There has been a church dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin in Ewell since the 13th century, a board above the south door in the current building recording incumbents from 1239 to the present day. There were two reasons for the demolition of the old church : one was that the building was in such a parlous state of structural repair that it would come down whether demolished under control or allowed to collapse; another was that the incumbent at the time, Sir George Lewen Glyn, resented his parishioners' carts all passing his rectory/manor house on their way to Sunday services, so had a new church built at the junction of Church Road and London Road further away from the rectory. Dedicated in 1848, the current building stands in a prominent position near the centre of the village of Ewell, on the old London Road. Designed by Henry Clutton, it was built in a simple, modest form of the Decorated Gothic style and faced with Swanage stone with Bath stone mullions and tracery. The North Aisle was enlarged in the late 19th century. The real glories, however, are inside. There is a fine marble pulpit, as well as the medieval font and chancel screen from the old building.
The organ was originally built in 1889 by the organ builder Henry Willis for the Anglican parish church of St Augustine, Highbury. In 1975 there was a risk that the latter church would be closed—so, to protect the organ's future, they sold it to Saint Mary's, which had lost a similar instrument in a fire two years previously. However, in an ironic twist of fate, the church in Highbury was reprieved just days after the organ was removed and another nearby church, dedicated to St John, closed instead. The Ewell organ was installed in its new home by the Liverpool-based firm of Rushworth and Dreaper, but was left much as it had originally been built. Some of the organ's finely stencilled front-pipes were painted gold, in accordance with the fashions of the time. However, a few stencilled pipes can be seen from a few angles behind these. This instrument is, despite its prestigious origins, comparatively little-known. The Vicar of Ewell, the Parochial Church Council and the Director of Music have decided that efforts should be made to redress this situation and, to that end, are to promote the instrument through a number of recitals and concerts, the particulars of which can be viewed .
