A church existed in Grays before 1159 although St. Peter and Paul as we know it today was extensively restored in 1846 which was due in no small part due to "the improper way the steeple was replaced (in 1770) and was replaced by a wooden tower of timber and lath and plaster which was found to be completely rotten and unsafe". The structure of the church is mainly Victorian although the interior is perhaps surprisingly 20th century.

                During an extension in 1867 of the nave the Norman doorway was removed and re-erected in the garden wall of the then churchwarden Richard Meeson, it was returned to the church in 1958 and forms part of a memorial to the victims of World War 2.