The village is about 4.5 miles (7 km) west of Salisbury city centre and lies each side of an unclassified road.

[2] Evidence of Neolithic or Bronze Age activity in the area includes, in the south of the parish, a round barrow[3] at the top of a steep slope overlooking Punch Bowl Bottom, a deep valley in the downland with a semicircular head.

Small settlements at Bredecube (Burcombe) and Ocheforde (Ugford) were recorded in the 1086 Domesday survey, when some of the land was held by Wilton Abbey.

It was permitted by the Abbesses of Wilton and has features in the corner work of the masonry which indicate strongly that it was originally of Saxon construction, although it has undergone many changes, including restoration in 1859 by T.H.

[17] In the early 17th century, when John Speed prepared a map of Wiltshire he copied a version by Christopher Saxton, which showed but did not name North Burcombe.

[18] The Ship Inn at Burcombe is a 17th-century village pub with whitewashed walls, low ceilings with oak beams and a large open fire.