Child's Ercall is a village about six miles S of Market Drayton, and the church lies on the W of the village. The building is of dark grey freestone and consists of an aisled structure. The dressed red sandstone chancel was constructed in 1878-9 by Carpenter and Ingelow; the S porch dated between the 13th and the early 14thc, with a W tower built in the 15thc. The only Romanesque feature is a doorway reset on S side of chancel in 1878-9 which was carved in the late 12thc. or early 13thc.

The Domesday Survey records that in 1086 the manor of 'Ercall Parva' (or 'Arcalun') belonged to Reginald the Sheriff, having been held in 1066 by Siward the Fat; it valued £3. A priest is mentioned here. In 1138 William FitzAlan, benefactor of Buildwas Abbey, granted to the abbey the land of Dodecote in Childs Ercall (VCH, 51). In 1335 the church of Child's Ercall was included among the appropriated churches of Combermere Abbey (Cheshire).

The List Description dates the S chancel doorway to the 12thc., while Newman and Pevsner call it Late-Norman.