In the nineteenth century an enlightened and energetic vicar, John Ward, fought a long campaign to give Grafton its own church.
He persuaded the Marquess of Ailesbury, who owned the land around, to give enough ground for a church, a parsonage and a school.
The church was completed in 1844. It is built of Bath stone, in the Romanesque or neo-Norman style, with an apse and a campanile, rather like a smaller edition of Wilton church near Salisbury.
The apse is the most distinctive feature of our church, and its decoration is the work of Willement, famous for his church interiors