St Lawrence's is a cruciform church begunc.1100 with substantial later additions. Three-bay aisles were added to the nave in the 13thc.; the arcades have pointed, double chamfered arches carried on octagonal piers with moulded capitals. The W doorway and the triple lancet above it are also 13thc., as are the small lancets in the W walls of the aisles, so it is possible that the length of the church was changed in the 13thc. too. The S doorway is 13thc. too, now under a 19thc. porch (by Lynam, 1893). The 12thc. chancel has been drastically remodelled, but the original shallow buttresses remain on the N wall. The five-light E window is a spectacular example of mid-14thc. flowing tracery. A Lady Chapel was added on the S side of the chancel c.1500. It has tall three-light windows and a parapet, and a view of the E end serves to point up both the ineptness of the addition and the contrast between the sinuous Decorated tracery of the chancel and the austere late-Perpendicular work of the chapel. Also Perpendicular is the eastern chapel added to the N transept. The most recent addition is the new N vestry, designed by Ian Henderson of Horsley, Huber and Associates of Stafford and dedicated by the Bishop of Stafford in 1994. It is linked to the N nave aisle doorway by a passage containing a lavatory and an outer door, and thus combines the functions of porch, vestry and washroom.

What makes Gnosall one of the most important Romanesque churches in the county, however, are the transepts and crossing. The N transept has been substantially remodelled, as can be seen from the exterior. Its roofline has been lowered and the pitch reduced, and a 13thc. double lancet inserted in its end wall. The interior is largely inaccessible, being filled with a large 19thc. organ, but was apparently also remodelled in the 13thc. The S transept retains its original exterior form, more or less, although it has been refaced, and diagonal buttresses and a new façade window added, all in the 14thc. Within, its W wall retains many of its 12thc. features. It has a wall passage above and blind arcading below, now disturbed by the addition of an arch to the S nave aisle. Curiously the N transept has a quadrant arch to its nave aisle. All four crossing arches survive; the most elaborate sculpture being, as usual, on the W side of the W arch. The 12thc. W tower rises just above the nave and chancel roofs outside, but all above this is 15thc., with diagonal buttresses, traceried bell-openings, a frieze of cusped saltire crosses, gargoyles and an embattled parapet with eight pinnacles. The 12thc. church was liberally embellished with string courses; some of which survive in-situ and some as re-set sections. A problem in recording them is that some string courses that were originally outside are now inside, owing to the construction of later aisles and chapels. The editors have taken the view that they should be recorded in their present locations, so that the entry can function to some extent as a church guide. Antiquarian views, now in the William Salt Library and all dating from the 1830s and early '40s generally show the church much as it is today. A SW view by J. C. Buckler of 1842 (SV-VII.9a) shows a W porch that has since been removed, and no S porch (where one has now been added). An interior view of the crossing of 1841, also by Buckler, shows box pews in situ, and a gallery inserted in the nave (both now gone). The other two views are by T. P. Wood.

In 1086 the Clerks of Wolverhampton held 2 hides and 3 virgates of land in Gnosall and there were 4 ploughs in lordship. No church was mentioned, but it can be presumed that there was one. By 1117 the bishop of Coventry and Lichfield was overlord of the land and patron of the church. In 1193 there were four prebends. It has been argued that Gnosall was never collegiate in the conventional sense; nevertheless by 1549 the vicars had a house of 'four little chambers' built for them by Leonard Harcourt. Accordingly, from about the time of the Conquest or before, and at least until the 16thc., a community of four clerics was based at Gnosall. (Meeson).

Professor Prentice's examination of the stone at Gnosall throws an interesting light on methods of work in the 12thc. The main fabric of the church appears to have been constructed in fairly local stone, whereas all the carved stones are of the same type and were brought at least 30 km from the Grinshill quarry. The chief decoration at Gnosall is in the great variety and quantity of the imposts and string courses, there being no less than 15 distinctly different decorative treatments. The original Gnosall font is lost to us, but work similar to that on the Gnosall string courses may be seen on the fonts at Church Eaton and Bradley nearby. The stone of the font at Church Eaton has not been examined, but that at Bradley is probably from Grinshill. The sculpture in the transept, with its tall, bulbous bases, fat shafting and scallop, cushion and volute capitals, should be datedc.1100 or slightly later. The Ringerike foliage on two of the blind arcade capitals points to a continuity of tradition from before the Conquest, as does the interlace decoration seen on two of the triforium bases. The cushion capital with a dragon in the triforium has a parallel in Anselm's crypt at Canterbury (c.1096-1100), and must ultimately derive from an Italian (e.g. Como) or a German model. The crossing arch decoration is much less mainstream, especially the capitals of the W arch; of a type and decoration which has no local precedent known to the authors. The W face of this arch is more conventionally decorated; with chevron and flower motifs of the mid-century, and arch orders that do not correspond to the jamb orders. It is here suggested that the arch was remodelledc.1150. GP goes further than RB in suggesting that the tower collapsedc.1150, necessitating this work, but admits that there is little other evidence to support the theory.