Todenham, 'Todanhom' in 804 (in the kingdom of Mercia) and 'Teodeham' in 1086, derives from the Old English for an "enclosed valley of a man called Teoda" the 'ham' part referring to "...land hemmed in by water or marsh or higher ground...".

Major lordship in 1066 was held by Westminster Abbey, which retained it in 1086 after the Norman conquest, while becoming Tenant-in-chief to king William I.

Nave south chapel, with canopied piscina and credence, contains a monument to Lady Louisa Pole (died 6 August 1852).

The decorated-style chancel east window included a stained glass memorial (erected 1879) to Rev Gilbert Malcolm, parish rector from 1812.

A significant rector was Thomas Merkes (1397–1403), 'abbot of Westminster' [Kelly's], then Bishop of Carlisle (1397–1400), who was 'degraded' by Henry IV for his support of Richard II.

There had been no parish school in the late 17th century, but an endowment of £20 in 1704 was given for the education of poor children, these to be selected by the rector and churchwardens.

A previous National school, which was subscription, fee and rector financed, existed from the early to mid-19th century in a rented building.

[6][7][9] Directory listing of trades and occupations in 1856 included Mount Sorrel, Woodhills and Lower Cerrington farms.

In all there were nine farmers, a shoemaker, a plasterer & slater, a wheelwright, a blacksmith, a beer retailer, a mason, a butcher, two shopkeepers one of whom was the postmaster, and four carpenters, three of whom were in the same family.

Parish traders and occupations then listed included 14 farmers, one of whom was also one of the carriers, a miller to Sir Cecil Pery Van Notten-Pole who also employed an agent, a blacksmith, a decorator, a carpenter, two shopkeepers, and the licensee of the Farriers' Arms.

Today lowest level administration is through Todenham Parish Council with seven elected councillors, whose remit includes overseeing the maintenance of bus shelters, grass verges, and notice boards, and planning application consultation.

Todenham is represented in the UK Parliament House of Commons as part of the North Cotswolds constituency,[13] its sitting MP being Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown of the Conservative Party.

[14][15][16] The parish is entirely rural, of farms, fields, coppice woodland, lakes, dispersed businesses and residential properties, the only nucleated settlement being the village of Todenham.

[14][15][16] Bus services connect Todenham to Shipston-on-Stour, Moreton-in-Marsh, Stretton-on-Fosse, Burmington, Great and Little Wolford, Bourton-on-the-Hill, and Chipping Norton.

[18] The Grade I St Thomas a Becket Church (listed 1960), is largely 14th-century, of limestone, comprising a tower with octagonal spire, nave, chancel, chancel north chapel, north aisle, south transept, south porch, and vestry.

The church contains 14th-century piscina and sedilia, traces of medieval wall painting, a 12th-century font, an 18th- to early 19th-century pulpit, 19th-century stained glass, an 18th-century engraving of Thomas Merke, Todenham rector and former Bishop of Carlisle, and various monuments and memorials to members of the Van Notten-Pole family who were late 18th- to 20th-century lords of Todenham manor.

The interior is separated into three rooms: the left, originally with terracotta tiled floor and with a double door entrance, a forge and two furnaces was likely used to shoe horses.

[30][31] At 60 yards (55 m) south-east from the Old Reading Room, and on a private drive off Todenham Road, is Downbank Farmhouse (listed 1960).

Dating to the late 17th to early 18th century, it is a rectangular plan two-storey house with wall courses of dressed limestone, mullioned casement windows and gable end chimney stacks.

[32][33] Firs Farm (listed 1985), on Todenham Road 250 yards (230 m) south-west from the church, is a late 17th- to early 18th-century rectangular plan two-storey detached farmhouse with wall courses of dressed limestone, and three three-light mullioned windows with central casements on the first floor, and one off-centre from a central door, on the ground.

The front face of the building has a stone lean-to up with to the eaves at the left, with inset mullioned window, and a single storey extension as a farm store to the right.

This two-story house in dressed limestone has an entrance plank door offset to the left, each side of which are four stone mullioned windows each of two lights, and six-pane casements, two on the ground floor and two on the first.

The central plank tie plate over the upper storey and the offset front portal may be an indication of two cottages converted to one.

The offset entrance portal with four-panel door and half-porch overhang, six steps higher than the street pavement level, has two bays of twelve-pane sash windows to the left, and one to the right.

The farmhouse, at the left of the range, is of three bays, the centre of entrance door and window above, those to the left and right of ground and first floor windows, all stone mullioned of four quartered lights with casements and hood moulds, the ground floor right only being a range of single lights.

Altered in the 19th century, it is of elongated rectangular plan, and of dressed limestone with some brick infill and weather boarding.

The two-storey extension, at the right, which runs at right angles to and projects slightly forward of the main body is in Flemish bond, with door on front face with twelve-pane sash window on the above first floor.