South Witham is a village about 11 miles S of Grantham. The church lies to the S of the village and consists of a small cruciform building with a double bellcote on the W rather than a tower. The nave has N and S aisles with three-bay arcades: that on the N is late 12thc and the S arcade is of the early 13thc. The S transept is early 14thc and the N transept and S doorway are later 14th/15thc. The chancel was built in 1930 by Wilfred Bond on the medieval foundations of the earlier chancel. The N arcade of the nave is the only surviving Romanesque feature of the building.

The Domesday Survey records that in 1066 'Widme' (also called 'Wimme' or 'Wime') was held by Edward the Noble, Siward of Thistleton, and the Earl Waltheof. A priest named Ernwin also held six bovates of land in South Witham in alms from the king at this time. According to Hill (1990), 46, Ernwin was a priest in King Edward’s reign who, it seems, did not submit to William at first. After being taken by William, he lost his substantial landholdings in Stamford but was left with the land in South Witham. In 1086 the manor it was under the lordship of Bernard, Gleu of Rothwell, the Countess Judith (the niece of King William I), being Alfred of Lincoln, Countess Judith and Erwin the Priest tenants-in-chief. By 1164 the Knights Templars had a preceptory in South Witham and part of its advowson was a moiety of the parish church.