Felthorpe's name is of mixed Anglo-Saxon and Viking origin and derives from an amalgamation of the Old Norse and Old English for "Faela's outlying farmstead or settlement".

In 1086, the village was divided between the East Anglian estates of King William I, Alan of Brittany, Ralph de Beaufour, Walter Giffard and Reginald, son of Ivo.

[4] Felthorpe Hall was built in the nineteenth century as a manor house and still stands today as a Grade II listed private residence.

[8] St Margaret's has a good range of stained glass installed by Ward and Hughes, with a further stone memorial plaque to Richard Inglett Fortescue Weston Conway, who died in the British colony of Demerara (now in Guyana) in 1856.

[9] On 3 June 1966, a Hawker Siddeley Trident jetliner crashed in the parish after the aircraft entered into a deep stall which the pilot was unable to correct.