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North Waltham, or Wealtham, belonged from an early date to the See of Winchester, and the manor was included in the Domesday Survey under the heading of Overton. The land continued to be the property of the bishops of Winchester until 1648, when it was sold to George Wither and John Yate. At the Restoration the land reverted to the bishopric and John Yate continued to occupy the manor house.
Archaeological remains from the Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age indicate continuous occupation in the parish from pre-historic times, and the sites of three Roman buildings have yielded tiles, pottery, tesserae and metal goods. The fourteenth century Church of St. Michael was rebuilt in 1865-6 and contains some of the original fabric together with a fifteenth century font from Popham church.
Jane Austen </austen/>, who lived in the neighbouring parish of Steventon, knew North Waltham well, and she has been described as walking along Popham Lane "with mud on her shoes". Like many other Hampshire villages, North Waltham had its own troupe of mummers until the early 1950s. The traditional plays were per formed at Christmas by characters including St. George (or King George in some versions), Father Christmas, Turkey Snipe (corrupted from Turkish Knight) and Little Johnny Jack. The latter represented Everyman, and often engaged in ritual combat: all the actors wore elaborate costumes to disguise their identity so that the magic of their ritual performance would not be spoilt.
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