[4] In 1872 John Marius Wilson recorded Colesbourne as being a parish in the Cirencester district, near the highest source of the River Thames and 3 miles (5 km) east from the Roman road of "Ermine-street", actually Ermin Way (today's A417).

Colesbourne Park was the seat of Henry John Elwes, who was patron of the ecclesiastical parish rectory.

In the village is St James' Church, dating to the 12th century, with later 15th-century tower and chancel, which was largely rebuilt in 1852–53 for Henry John Elwes in early Perpendicular style.

[17] At the south of the parish is Rapsgate Park, a late 17th-century "large country house" which was "remodelled and enlarged in the 18th century and altered in 1903".

[20][21] At the north of the village, beyond St James' Church, and bordered at the east by Hilcot Brook, dammed in 1922 to form a lake, is Colesbourne Park, a house with 30 acres (120,000 m2) of garden and an arboretum, which was home to the botanist and author Henry John Elwes (1846–1922).

The park is significant for its display of 250 cultivars of snowdrops, particularly Galanthus elwesii which was identified by and named after Elwes.