Carrington was developed after 1825 and with the population rising rapidly due to the development of high intensity housing between the Hucknall and Mansfield Roads a new church was needed to serve this growing community. Local banker Ichabod Wright of nearby Mapperley Hall provided the land and along with other members of his family a substantial amount of the money needed to build the church. Building commenced on May 12 th 1841 when Wright laid the first stone.

The Church was consecrated on April 6 th 1843 by the Bishop of Lincoln, in whose diocese it then lay. St John's was a district church, a chapel-of-ease serving the mother church of St Leodegarius , Basford. It did not become a parish in its own right until 1902 although an application to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for it to be upgraded to a parish had been made as early as May 1877.

The architect William Surplice built a simple stone nave measuring 83 x 38ft, without aisles, chancel or tower, but with a bell turret and a porch at the south west corner. Inside was a gallery and high deal pews. The nave could accommodate 350, plus room for 120 children in the gallery at the west end .

A stained glass window showing Jesus with arms raised was installed at the south east end of the church dedicated to the memory of Ichabod Wright by his tenth daughter Sophia Lydia. He died at Mapperley in 1862 in his 96 th year.

A 25ft long chancel along with and organ chamber on the north side was added in 1873 (architects Jackson & Heazell). The window formally at the east end was shortened and inserted into the east end of the chancel. This window showing Christ on the cross, flanked by Mary and John is dedicated in memory of Ichabod Charles Wright who died in 1871.

In the mid 1890s the gallery was taken down and new vestries built. A door in the west wall was blocked up. The high deal pews were removed and replaced by chairs. Pew rents were abolished in 1897.

There was a Church Institute in Carrington from c.1889, and a Parish Hall was built in 1893 as a result of the generosity of Elizabeth Lennon, one of the ‘better off' members of the congregation.

During the early years of the 20th century much of the Vicar's time and that of his parishioners was taken up with the quest for a new church in Carrington. After many years of packed congregations the PCC set up a committee to consider building a new, bigger church. A subscription list was started in 1908 and hundreds of parishioners contributed. A site was purchased for £660 on Loscoe Mount the little hill girdled by Watcombe Circus and a London architect, W .Curtis Green, won the competition for the design of the proposed church . For several summers before the Great War services were held there, as a prelude to the building of a new church on the site.

The First World War intervened and, by 1920, the cost of a new building was far in excess of the money available. Instead, vestries, a north aisle and a Lady Chapel were added in 1923-4 to the existing building. The Lady Chapel contained a Roll of Honour of all 176 parishioners who lost their lives in the Great War. As it turned out a larger church was not needed as congregations declined thereafter, and the new church of St Martin 's Sherwood catered for the expanding population in the northern part of the parish.

The original organ, a 7.4.1. Father Willis, had been given by St John's Curate Rev. H.J.F. Burchell-Herne in 1873. The current instrument, a Roger Yates house organ, was purchased in 1949 and installed in a small chamber which used to separate the chancel with the north aisle Lady Chapel by Hill Norman and Beard.

A faculty for a new pulpit was submitted in 1951 and for an oak lectern in 1956. Since 1921 there had been hopes of a screen but by the 1960's another barrier between priest and congregation was unacceptable. Instead, in 1975 a nave altar was installed.

The 21 st century brought new challenges to the congregation. Both the church and hall were in need of extensive renovation and upgrading to meet modern standards. John Cunnington architects were appointed to investigate the possibility of providing all the needs of the community on one site.

Following Mass on 27 th July 2008 all services moved to the hall and work commenced to redevelop the church building. Services returned to the church in July 2009 and the hall sold.

Following this major redevelopment the parish is able to provide church and community facilities' within the one building. T he result is a completely new liturgical space in the nave, with an (almost central) stone altar set on a stone sanctuary area, and all-new liturgical furniture. In the north aisle of the church there is 2-storey development of rooms and community spaces, the upstairs large hall with commercial-standard catering facilities. New toilet facilities and a lift have also been installed. There is a new glass-doored welcome area/narthex at the west end of the building along with a parish office. Above the narthex is a "minstrels' gallery", housing the acclaimed Roger Yates organ which as been restored and enlarged.