Oborne was called Womburnan in 975, Wocburne in 1086 and Woburn in 1212 before becoming Obourne in a document of 1479. The name comes from the Old English "woh" and "burna" meaning place "at the crooked or winding stream". The stream in this case being the River Yeo.

Oborne is a small village consisting mainly of thatched cottages along the road which lies alongside the winding stream. One of the few non-thatched buildings is the White Post Toll-house built onthe new (1753) Turnpike. The current church was built in 1862 and is very simple apart from an elaborate chancel arch, stone pulpit and font.

The chancel of the original 1533 church survives at the southern end of the village in the care of the Redundant Churches Fund. It was here in 1778 that Robert Goadby, publisher of the influential Sherborne Mercury newspaper, was buried. The Sherborne Mercury was the forerunner of todays Western Gazette.

The peace of this remote village is seldom broken but during the Civil War a skirmish at Oborne on April 29th 1645 is reported to have led to the death of 'Morice Lee, an Irish soldier'