The village's name came from Old English Þunres lēah meaning lea of the god Thunor, as with Thundersley, Essex; it was probably a site where he was worshipped.

Its small wooden shingled belfry is strangely underpinned by an unnecessarily large and sturdy late medieval framework of heavy timber.

Across the A3 is the main hillside neighbourhood of Thursley, Bowlhead Green, which has an underpass path crossing directly between the two on the Greensand Way.

It is one of the last surviving areas of lowland peat bog in southern Britain, and at 350 hectares, one of the largest remaining fragments of heathland.

The proportion of households in the civil parish who owned their home outright compares to the regional average of 35.1 per cent.