[citation needed] Hawkesdown Hill, just above the village, was occupied during the Iron Age, and remains found on the site suggest it was subject to an attack by the Romans.

In the will of King Alfred the Great, a copy of which is in the British Library, Axmouth was left to his youngest son Aethelweard.

[3][4][5] According to Historic England, 'Axmouth was ranked as a major port by the mid-14th century and accounted for 15% of the country's shipping trade'.

The remains of a late medieval fishing boat can be seen at low tide in the River Axe, just south-west of the village.

Axmouth forms part of the Honiton and Sidmouth county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.