The earliest known record of Shipton-on-Cherwell is from 1005, when an estate at Shipton was granted to the Benedictine Eynsham Abbey.

[1] Shortly before or after the Norman conquest of England an estate of five hides at Shipton seems to have been transferred from Eynsham to another Benedictine religious house, Evesham Abbey.

Albums recorded there included Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield in 1972–73 and Born Again by Black Sabbath in 1983.

Crossley and Elrington state that this includes the north porch,[3] which Sherwood and Pevsner had earlier dismissed as "free and flimsy Georgian Gothick".

The Shipton-on-Cherwell train crash was a major rail accident on the Great Western Railway that occurred on 24 December 1874, killing 34 people.

[8] Towards the end of the 20th century the quarry ceased production and was sold to the Kilbride Group, which applied unsuccessfully to redevelop it as an eco-town.

The quarry is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest because it is important for Jurassic fossils, particularly crocodiles.

Birds including turtle dove, little ringed plover, Cetti's warbler and peregrine falcon breed in the quarry.

A lake has formed in the bottom of the quarry, attracting birds including green sandpiper, jack snipe, little grebe and common pochard to overwinter there.