Residents of the village have, in recent years, campaigned to prevent the green "wedge" separating Loughborough, Shepshed and Hathern from being built on.

[2] John Heathcoat (1783–1861), inventor and industrialist, operated a textile mill in Hathern (where, in 1808–9, he invented the bobbin net machine, for weaving a lace-like hexagonal net), before moving his business first to Loughborough, and later to Tiverton, Devon.

A settlement probably existed here in the Saxon period but the first written record was in the Domesday Book where it was called Avederne, Old English for hawthorne.

Like most villages in this part of the country, farming and framework knitting were major sources of employment.

The parish church dates mainly from the 14th century although a place of worship probably existed on the site in earlier times.