The Anglican church was the religious masterpiece of architect William Burges whose Gothic designs clearly verged on the late 19th-century Arts and Crafts Movement. Built for the first Marquess and Marchioness of Ripon, it has a highly decorated interior characteristic of the Anglo-Catholic religious sentiments of the Victorian period.

The Marquess, who had succeeded to the estate in 1859, was a successful politician and Viceroy of India in 1880-1884. A deeply religious man, he disliked Renaissance architecture and looked back with nostalgia to what he saw as the more humanitarian caring Middle Ages.

St Mary's Church is owned by English Heritage and managed by The National Trust.