Mr Joshua Charlesworth offered a site in Binns Field and Mr Edward Hugh Shellard designed a church to hold 700 people. The Church was built in 1846 costing £4451.6s.7d. A committee was formed to collect donations and subscription. The church in the Parish of Almondbury was originally to be called St Paul's but within a month it was changed to St John's. The Rev. Thomas Gleadow Fearne laid the foundation stone on 12th November 1846 and the church was consecrated on 4th May 1848 by the Rt Rev. Charles Thomas Longley, Lord Bishop of Ripon.
In 1875 the church had extensive alterations, an organ chamber was added together with ornamentation to the chancel and a new gateway. In 1912 stonework in the 80ft tower was renovated - church workers raised the funds.
The church has many points of interest, for example:
There is a memorial to the Shackleton family, husband, wife and three children of Mill Hill, all of whom were drowned when the Bilberry Reservoir burst its banks and flooded the valley in 1852.
The Lych Gate was added to commemorate the fallen of 1939 - 1945 world war. It was built by Young Caldwell, 4th May 1948.
For some years, fans of the TV sitcom Last of the Summer Wine have visited St John's to see the grave of Wm J Owen Robotham, actor and playwright, who played Compo in the series. In 2017. Peter Sallis, who, among many other roles, played Clegg in Last of the Summer Wine, was also laid to rest in the churchyard, according to his wishes, alongside Bill Owen.