Located at the northern edge of this small, quiet village, the church of St. Edmund, at its core, is a 12^th c. aisle-less church, which has been enlarged over time. In the 14^th c., a N aisle and clerestory, the tower and the S porch were added. The chancel may have been enlarged then too, but it was rebuilt in the 15^th c. At some point the N aisle was removed and the N arcade filled in with ashlar. The spire was added in the late 18^th c. and a general restoration undertaken in 1872-73 by J. Tait of Leicester. The S doorway and chancel arch are of the Romanesque period.

Though Egleton is not mentioned in Domesday Book, it was one of the berewicks that belonged to Oakham manor as part of the land of King William I. The Romanesque remains at the church are evidence for an early chapel here. In 1206, James Salvage, rector of All Saints, Oakham, obtained from King John a quit of suit in shire and hundred courts and payment of the sheriff’s aid for All Saint’s and its appurtenant chapels, one of which was Egleton. This grant was renewed in 1229 by King Henry III pursuant to the earlier charter. Egleton chapel is mentioned in the episcopal register of Bishop Buckingham of Lincoln in 1374 and in 1534 the rectory of Egleton is noted in the Valor Ecclesiasticus of Henry VIII. Westminster Abbey appropriated the rectory of Egleton and was in possession of it until the Dissolution.

On the S doorway, the bases of the nook shafts appear to be a different type of stone from the nook shafts. This and their extremely worn condition compared with the rest of the doorway sculpture suggests that the bases may be reused. The small section of cable moulding on the upper arris at the W end of the S impost face suggests that the entire upper arris had continuous cable moulding on both the S and E faces as still exists on the lower arris.

On the chancel arch, though the E faces of the imposts are plain, the rough tooling marks on them suggest that they have been cut back. The smooth surfaces of both orders of the chancel arch appear to be renewed.