The existence of Thorney Abbey made the settlement an important ecclesiastical centre, and until 2014 was the most northerly point of the Anglican Diocese of Ely.

In the 1630s Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford spent a reputed £100,000 draining the fens, bringing almost all of the estate and parish of nearly 18,000 acres (7,284 ha) into agricultural use.

A community of Walloon Protestant refugees, originally from areas of Flanders that are now northern France, was settled here in the 17th century with their own church and minister, employing the ruins of the abbey for services in their own language.

[citation needed] Much of the village was built at the command of the Dukes of Bedford, who wished to have a healthy place in which their estate workers could live.

[citation needed] The 7th Duke of Bedford's model agricultural village included a modern water supply and sewerage scheme.

Little evidence to suggest a rail link now remains, apart from one set of wooden level crossing gates at the west side of Station Road; these gates are not the original ones, but replicas based on the rotten originals, installed by the developer that built houses on the site of the station yard in the early 2000s.

On 28 August 1976, a United States Air Force Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, 67-0006, on a flight from McGuire Air Force Base to RAF Mildenhall crashed near the village; the aircraft entered bad weather and the pilots lost control of the aircraft.

In 2011 REG WindPower announced plans[16] to install a further four wind turbines at the French Farm site.