The foundation for the church was laid in 1863 by Mrs Bland of Kippax Park. Bishop Bickerstilt consecrated it on August 10 th 1865. A lych gate was erected to the memory of Hugh Smithson, the manager of the local colliery. Originally there were eight bells, dedicated in June 1920 to mark the signing of the Peace on June 28th 1919. There is now only one bell in the bell cote.

The stained glass windows include one to Revd James Bell, the vicar for thirty-three years. The east window was erected by Revd Edward Davison Bland of Kippax Park. The three lights remember the Kippax vicars, Charles Bickerdike (1828-1888) and John Davison Bland. The west window was to Edward Longbottom (1910). Some of the stained glass came from the closed church of St Aidan, Great Preston. The oak pulpit and the brass lectern were dedicated on March 31st 1919. The credence table was given in memory of Peter Moody (died 1939), and the sanctuary in which the table is placed was renovated with a bequest from Revd Charles Hutchinson. It was dedicated by the Bishop of Knaresborough on December 3rd 1966.

Although a church at Kippax is mentioned in Domesday Book it is certain that the use of the site for worship and burial extends back to more remote periods. In the 1870’s a Roman coffin was found – possibly re-used – beneath the nave of the church during its restoration by Gough while in c.1875-6 a local antiquarian, Mr Holmes, found two fragments of an Anglian cross-shaft built into the threshold of the high-level doorway in the west wall of the tower. This stone, which is now preserved in the nave, was dated by Collingwood to the period after AD 900.

There is evidence, described below, for believing that the present church – of west tower, aisless nave, and chancel, but excluding the north vestry of 1875 – is of a single build. Bilson dated the blocked and altered door at the west end of the north nave wall to c.1125 at the latest while the pitched slab or herringbone work of which all three elements of the early mediaeval church is largely constructed reinforces the view that the date is earlier in the Norman period rather than later. Moreover certain features – the tall proportions of the nave, the provision of the high-level door in the tower, and the relatively thin walls – are also characteristic of pre-Conquest work and suggest the vigorous survival of an earlier tradition. Some of the fabric may in fact have been re-used from a previous church: having itself been salvaged from the ruinous Roman fort at Castleford. St Mary’s church is known to have belonged to the Cluniac priory of St John at Pontefract by 1090.

Later mediaeval work was limited to window replacement on the south side of the nave and chancel and to the re-roofing of the nave in the C15. In the C17 a south porch was added; in 1709 and 1715 faculties were granted for work on the nave roof and for a west gallery respectively. At about this time the church was sketched by Samuel Buck. The object of Buck’s sketch was in fact the house known as Kippax Park and the west tower of the church appears in the distance, beyond trees: the drawing, which is very faint, does little beyond confirming that the tower had a belfry opening in each elevation and that it may have been in a poor state. No pinnacles are shown.

Little is known of the subsequent history of the tower until 1892-3 when it underwent drastic restoration at the hands of the well-known York architect G H Fowler Jones; although it seems likely that the existing south and west windows to the lower stage and the high-level doorway owe their replacement surrounds to an earlier restoration of the mid 1870’s. Certainly Fowler Jones seems to have concerned himself with the upper stage only. Pevsner states that this upper stage is of the C15 while earlier writers have assumed that the architect merely reproduced what he found there; in fact neither of these interpretations is correct as Lorenzo Padgett, writing in 1904, makes clear:

The whole of the tower was originally of herringbone masonry, but owing to the crumbling of the upper portion, it was restored some ten years ago…
Padgett 1904

The extent of the repair and rebuilding work carried out by Fowler Jones is recorded in a series of interesting documents preserved in the parish papers at the West Yorkshire Archive Service; they record a dispute which broke out between the contractor, Mr Keswick, of Micklegate, York, and the incumbent, the Revd. A Hoste. Mr Keswick’s tender, which had been an extremely low one, had been based on a misunderstanding of the Schedule of Work which had led him to fail to take into account a number of expensive repairs – most notably the rebuilding of the rear-arches of the belfry openings. In an attempt to recover some of his loss – which was considerable – he appealed to the architect. Fowler Jones’ sympathy was with the builder, who was by then a very sick man. The architect therefore drew up a very informative Statement of Cost in an attempt to persuade the Revd. Hoste to allow some of the expense. In this he was not completely successful.

