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Early habitation of Tunworth can be dated back to the Neolithic Age as a possible flint axe was found north of Down Farm. A burial containing a skull and a pottery jar, found north-west of Beechcroft Cottage, has been dated to the Roman period. In Anglo-Saxon days the manor of Tunworth was held by Alured from Queen Edith, and was one of the many estates in the possession of Hugh de Port at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086. The property remained with the de Port family and their descendants until as late as 1633, when Thomas Hall, twice Mayor of Basingstoke, succeeded to the manor. In 1760 the land was sold to one Samuel Prince, who in turn sold it to Tristram Huddlestone Jervoise of Herriard three years later, with whose family the property subsequently remained. At the beginning of the twentieth century Francis H.T. Jervoise was lord of the manor and sole landowner.
The twelfth century Church of All Saints is built of flint with a bell-turret containing a single bell. The church was restored in 1854 at a cost of £500, when an oak porch and font were added at the expense of F. J. E. Jervoise. The churchyard is backed by the woods of Herriard Park; the parish registers date from 1749 and the church contains an engaging seventeenth century almsbox.
Agriculture has always been the principal industry of Tunworth; the area is of mixed wooded and open land and is well served by footpaths connecting the minor local roads.
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