Listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Ordeuuella, (Ord Wella, in Old English) the village's name means "spring by a pointed hill".

There was once a man-made hill near to where the Church now stands, and an old map shows it as being pointed and that a spring emerged from its foot.

The parish's main commercial activity has always been agriculture, though a coprolite mine opened for a brief period at the end of the 19th century, and a brewery was run.

[4] During the 19th-century restoration a crucifixion sculpture, dating from about 1300, was discovered, this now resides at the east end of the south aisle, and although Mary is missing from it, Christ is shown in his agony on a simple crucifix made from a tree, with St John watching on.

The chancel vault was replaced during the 19th century, and the bosses, showing the arms of several county families, and painted in distemper, were recreated from a manuscript housed at Wimpole Hall.