It is on the right bank of the River Mole contiguously south of Cobham, a larger settlement which is a post town and is east-southeast of Oxshott a large village founded in the 19th century from the higher, sandy forested part of its formerly expansive area.

Stoke D'Abernon appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as the manor of Stoche (derived from the common Anglo-Saxon word stoc, implying a holy place).

[3] Following the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, William the Conqueror granted the manor to his kinsman, Richard fitz Gilbert, who also received the lordship of Clare.

The suffix "D'Abernon" comes from the surname of another Norman nobleman, Sir Roger D'Aubernoun, who was also granted land in Surrey in return for his services to William.

In the east, on the main road to Leatherhead, is the Woodlands Park Hotel, the top of which is tile-hung in the Surrey style.

[8] The village has an active residents' association with a network of road representatives,[9] but like those of neighbouring Cobham and Oxshott, and unlike similar groups in the rest of Elmbridge, it does not contest elections.

[10] The church, St Mary's, is Saxon with Norman and Victorian additions, and is famous for its monumental brasses, among them the oldest in the country.

The distinguished diplomat Edgar Vincent (1857–1941) lived within the parish in the early 20th century and was the first recipient of the D'Abernon Viscountcy and Barony.