The village grew up under the protection of the Cistercian Wardon or Warden Abbey nearby.

The post office national archives record the issue to Old Warden in April 1890 of a type of postmark known as a rubber datestamp.

It was one of about 2,500 compulsory compensated closures of UK post office branches announced by the Government in 2007.

The village is also noted for being the home of the Shuttleworth Trust, an organization committed to the preservation of transport artefacts – primarily bicycles, motor cars, and aeroplanes – produced in the early part of the 20th century.

Old Warden is within the Mid Bedfordshire parliamentary constituency, whose Member of Parliament is Alistair Strathern of the Labour Party.