The name, which in Old English means the settlement of Northmen on the heath,[2] suggests that the current village was probably an English village taken over by a group of Norse or Danish settlers at the time of the original Viking settlement, and this fits well into the overall pattern of land occupation in the area.

It lies on the edge of the great heath that once stretched Westwards from the edge of Charnwood Forest, something which is reflected in the names of a number of other settlements in the area, such as Heather and Donington le Heath.

Just over the parish boundary in the southern Ravenstone area there was a small Roman town.

A track called the Swepstone Way can be traced running from the Iron Age settlement all the way to Tamworth.

[3] Following restoration, the 188 acres (76 ha) mine site has been acquired by the Woodland Trust.