The church is the most completely ruined part of the site, with little in the way of upstanding walls. A single Norman architecture arched doorway, leading from the cloister into the nave of the church shows fine foliage moulding, with the sculptured figures of St Peter and Saint Paul either side of the opening. This is on the south side of the church's western end – an austere choice, apparently unaltered. Lilleshall and most similar abbeys had their processional door near close to the transept and dorter, and many had night stairs for the convenience of the monks or canons. At Haughmond the canons had to cross the cloisters, in all weathers, and all times of day and night. There are traces of an early 12th-century church, found during excavations, close to the south transept. However, the easily discerned cruciform plan of the late 12th-century building provides the main framework. The natural upward slope to the east was used to create a symbolism of spiritual ascent, with steps leading from the nave to the choir, and more from the choir to the sanctuary and high altar – a rise of about four metres. The church was about 60 metres (almost exactly 200 feet) in length – about the same as at Lilleshall, which it seems to have resembled closely – and originally aisleless. However, an aisle and porch were added on the northern side in the 13th century. A chapel was added to the northern side of the presbytery in the 15th: this may have been the chapel of St Anne, where the canons served the Le Strange chantry around 1480. Burials of lay benefactors took place in the church and elsewhere on the site: the graves of Richard FitzAlan, 8th Earl of Arundel (died 1302) and his mother, Isabella Mortimer, Countess of Arundel (died c. 1292), both very important benefactors, are marked in the sanctuary area.