The church is memorable for its fine, tall steeple. The tower also contains a showy 13thc W door. The chancel is also 13thc but had sedilia inserted into it in the 15thc, with the same design as nearby Horsley. Only the S doorway is Romanesque.

The Domesday Book records that Breadsall had both a church and a priest. The manor belonged to the Dunne family, who possessed the advowson of the church in the 12thc, and one of whom probably founded the mid-12thc church. Cox noted a plain moulded 12thc recess for a founder's tomb in the N wall of the N aisle, at the E end.

The doorway can be dated c.1150-60. The ornament on the label is a simplified version of that used on the abacus and frieze of the N side of the Sandiacre chancel arch (c.1160). Cox records the discovery in 1802 of a tomb slab, since lost, bearing a cross with a geometrical head, which sounds 12thc. He also mentions (p.523) that the restoration of the late 1870s "has brought to light many stones of Norman moulding, most of which appear to have pertained to a north door". These were not apparent and may have perished in or after the fire of 1914, which was pretty thorough.

Also noted was a possibly Romanesque head, which was set inverted in the N wall of the 13thc. chancel, above an early piscina.