Ampleforth is an ancient village, with the earliest evidence of settlement dating to the Bronze Age. The village is described in the Domesday Book of 1086 as belonging to the Archbishop of York; its name is believed to derive from a combination of the Old English words “ampre” (sorrel) and “ford”, meaning ‘a place by the ford where sorrel grows’.

A Grade II-listed parish church at the centre of town is dedicated to Saint Hilda (c. 614-680), an English abbess who founded Whitby Abbey and an important figure in the conversion of Anglo-Saxon England to Christianity. Several architectural elements dating to the 12th century survive, including the fine tower arch and north doorway, and inside is an effigy of a 14th-century knight who is believed to have died in the Battle of Byland in 1322, part of the Wars of Scottish Independence. The church is famously associated with William de Courtenay, who was later appointed archbishop of Canterbury in 1381 and headed the so-called “Earthquake Synod” in 1382.

Although the English Benedictines had been dissolved by Henry VIII in the 1530s, the group returned to England after being expelled from France and established a monastery at Ampleforth Abbey in 1802. The adjoining Abbey Church was designed by architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, known for his work on Battersea Power Station and Liverpool Cathedral. The Abbey is now Grade I-listed, and Historic England describes the church as “perfectly capturing the spirit of St Benedict’s rule, austere but far from being heavy or oppressive, a seemingly simple structure which has a memorable impact.”

The village remained largely unchanged until after WWII, as its population grew and new housing developments sprung up in the area. Notably, in 2020, metal detectorists found several pieces of Roman ritual metalwork in a field just outside Ampleforth. The items included a figural bust thought to be made in the image of Marcus Aurelius, which dates the assemblage to the late 2nd century AD.