Hersham appears in the Domesday Book and developed as a modest agricultural village between the River Mole and the River Thames. For centuries it was a quiet place, overshadowed by its more prominent neighbours Walton-on-Thames and Esher. The village green served as the centre of community life, and the surrounding farmland was worked in the traditional strip-field pattern until enclosure.
The village's most distinctive feature by far is Whiteley Village, one of the most remarkable planned communities in England. William Whiteley, the founder of Whiteley's department store in Bayswater (which he called "The Universal Provider"), was shot dead in his office in 1907 by Horace George Rayner, a man claiming to be his illegitimate son. Rayner was sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment. Whiteley's will, drawn up years earlier, left a substantial sum for the creation of a village for elderly people of limited means.
The architect Frank Atkinson won the competition to design the village, and construction took place between 1911 and 1921. Over 250 cottages were built in concentric octagons around a central green, creating a layout unlike anything else in the country. The cottages are in the Arts and Crafts style, each slightly different in detail but harmonious in their use of red brick, tile hanging, and white-painted woodwork. The village has its own chapel, community hall, shop, and allotments. The entire development is Grade II listed. The combination of thoughtful design, generous green space, and genuine social purpose made Whiteley Village ahead of its time. Many of the principles later adopted by the garden city movement are visible here in microcosm.