Located in a sparsely populated farming landscape in E Hampshire, some distance from the nearest village, Priors Dean is a simple two-cell church with rendered walls and red tile roofs. A bell turret stands over the W bay of the nave. The Norman N doorway is sheltered by a porch.

Priors Dean (Ladene or Dene), part of the king’s demesne, was a chapelry of Colemore, first recorded in the 12thc. It now belongs to the parish of Colemore and Priors Dean.

The roofs of Priors Dean church were repaired in 1849. A more thoroughgoing campaign of repairs and restoration was undertaken by the Winchester architects Owen Carter and J. Colson in 1857. This included rebuilding the chancel arch in a neo-Norman style, replastering the interior, inserting several new windows, and adding a spire to the belfry. A new neo-Norman font was installed, and its predecessor buried in the churchyard. A new porch was erected in front of the Norman doorway.

Two small Norman-style windows on the side elevations of the chancel are not shown on the pre-restoration (1857) plan published by Hervey. They may have been uncovered or repositioned at that date.

In the absence of other diagnostic evidence, the date of Priors Dean church hangs upon the style of the N doorway. Victorian sources placed this at c.1110, the Historic England List Description opts for 11thc, while both VCH and Bullen et al. suggested c.1120-30. The range of motifs is compatible with a date in the early 12thc, probably closer to 1100 than to 1130.