The manor was given, with Pagham, to Bishop Wilfrid by Caedwalla, King of Wessex, in 680. Wilfrid transferred it to the Archbishop of Canterbury, but it was in lay hands during the reign of Edward the Confessor, when it was held by Countess Gida under Earl Godwin. A church was mentioned in the Domesday Book, but no evidence can be found for it in the present structure.
The church is supposed to have been built by the Priory of Boxgrove, to whom William de St John gave the advowson in 1180 (Peat and Halsted 1912, 110).
The building was restored, and the chancel and vestry built, in 1883 by A. W. Blomfield.
