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The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Broadwell, cruciform in plan and built largely of stone rubble, is dominated by a three-stage west tower surmounted by a tall, octagonal spire similar to that at Bampton. The nave, chancel and lower two stages of the tower were probably built in the late 12th century after the Limesys' grant of the church to the Templars, but irregular masonry on the north and south chancel walls and around the tower arch may remain from an earlier building. External 12th-century features include pilaster buttresses on the lowest stage of the tower and at the west end of the chancel, and a string-course which runs around the eastern part of the chancel and along the nave's south wall, where it can be seen inside the south transept chapel. The south doorway, of three orders, is decorated with chevron and a tabbed roll moulding, and has dog-tooth on the hoodmould; the nook-shafts have early stiff-leaf capitals. A lancet in the chancel's south wall and those in the second stage of the tower are probably of the same period.

Inside, the 12th-century tower arch is unusual in being equally elaborate on its east and west faces: it has quadrant roll mouldings, hoodmoulds, moulded imposts extending into a string-course, and shafts with scalloped capitals. The font, which has a quatrefoil bowl on clustered shafts with scallop capitals, is also late 12th-century. The north transept chapel, more advanced in style and probably added after the body of the church had been finished, has an arch from the nave of two chamfered orders on shafts with early stiff-leaf capitals and waterholding bases.

The church was much enlarged in the second half of the 13th century. The chancel was remodelled and a north chapel added to it; the south transept chapel and south porch were added to the nave; and the upper stage of the tower and the spire were built. The two chapels and the chancel modifications are closely related in design: the windows in both chapels have three trefoiled lights with blind tracery in the spandrels, while the chancel's south-east window has similar tracery and a dropped sill. The inner surround of the east window (a cusped rere-arch similar to examples at Bampton and elsewhere in the area) is also late 13th- or early 14th-century, although the window itself has been replaced. The arches to the chancel and chapels each have two chamfered orders, the inner one resting on shafts with moulded capitals, the outer one continuous. The opening into the porch is plainer, but is probably contemporary with the work further east. The upper stage of the tower has large windows, each of two lights and a foiled circle. The spire has four gabled lucarnes and is linked to the tower by four miniature flying buttresses. No documentary evidence has been found to support the modern assumption that the north chancel chapel was built as a chantry chapel for the d'Oddingseles family, although their arms appear on a corbel shield on the east wall. A tall narrow recess in the chapel's west wall may have housed staves for parish perambulations.

Few structural changes were made to the church after this period. The central window in the chancel's south wall, which also has a cusped rere-arch, was inserted in the 14th century, and retains a fragment of original glass, while in the early 15th century two very large windows with Perpendicular tracery were installed on each side of the nave. The north transept chapel was remodelled later, when an arch was opened to connect it to the chancel chapel, rectangular windows of three cusped lights were installed, and the roof was replaced by a low-pitched one with a plain parapet. A stair in the corner of the chapel originally led to a room over its roof. Upper and lower doorways to a former rood stair also survive in the south-east respond of the chancel arch, and there is a late 15th- or 16th-century statue niche in the south chapel.

The nave, chancel, and north chancel chapel were re-roofed in the mid 16th century. The chapel roof, which has a virtually flat, coffered ceiling, survives; the nave and chancel apparently had similar roofs until the 19th century. Probably also of the mid 16th century were the four-light east window (removed in the 19th century), and a row of three recesses with depressed heads, possibly for brasses, in the chancel's north wall. Below the recesses is a square piscina, presumably for a chantry altar. The surviving ring of five bells was completed in 1653–63, apparently partly at the cost of the lord of Broadwell; another of the bells is 14th-century, and one is of 1581. A saunce was added in 1778. Most surviving mural monuments, some of them quite elaborate, were erected between the 17th and early 19th centuries, commemorating resident gentry such as John Huband (d. 1668) of Bradwell Grove, the Hampsons, and the Colstons. 

A blocked door over the tower arch probably led to a former gallery, perhaps that erected in 1829 by the builder Richard Pace as part of more general repairs. In 1831 the church was said to be in good condition, though in the 1850s and 1860s the interior was still cluttered with irregular box pews, some of them cut down to improve visibility, and by the early 1870s decayed flooring had rendered half the seating unusable. The church was heavily restored in 1873 by E. G. Bruton, who installed the present steeply pitched, early gothic-style roofs, but retained some corbels from the earlier roof. Probably at the same time the medieval floor levels were raised. 

A large-scale programme of maintenance and repair from the 1980s to the early 21st century included restoration and re-leading of the roofs and partial rebuilding of the spire. An organ from the Cowley Fathers' church of St John the Evangelist (in Cowley near Oxford) was acquired c. 1988, replacing one transferred from Broughton Poggs in the early 1930s.

Historical information about the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul is provided by 'Broadwell Parish: Broadwell', in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 17, ed. Simon Townley (Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2012), pp. 20-59. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol17/pp20-59 [accessed 3 April 2023].

The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul is a Grade I listed building. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ST PETER AND ST PAUL, Broadwell - 1199110 | Historic England.

For more information about the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul see Broadwell Parish: Broadwell | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk).