Denton's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for an enclosed farmstead or settlement in a valley.

[2] The village boundaries include the remaining earthworks of Denton Castle which was likely built in 1088 by William d'Albini and subsequently abandoned in 1254.

Denton's parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary and dates from the Thirteenth Century.

The interior of the church was restored in the Victorian era yet it still boasts stained-glass windows dating from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century, with were reset in the 1850s.

The village's national constituency is Waveney Valley which has been represented by the Green Party's Adrian Ramsay MP since 2024.