The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'Myrsa's woodland'. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the village was recorded as Muselai.
The village was at one time a very important place. It was once a market town, granted as such by royal charter in 1230 and the centre of the local deanery. The size of the place has been much reduced since then, most likely by the bubonic plague of the Seventeenth century.
There was also at one time a grand manor in the village, built by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that was visitied by King James I. This house has since, also disappeared.