Archaeological remains suggest the area has been home to people since Palaeolithic times. Bronze age round houses indicate settlement on high land to the south. The Roman road between Silchester and Winchester still survives as part of the A340. Roman, Iron age and also Saxon artefacts have been found.
It was the Saxons who established the village, and named it Sherborne, meaning 'clear stream'. By the time the Normans arrived, the manorial system was established, also probably parish boundaries and an open field system of agriculture. There were three mills and a church and land for ten ploughs recorded in Domesday.
William I replaced Lady Ulveva by Hugh de Port as lord of the manor. His descendants later took the surname St John. Around 1200 the northern part was granted to William Fitzadam who founded a chapel. By 1240 it was in the hands of the Coudray family, known as Sherborne Coudray with a manor house. The western part was granted to Bartholomew Pecche, and became known as Beaurepaire. It was sold to Bernard Brocas in 1353, and permission was granted to enclose a deer park. There were three other deer parks; Cufaude, Morgaston and Privet (Park Prewett).
The village developed round the church and green, and scattered hamlets at Mill End, Smiths Green, Hill End, Pollards End and the West End, which included another sub-manor called Cranes, and at Sherborne Coudray.
By the 16th century Sherborne Coudray and its old manor house was in the possession of Thomas Sandys who built a new house, the Vyne, and who also bought the manor of Sherborne St John. Thus, in 1550, the two manors were reunited. Chaloner Chute bought the Vyne and its estate in 1653.
The open field system continued until the early 19th century. The village was greatly changed when the two major landowners in the parish, William Lyde Wiggett Chute of The Vyne and Bernard Brocas of Beaurepaire petitioned for an Enclosure Act in 1829. The three open fields and the common areas of Rooksdown and Lillydown and moor land were enclosed and new farms were formed. A new road, the Morgaston road was constructed to separate the estates of the Vyne and Beaurepaire.
Wiggett Chute now owned most of the land and he pursued a process of improvement in housing and farming. New cottages were built and others refurbished to good standards. The hamlet of Pollards End was demolished and some villagers were assisted to emigrate to Canada. The sale of part of the Vyne Estate in 1919 enabled a number of tenants to buy their property. In 1956 the Vyne and estate was handed over to the National Trust.
The village changed gradually in the 20th century. A small development at Hilltop provided smallholdings and 'homes for heroes' after WW1. Manor farm was sold in 1919: houses were then built on Elm Road, and Manor Road was constructed with individual bungalows. After WW2 Spring Close was the next development, followed by Dancers Meadow, Vidlers Farm, Bournefield, Vyne Meadow and Tyfield. The most recent developments were Cranesfield, Weybrook Court and Sireburne Close. The Chute Recreation Ground and Sports Pavilion, Village Hall together with the Social Club and Swan Inn provide leisure facilities for today's villagers.