The church has a varied fabric: boulders from glacial deposits, and medieval brick with stone dressings. It is mostly 15thc, with an aisled nave, a choir and a W tower.

There is a small round-headed priest’s doorway, and fragments of more certainly dated twelfth-century reset in the tower. The N and S arcades, although pointed, have details of 12^th-century type.

DB mentions that there is one carucate for geld, one clerk has one plough, one villein and eight acres of meadow there. However, there is no mention of a church. VCH II, p.216.

Four of the seven pre-Conquest manors plus 11 carucates passed to William Malet, and by 1086 to Drew de Bevrere. Later they were a part of the Aumale fee. Part of Drew’s estate in 1086 was occupied by a knight, and Richard de St Quintin probably held much of Brandesburton in 1166. His son Herbert had inherited this by 1194.

In 1086, the archbishop had a berewick of one carucate at Brandesburton, which was already assigned to his church of St John of Beverley, the eventual patron of Brandesburton church.

The church was restored in 1889-1892 by W.S. Weatherley (Pevsner and Neave 1995, 336-7).

The fragments in the tower lobby are from the first half of the 12thc. A similar stringcourse was seen at Fangfoss and Etton.

The arcades. Pevsner and Neave 1995, 336, say: 'Wide 13thc nave with arcades of five bays; all but one of the piers are rounded, the arches double-chamfered.' However, the arcades have relevant details which are the result partly of reuse (bases to Piers 4), and partly of persistence of practice (label-stops). The label stops, which are recorded here, are reminiscent of stops at (Great) Driffield, and perhaps Wighill (YW).