Alwalton overlooks the southern bank of the River Nene and is close to the line of Ermine Street or the A1 road, west of which lies the neighbouring village of Chesterton.

Alwalton was listed in the Domesday Book in the hundred of Norman Cross in Huntingdonshire; the name of the settlement was written as Alwoltune.

[3] In addition to the arable land, there was 10 acres (4 hectares) of meadows, two water mills and a fishery at Alwalton.

A parish council is the lowest tier of government in England, responsible for providing and maintaining a variety of local services including allotments and a cemetery; grass cutting and tree planting within public open spaces such as a village green or playing fields.

Alwalton parish council consists of five members and normally meets on the third Thursday of every month in the village hall.

For Alwalton, the highest tier of local government is Cambridgeshire County Council which has administration buildings in Cambridge.

[11] Alwalton is a part of the electoral division of Sawtry & Stilton, represented on the county council by one councillor.

Alwalton is a conservation area with a number of listed buildings, the most important of which are the Norman Church of St Andrew's and the Elizabethan Manor House.

Sir Henry Royce (27 March 1863 to 22 April 1933), the co founder of Rolls-Royce, was born in the village and his ashes were buried in St Andrew's Church where a plaque has been placed on the wall as well on a spot on the floor, beneath which his ashes were buried in an urn.

His remains were originally buried in 1933 beneath a statue of him at the Rolls-Royce works in Derby but in 1937 his urn was removed and brought to Alwalton.