The village is first recorded before the Norman Conquest in the S1051 charter of Edward the Confessor granting lands to Ely Abbey.

The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin dates back to the early 14th century, with the earliest recorded rector being Hugh de Poynton in 1302.

In the early 16th century, Glemsford became the home of George Cavendish who was a local nobleman and gentleman-usher to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.

By 1640, several families had departed for the Massachusetts Bay Colony as part of the wave of emigration that occurred during the Great Migration.

Glemsford is a large village by Suffolk standards; it also has a considerable number of shops and public houses.