Variations in the name's spelling (including Chikewelle, Geykewelle, Gigewel, Yekewell;[2] Yikewell; Zekewekk and Zykwell) suggest that its origin is an Anglo-Saxon toponym meaning 'Gicca's spring'.

Before 1284, it was given by William Hobcote to the prior of the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem, who held it through the Dissolution of the Monasteries, relinquishing it in 1544.

[4] Ickwell is the birthplace of the English master clockmaker and watchmaker Thomas Tompion (c. 1639–1713), whose family cottage stands on Caldecote Road.

[6] All parts of the parish of Northill share a war memorial, which is at Ickwell Green and takes the form of a stone cross made of Portland stone bearing a bronze sword of sacrifice, designed by the architect Sir Reginald Blomfield.

A permanent maypole was first erected in 1872 by the local squire, John Harvey, to celebrate the birth of his son.