Two long-distance footpaths, the Yorkshire Wolds Way National Trail and the Centenary Way, pass through.

The settlement is mentioned in the Domesday Book as being worth £2 and belonging to Ranulph de Mortimer, who also owned lands in Herefordshire and Shropshire.

[6][7] Improvements to the estate in the early part of the 20th century included replacing all the thatched roofs in Wintringham with tiles, and the planting of 350 acres (140 ha) of woodland.

Wintringham Marsh was cited because of the quality of its plants and the uniformity of their graduation from dry land to marshland.

The deserted hamlet of Linton, to the south-east, was the probable birthplace of Lady Margaret Hoby, author of the earliest extant diary of a woman in English.