The church of All Saints is an impressive Norman church built between 1130 and 1150. The medieval tower was added during the 1400s. Originally the church served seven villages which in addition to Youlgrave or Youlgreave included: Winster, Elton, Birchover, Stanton, Middleton by Youlgrave and Gratton. It's medieval origins were added to in the 14th, 15th, 17th and 19th centuries. One of the largest churches in the Peak District it has a variety of architectural styles.

"YOULGREAVE, a parish partly in the hundred of Wirksworth, and partly in that of High Peak, county Derby, 3½ miles S.W. of Bakewell, and 3 from Rowsley railway station. The parish, which comprises above 12,000 acres, is watered by a branch of the river Wye, and includes the chapelries of Stanton, Elton, and Winster, the last also a market town, with the townships of Birchover, Gratton, and Middleton, and the hamlets of Smerril, Conksbury, Hartlemoor, Alport, and Greenfield.

Some of the inhabitants are employed in the cotton mills, and others in the stone quarries and lead mines, which latter, though formerly more productive than at present, are still in active operation. The population in 1861 was 3,738. In the township of Middleton is a Druidical circle, known as Arborlowes Ring, surrounded by numerous barrows. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Lichfield, value £200.

The parish church, dedicated to All Saints, contains a font supposed to be of the 11th century, and several old monuments. There are chapels-of-ease at Elton, Stanton, and Winster, and chapels for Wesleyans and other Protestant Dissenters in various parts of the parish. There is a free school endowed with £25 per annum, and National and denominational schools. The Duke of Rutland is lord of the manor of Youlgrave, and W. Pole Thornhill, Esq., of that of Elton." [This description is from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)