St Peter’s stands within an elevated, circular graveyard in Farnborough Park, a suburban area to the E of the modern town centre. Although the nave dates from the 12thc. and the belltower from the 17thc., the church was greatly enlarged in response to an increase in the population of Farnborough (and the proximity of Aldershot North Camp) from the late 19thc. There are two 12thc. doorways. While the reset S doorway is plain, the N doorway – on the principal approach from the road and the manor house – is elaborately carved. It is sheltered by a late medieval timber-framed porch.

The form of the churchyard suggests the existence of an Anglo-Saxon church on this site, but none of the fabric can be dated to the pre-Conquest period. In 1086 Farnborough manor was owned by the Bishop of Winchester and tenanted by Odin of Windsor. It included a church. The church was documented again in 1230, when Stephen de Farnborough was accepted as patron. The medieval dedication is not known.

The chancel was rebuilt in 1886 to designs by A. Rowland Barker. In 1900-01 Sir Arthur Blomfield & Sons added transepts, a S aisle and dormers to the nave. The S doorway was reset in the new aisle, but the opening was blocked (Keyser 1907, Pl14a; Historic England red boxes). Transepts were built to either side of the chancel in 1963-64.

The VCH dated the N and W walls of the nave, and both doorways, to c.1190-1200. While Pevsner & Lloyd dated both doorways to c.1200, Bullen et al. thought that the S doorway was early 12thc. The doorways have the same form of impost blocks and could be contemporary, but the renewed condition of the S doorway makes comparison difficult.