Composer Edward Elgar considered the landscape around the village as a source of inspiration, frequently cycling in the area to visit the church or friends at Cowarne Court.

The Domesday Book form of the name, Cuure, suggests a meaning cow house, perhaps implying a significant dairying centre.

It has recently been suggested that Much Cowarne, like its neighbours Bromyard and Ledbury, was an Anglo-Saxon minster, though not as long lasting as they, and also a royal tun, the administrative centre of an area stretching from Bishop's Frome to Mordiford and Tarrington.

The connection with Gloucester may go back to Bernard de Neufmarché in 1088[6] On 15 May 1255 Richard Pauncefot was granted a market on Thursdays and an annual fair at Much Cowarne by King Henry III, to be held at the manor.

The village has a medieval church building, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, which dates to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.