St Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester was licensed by the Bishop of Lincoln to consecrate the church c1087. The Norman church contained some building materials came from the ruined Roman villa on the Rye which can still be seen in the outside walls. In 1273 the Bishop of Lincoln rebuilt the church and this is what you see today.
At the east end of the church in the chancel chapels there are several important monuments and plaques. Chief among them are the two monuments to the Petty family which block windows in both chapels. William Petty the 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Prime Minister of England,1782-1783, is buried in a vault in the north chapel.