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The church of St. Mary the Virgin in Steeple Barton, so called by 1273, comprises chancel, nave with south aisle and south porch, west tower, and north-east vestry; it was almost completely rebuilt in 1850 and 1851. No traces remain of the 12th-century church, recorded between 1186 and 1190, but it presumably consisted of nave and chancel, and had a tower, of which the north buttress may remain, by 1247 when the placename Steeple Barton was first recorded. In the 14th century the south arcade and south porch were built; the columns of the arcade have elaborately carved capitals, decorated with human and animal heads. At least one new window was inserted in the chancel in the 14th century, and a doorway in the north wall of the nave. Also in the 14th century a new window was inserted in the west wall of the south aisle. In the 15th century the lower stages of the existing tower were built.

The chancel needed repair c. 1520. In 1548 a parishioner left £20 'for the building of the steeple', presumably the top part of the tower, and in 1551 another left £10 for the repair of the church. The east window of the chancel may have been replaced about the same time. In the 17th century the chancel arch was boarded up, and in 1686 the royal arms of James II supported by angels were painted on the upper part of the boarding. About the same date two new windows were inserted in the north wall of the nave. The chancel was in 'a most miserable condition' in 1745; it may have been repaired in 1752 when work was done on the east wall of the nave. 

The chancel was rebuilt in 1850, at the expense of Viscount Clifden, the chief impropriator, to designs of J. C. Buckler; the nave was largely rebuilt in 1851, by the same architect. Only the south arcade and the tower seem to have survived untouched, but other parts of the medieval church were replaced in the 19th-century building, including the carved stops above the windows in the north wall of the nave, the piscina in the south wall of the south aisle, and the north doorway. The chancel was restored in 1877. 

The plain tub font is probably 12th-century. No wall monuments or tombs survive, although the old church contained some to members of the Dormer, Blundell, Humphrey, and Sheldon families. The Dormer monuments were removed to Rousham church in 1851. 

The church plate includes a chalice of 1571–2. There are five bells, two of 1698, three of 1851. 

The churchyard was extended in 1880, 1916, and 1947.

Historical information about St. Mary's Church is provided by British history Online. A P Baggs, Christina Colvin, H M Colvin, Janet Cooper, C J Day, Nesta Selwyn and A Tomkinson, 'Parishes: Steeple Barton', in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 11, Wootton Hundred (Northern Part), ed. Alan Crossley (London, 1983), pp. 59-75. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol11/pp59-75 [accessed 22 April 2023].

St. Mary's Church is listed Grade II* For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ST MARY, Steeple Barton - 1052931 | Historic England

For more information about St. Mary's Church see Parishes: Steeple Barton | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk).