Sarnesfield is a village in the W of the county, 11 miles NW of Hereford. The two manors into which it was divided at the end of the 14thc are now represented by Sarnesfield, site of the church and the remains of Sarnesfield Court (demolished in 1955), and Little Sarnesfield, with a moated site, 1 mile to the NE. St Mary’s consists of a chancel with a S chapel, a nave with a narrow S aisle and a S porch, and a W tower. The nave is 12thc, and the aisle was added before the end of that century. The tower was added c.1300, and the S chapel in the 14thc. The church was restored by G. C. Haddon in 1869-70, and again (apparently undoing most of Haddon’s work) by Roland Paul in 1906-07.

Sarnesfield belonged to Leominster Priory before it was dissolved in the Confessor’s time, and was given by William I to Roger de Lacy. Gothmund held it from Roger in 1086, and it was assessed at 1½ hides. By 1109 it was held by Philip de Sarnesfield from Hugh de Lacy, and it remained in this family until 1394 when the male line failed. At this time it was divided between the two daughters of Nicholas de Sarnesfield; the Sarnesfield manor passing to the Monington family and Little Sarnesfield to the Bromwich family.

The size and decoration of the reset stone suggests that it may be part of a grave slab. The arcade probably dates from the second half of the 12thc.