Staveley is a town in NE Derbyshire, in the Chesterfield district, 5 miles NE of Chesterfield itself. The church is in the town centre and consists of an aisled nave with a S porch, a chancel with the Frecheville chapel alongside it and a W tower. The oldest part is the base of the 13thc tower (the upper parts are 15thc and later), and a 13thc S doorway. The S aisle was added in the 14thc and the N aisle and S porch were by St George Gilbert Scott as part of his major restoration of 1864-66. The Frecheville chapel was added in the 17thc. The key Norman features are two fonts, and a corbel head near the high altar.

In 1086 Staveley was held by Hascoit Musard and was worth £6. Domesday Book also records a priest and a church. It remained in the Musard family until the death of Nicholas of that name in 1300/01, and the Musards also held the advowson of the church. The original Hascoit's grandson (another Hascoit) gave half of the church to the Knights Hospitallers, sometime between 1162-82 (Cox, 345).

The list description dates the font in service to c.1200 but it seems clear that it is not all of the same date (i.e. the upper part of the bowl is rather older). The font from the rectory garden is also 12thc, which is puzzling, and one can only conclude that they are from different churches. Hartwell (2016) finds no local parallel for the main font and does not record the second one.