thornton (d. 1330), carved in York, is unusual in having the effigy of a civilian with legs crossed.

The tomb chest has figures supporting shields showing the simple coat-of-arms of the family at that time: three thorn sprays.

The arches are simpler in style yet more demanding in construction for they have two full spans that give the south side of the nave a spacious air and open wide the chapel of St Peter.

The ornate coat-of-arms with its ceremonial crests contrasts with the simple statement of identity of the three thorns on the tomb chest.

There was a whitewashed gallery for the musicians at the back against the west wall and a lofty pulpit dominated the nave, high above the box pews.

Other eighteenth-century artifacts include a legal statement by the south door of the members of a family and their evidence of inheritance claims when possible heirs were scattered, and a stone behind the font with a record of a bequest to help repair the fabric of the church.

[5] Some of the gravestones with floreated crosses, possibly de Stonegrave tombstones, lie in the churchyard where they were placed during the restoration.

A flat gravestone of Purbeck marble, which once had letters and the head and shoulders of a man inlaid in brass (c. 1300) was placed near the south door – not its original position.