[1][2] The village name originates from roughly 1704 when naturally occurring 'Wort' was found to spring from a well fed by a water source near to the local river Waveney.

[1] For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of South Norfolk.

Until the end of the 19th century Wortwell was a hamlet within the parish of Mendham-in-Norfolk, (the modern village of Mendham is south of the River Waveney in Suffolk) becoming a parish in the 1885 boundary alterations.

[citation needed] Ezekiel Blomfield (1778–1818), a Congregational minister, author and compiler of religious works and works on natural history, was buried on 21 July 1818 in the grounds of the Meeting House at Wortwell.

Home games are played at the rec at Wortwell community centre village hall.