In 1066 Spirtes (the priest) held the manorial lordship, which in 1086 was transferred to Nigel the doctor who was also tenant-in-chief to king William I.

[3] The Quaker preacher and writer Humphrey Smith (1624-1663), was born at and lived in Little Cowarne as a child and preached between 1654 and his last meeting at Stoke Bliss.

The parish church, which was restored in 1869–70, was described as being in the Norman style, comprising a nave, chancel, a south entrance and a western belfry with one bell.

The living was a vicarage attached to the rectory of Ullingswick, which had a joint value of £225 a year net income, and also included 27 acres (11 ha) of glebe—an area of land used to support a parish priest—in the gift of Charles Gore, the Bishop of Birmingham.

Parish soil of 639 acres (259 ha) is described as clayey, with a subsoil of clay and rock, on which were grown wheat, beans, peas, apples, and hops, supporting a population of 134 in 35 houses in 1831, 171 in 1851 and 151 in 1901.

The parish is rural, of farms, arable and pasture fields, managed woodland and coppices, water courses, isolated and dispersed businesses, residential properties, and the nucleated settlement of Little Cowarne village.

The only through route in the parish is the minor road which runs north to south between the villages of Pencombe and Stoke Lacy.

[10][11][12][13] Little Cowarne is represented on the lowest tier of UK governance by two members on the six-member Pencombe Group Parish Council.

[9] The parish is represented in the UK parliament as part of the North Herefordshire constituency, held by the Conservative Party since 2010 by Bill Wiggin.

[25] The closest rail connection is at Leominster railway station on the Crewe to Newport Welsh Marches Line, 8 miles (13 km) to the north-west.

[10][11] Within Little Cowarne are nine Grade II listed buildings, including St Guthlac's Church, houses, cottages, and hop kilns.