Church Langton is a village within the parish of East Langton in the Harborough district of the county. The nearest major town is Market Harborough, 4 miles to the south. St Peter's is in the centre of the village, and is a large building consisting of a clerestoreyed nave with lofty 4-bay aisles and a S porch, a chancel with a N vestry and organ chamber and a W tower. Evidence of a 13thc date is found in the plate tracery aisle windows, but some were replaced in the 14thc. The overall impression, however, is of a Perpendicular building, and there was clearly a major remodelling in the 15thc which included the limestone ashlar W tower, the nave arcades and the clerestorey. In 1865-66 the church was restored by H. Goddard and Sons, and this included a major remodelling of the chancel and the addition of the organ chamber and vestry. Construction of the W tower and nave clerestorey (i.e. the 15thc work) is of limestone ashlar, while the rest is of ironstone rubble.

High up in the W wall of the passage leading from the chancel to the vestry is set a relief of a man that is earlier than anything else in the church, and this feature is recorded below.

Two manors were recorded in the Domesday Survey. The first was held by Osbern from Hugh de Grandmesnil, and was assessed at 11 carucates. Its inhabitants included a priest, which strongly suggests that this manor contained the church. The second, held by Aethelmaer before the Conquest, belonged to Peterborough Abbey in 1086 and was assessed at 5 carucates less 2 bovates (or 4 carucates and 6 bovates). On Hugh's death his English holdings passed to a younger son, Ivo, who became Sheriff of Leicester, but he forfeited his holdings to Robert de Beaumont after the Grandmesnils supported Robert Curthose against Henry I in 1100. Beaumont was rewarded for his loyalty by being created Earl of Leicester in 1107. Church Langton thus became part of the Honour of Leicester, but details of the mesne lord are not consistently known before the 13thc.

The church, with 2 chapels, was granted to Leicester Abbey before 1162 by William Newmarch and Roger de Bordeni, presumably the tenants at that time. The advowson, however, remained with the tenants of the manor until 1608.

The relief in the vestry passage is not well-known, but very interesting even so. The Church Guide (Willatts (2019), 15) suggests that it may be 10thc by comparison with Breedon on the Hill, and that the figure might represent St Dunstan, Patron of Blacksmiths. St Dunstan is not usually shown naked, but the representation of a blacksmith is certainly probable on account of the hammer and the anvil below. In this interpretation the tool in his sinister hand could be tongs holding a horseshoe.

The List Description also opts for an Anglo-Saxon date, but Pevsner calls it 'probably Norman', as does the VCH entry, suggesting that the 12thc reset stone with lozenges could be contemporary. The present author is inclined to agree with Pevsner and the VCH.