The parish covers 443 acres (179 ha),[2] The 2011 Census incorporated its figures into an output area accordingly used to enlarge the civil parish definition of Shirburn to the south, incorporating these two settlements and Stoke Talmage due to their small population.

[3] Adwell Cop, 1⁄2 mile (800 m) southeast of the village, is a 486-foot (148 m) hill topped with a Bronze Age burial mound.

[4] Until the Norman conquest of England, a Saxon called Wulfstan held the manor of Adwell, as well as three others in the area including Britwell Salome.

The Domesday Book records that by 1086 Advelle had been granted to the Norman Miles Crispin, the first castellan of Wallingford Castle.

[6] Adwell's original parish church is believed to have been built late in the 12th century, although the earliest documentation of it is dated 1254.

[7] The new building has no aisles, but has north and south chapels arranged as transepts either side of the chancel.