Burnham Thorpe's name is of combined Anglo-Saxon and Viking origin, and derives from the Old English for a settlement along the River Burn with the Old Norse for an outlying farmstead.

[4] The village's main public house was built in 1637 and was known as The Plough until 1798 when it was renamed The Lord Nelson in honour of the victory at the Battle of the Nile.

[10] Burnhamthorpe Road in Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario, Canada was named after Burnham Thorpe, the homeplace of settler, John Abelson.

A bell tower of three stages at the west end also dates from the 15th-century, due to these features the church is a Grade I listed building.

Burnham Thorpe's war memorial is a stone latin cross located inside All Saint's Churchyard, it has been Grade II listed since 2017.