Although Oakhill is the larger village today, Ashwick is the older settlement, dating back to Anglo-Saxon times.

It appears in the Domesday book as a settlement called Escewiche, which translates as 'the hamlet or farmstead by the ash trees'.

[3][4] The village is the site of Ashwick Court, a country house dating from the late 17th century and Grade II* listed.

The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning.

It is also part of the Frome and East Somerset county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The parish Church of St James is a Victorian Gothic building erected between 1876 and 1881 by Browne and Gill of Bath.