Ellistown received its name from Colonel Joseph Joel Ellis of London. However the history of Ellistown predates Colonel Ellis. From the 14th century it was in the hundred of Sparkenhoe and parish of Ibstock and after the Reformation in the Diocese of Peterborough (from 1926 in that of Leicester).
With the sinking of Ellis’ coal mine, a small community grew up in this part of the Parish of Ibstock-cum-Hugglescote. A small school was built and served as a church on Sundays from 1871 until the Parish Church of St Christopher was built in 1896.