The Oxshott section of the single carriageway north-south A244 runs through its middle and briefly forms its high street, centred two miles (three kilometres) from the A3 (Portsmouth Road) and the M25 (London Orbital motorway).

The Prince's Coverts remains part of the Crown Estate, albeit decreased by some privatisation; and the public land of the village has been protected by inclusion in the Metropolitan Green Belt.

Until the 16th century, Oxshott was fairly isolated from other centres of population, surrounded by heath and scrubland and connected to nearby villages only by footpaths.

[4] The railway transformed Oxshott from "a hamlet of pig farmers" into a popular destination for London commuters, who occupied newly constructed mock Tudor mansions on land that had been released by the Crown Estate.

[6] Oxshott became a parish in its own right in 1913 under that name; this putting an end to the use of the pre-1913 spelling of Ockshot, as used, for example, in 1911 in its topographical description in the Victoria County History.

Industry arrived in Oxshott when John Early Cook set up his brickworks from the local deep patch of suitable clay, in 1866.

A 26-tonne concrete mixer lorry crashed through the road bridge's parapet and fell about 30 feet (10 metres) onto the railway line, colliding with a train travelling from Guildford to London Waterloo.

The village has a large number of United States nationals and expatriates with their social organisations, due in part to the nearby ACS Cobham International school.

[9][10] Oxshott is featured in the popular Shopaholic novels by British author Sophie Kinsella, as the hometown of the series' narrator, Becky Bloomwood.

A greater part of the historic novel "Unter der Asche" (Beneath the ashes) by German author Tom Finnek is set in Oxshott and nearby Cobham.

The novel deals with the Great Fire of London 1665–66 and the so-called "Diggers", a nonconformist dissenting group during the English Civil War.

The village is in a convenient location, due to its good transport links to London, nearby airports, and the M25 motorway; there is also a variety of private schools to choose from.