The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'Wiwa's grove'. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Withungrave and is related to the village name of Wing.
Around the recreation ground in the village are several large houses in mock Tudor style, built by the Rothschild family in the Nineteenth century. All of these houses bear the Rothschild family crest and were constructed to house the family's servants, employed at the nearby houses of Green Park, Halton Hall and Mentmore Towers. These houses are very sought after today, and fetch a very high price.