After the Norman Conquest of England an estate of three hides and half a yardland at Worton passed to William the Conqueror's half-brother Odo of Bayeux.

The best known of the family was William Draper (1620-1672), a figure of some importance on Parliament's side during the English Civil War and the Interregnum.

The author Francis Osborne, best remembered for his Advice to a Son, who was William Draper's brother-in-law, died at Nether Worton House in 1659.

The earliest parts of the Church of England chapel of ease of St James are 12th-century Norman and 13th-century Early English.

[3] Until 2015 St James was part of a single benefice with Holy Trinity parish church, Over Worton.