Bramdean is a village in the City of Winchester district of the county, 8miles E of the centre of Winchester, The church is on the southern edge of the village and was originally a simple two-cell church, essentially Romanesque. The medieval portions are rubble wall, rendered, and painted white, rather upset by a large Victorian S transept and vestry, with a modern 2-bay arcade. The Romanesque features are a plain N doorway (behind a brick porch) and a late 12thc chancel arch.

Bramdean is recorded in the Domesday Book as a medium-sized settlement with a value to the lord of £3. It was held by Miles the Porter from the king in 1086, and before the Conquest was held by two freemen as 3 manors. Miles must have been porter at the king's gaol in Winchester, because in 1199 it was held by Henry of Bramsdean, who claimed that his post as porter of the gaol was inherited from his father. The advowson of the church follwed the lordship of the manor until 1234, then in 1236 it was granted by Hugh de Bramdean to the prior and convent of Selborne.

The rectory was assessed at £5 in 1291.

Whether the arch was originally pointed is not clear, but the Early Gothic forms can be paralleled at nearby Swaythling, which certainly is of pointed form.