One of the earliest settlements in the shire it stood on a Roman road from Kenchester; it was probably recognised by Alfred the Great's 'burghal hidage'.

[2] The village of Burghill was a feudal manor with a strip field system of villein cultivation.

In the early modern period the estate was split up when Griffin Barton bought in part before in 17th century Richard Witherstone built The Lodge.

[4][5] The Hereford County and City Lunatic Asylum, later known as St Mary's Hospital after the church, was erected in the village in 1868.

A Norman church, St Mary the Virgin[6] was graced with a visitation from the romantic poets William Wordsworth, who frequented the county often, S.T.

In the churchyard stood an ancient Yew tree, that can live for a 1,000 years, the trunk in the early 1800s measured 25 ft (10 m) girth.