There is no doubt that the belfry stage was in poor condition:

The additional cost has been caused by the very bad state the walls were found to be in when the outer facing was removed, in some parts nearly the whole thickness of the wall came away or had to be taken out in order to get sufficient bond for the new work…
Fowler Jones to Revd. A Hoste
13th February 1894

The cure was drastic. The facing was taken down completely on all four sides of the tower to varying levels but always to a point below that of the sill of the belfry openings; the rear-arches of all four of the belfry openings were rebuilt and the inner face and corework stabilised with iron ties; and then the outer face was rebuilt using iron cramps to tie the new work, carried out in rock-faced masonry, to the old. The style chosen was that of the C15 and so the tower was also given diagonal buttresses, with weatherings and offsets, to the north-west and south-west quoins; similar buttresses, rising from corbelling, were added to the other two angles. These added only weight to the building but for visual reasons could not be omitted. The work was topped off with a crenellated parapet with crocketed pinnacles. For this work Mr Keswick had submitted a tender of £620; the actual cost was £780 13s 6d.

Later work has been restricted to repointing, apparently from the ground. Where necessary this is described below. The coal store, mentioned by Fowler Jones in his Statement of Cost, was demolished some time after 1894 to leave a shallow-pitched roof scar against the north elevation of the tower.

There has been a church here for at least 900 years. The Doomsday Survey of 1086 tells us that 'a church is there' but no records of that building remain.

The church you see today is a Grade 2* listed building, over 600 years old, built around 1360.  The most striking external feature is the contrast between the dark tower and the creamy yellow of the rest of the church. The tower was renovated in 1883/84 the belfry stage being re-built and the tower re-faced with ashlar stone from Harehills. As time has gone by the newer stonework has darkened while the rest of the church, built with local yellow limestone, has retained its original lightness 

East of the porch, on the south wall. A scratch dial or Mass Clock can be seen. Lines radiate from a central hole which would formerly have contained a gnomon, the shadow of which would have shown the times of morning and evening services, including 9am which during the middle ages was the time of the Parish Mass.  

The nave and chancel were probably built around the first structure in 1360, in the reign of Edward III. This was during the Hundred Years War, just before the Peasant's Revolt and about the time of John Wycliffe's attempts to bring reform to the church in England. The tower was added approximately a century later.

In the chancel there is a Priest's Doorway in the south wall, where there are three Sedilia or seats, possibly dating from the fifteenth century. The High Altar here was dedicated to All Hallows.

The oak roof of the chancel was given by Mary Frances Alice Lowther of Swillington House in 1902. The vestry was re-built in 1880, but the doorway leading to it is old.

The organ was given by E. Leather esq. of Leventhorpe Hall. Built by Hill & Son of London, it was dedicated by Bishop William Boyd Carpenter, the then Bishop of Ripon, on December 14th 1887. The organ was re-built in 1987 and re-dedicated by Bishop David Young the then Bishop of Ripon.

The chapel in the south aisle was dedicated to St. Nicholas, and became the Lowther Pew, used by the Lowther family of Swillington House, Lords of the manor of Swillington and, until 1924, patrons of the Living. In 1890, fifteen coffins were removed from the Lowther vaults beneath their pew, and re-interred at the east end of the churchyard

There is a recess in the wall of the south aisle which probably dates from the 14th century. In it is a glass case containing a wooden effigy of a knight, one of only about 50 in the country

At the east end of the north aisle was the Chapel of Our Lady, and a bracket to the left of the pulpit probably once bore a statue of the virgin Mary. In due course this chapel became the Leventhorpe pew, used by the families of Hall, Green and Leather.

In the nave above the north door there is a hatchment with the Royal Arms bearing the inscription G.R. 1723.

The stem, base and steps of the font are relatively modern, but the bowl itself is old, and the oak cover may date back to the 17th century.

Ven. Dealtry is credited with the introduction of the custom of throwing confetti over the bride and groom at a wedding. Apparently the practice originates in the Hindu custom of the bridegroom throwing 3 handfuls of rice over his bride and she doing the same to him, as a symbol of fertility. That custom, which later became confetti rather than rice, was introduced in Swillington by Ven. Thomas Dealtry  who was Rector here from 1872 to 1878. He had previously spent his ministry in India, where he became Archdeacon of Madras. He was also Chaplain to the East India Company and through that made the acquaintance of some members of the Lowther family. It was through their influence that when the East India Company collapsed and Dealtry wanted to return to England, he was appointed as Rector of Swillington

The tower contains a peal of eight bells which were transferred from St. Matthew's, Holbeck in 1979. This work was done by members of the congregation and parish under the guidance of Mr. Guy Cox the Tower Captain a the time. We have many visiting ringers as the bells are considered to be of high quality and excellently maintained. The three original bells remain hung in the tower one being used by the clock mechanism for the striking of the hours.