[2][3] Great Gransden was mentioned in 973 when its land was endowed to Thorney Abbey by Aethelwold, Bishop of Winchester.

[4] Great Gransden's older centre consists of cottages grouped round a 16th-century church, dedicated to Saint Bartholomew, whose tower dates from about 1390.

[6][7] Barnabas Oley, Vicar from 1633, was a Fellow of Clare College who edited the works of the poet and orator George Herbert.

[9] His life is remembered each year on the school's Founder's Day, held in the parish church; leavers receive an "Oley Bible" from a Fellow of Clare College.

The parish council has nine councillors and normally meets on the first Monday of the month in the Reading Room in Great Gransden.

[15][13] The village's highest tier of local government is Cambridgeshire County Council, based in Alconbury Weald,[16] It consists of 61 councillors representing 59 electoral divisions.

[20] Great Gransden boasts the oldest post mill in England,[21][22] constructed around 1612 – though the claim is disputed by nearby Bourn.

[27] A local legend claims a book of black magic entitled An Infidel's Bible was hidden in the mill in 1867, causing it to stop working.

[28] There are 53 other listed buildings in Great Gransden parish, including houses, barns and remains of a churchyard cross.

[8] A lychgate built in the churchyard in 1920 commemorates Great Gransden men who died in World War I.

[6][32] The Providence Baptist Chapel in Sand Road is a Grade II listed building that dates from soon after 1734, when the tractarian Anne Dutton (see Notable people) and her husband moved here.

[33][34] Great Gransden has a pub in West Street, the thatched Crown and Cushion, which also serves food.

[35] The village has a small general store with a sub-post office in Fox Street,[36] and an antique shop in Hitchin Road.

[39] Gransden and District Agricultural Society Annual Show has been held every year since 1891, except during the Second World War and the COVID-19 pandemic.