Bromham (Bruneham in Domesday) is probably the enclosed meadow on which the broom or the dyers' weed grew (at present no such flora can be found at that location).

Other variants including Bruham (1164–1302), Braham (1227), Bramham (1228), Brumham (1262–87), Brunham (1276–91), Brumbham (1276), Brynham (1276), Broham (1278), Bronham (1338), Broam (1360), Brounham (1361) and Burnham (1361).

Bromham afterward passed successively into the hands of the Mowbrays, the Latimers, the Nevilles, the Passelowes, the Wildes and the Dyves.

The watermill is referred to in the Domesday Book of 1086 and the Vikings navigated the Great Ouse a long time ago.

The mill was extensively restored in 1980 by Warwickshire millwrights Gormley and Goodman to the extent that it was able to grind wheat for flour again for the first time that year since it ceased work in 1939.