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There has been a settlement on the present site since at least Roman times with both flints and a Roman sarcophagus found in the area. In Anglo-Saxon times the neighbouring villages of Hemingford Grey and Hemingford Abbots were a single estate. In the 9th century they split, and in 974 the manor fell under the ownership of Ramsey Abbey, where it remained until the dissolution in 1539.

In 1085 William the Conqueror ordered that a survey should be carried out across his kingdom to discover who owned which parts and what it was worth. The survey took place in 1086 and the results were recorded in what, since the 12th century, has become known as the Domesday Book. Starting with the king himself, for each landholder within a county there is a list of their estates or manors; and, for each manor, there is a summary of the resources of the manor, the amount of annual rent that was collected by the lord of the manor both in 1066 and in 1086, together with the taxable value.

Hemingford Abbots was listed in the Domesday Book in the Hundred of Toseland in Huntingdonshire; the name of the settlement was written as Emingeforde in the Domesday Book. In 1086 there were three manors at Hemingford Abbots; the annual rent paid to the lords of the manors in 1066 had been £11.5 and the rent had fallen to £10.15 in 1086.

The Domesday Book does not explicitly detail the population of a place but it records that there were 32 households at Hemingford Abbots and 29 in Hemingford Grey. There is no consensus about the average size of a household at that time; estimates range from 3.5 to 5.0 people per household. Using these figures then an estimate of the population of Hemingford Abbots in 1086 is that it was within the range of 112 and 160 people.

The Domesday Book uses a number of units of measure for areas of land that are now unfamiliar terms, such as hides and ploughlands. In different parts of the country, these were terms for the area of land that a team of eight oxen could plough in a single season and are equivalent to 120 acres (49 hectares); this was the amount of land that was considered to be sufficient to support a single family. By 1086, the hide had become a unit of tax assessment rather than an actual land area; a hide was the amount of land that could be assessed as £1 for tax purposes. The survey records that there were ten ploughlands at Hemingford Abbots in 1086 and that there was the capacity for a further eight ploughlands. In addition to the arable land, there was 80 acres (32 hectares) of meadows and a water mill at Hemingford Abbots.

The tax assessment in the Domesday Book was known as geld or danegeld and was a type of land-tax based on the hide or ploughland. It was originally a way of collecting a tribute to pay off the Danes when they attacked England, and was only levied when necessary. Following the Norman Conquest, the geld was used to raise money for the King and to pay for continental wars; by 1130, the geld was being collected annually. Having determined the value of a manor's land and other assets, a tax of so many shillings and pence per pound of value would be levied on the land holder. While this was typically two shillings in the pound the amount did vary; for example, in 1084 it was as high as six shillings in the pound. For the manors at Hemingford Abbots the total tax assessed was 20 geld.

By 1086 there was already a church and a priest at Hemingford Abbots.

In around 1140 Payn of Hemingford began the construction of Hemingford Manor, one of the oldest inhabited buildings in England, as well as the present church. The manor was then owned by the Turberville family who for a while gave their name to the village.

In 1250 the village was listed as having 96 holdings, but numbers fell following the Black Death. The population grew from 306 in 1801 to 564 in 1841, but dropped as many moved to towns and cities. It grew rapidly after the Second World War, reaching a peak of 628 in 1961. Its 2001 population was 584.

The name Hemingford means "the ford of the people of Hemma", where Hemma is believed to be the name of a Saxon chief. The name "Abbots" was added in reference to its ownership by Ramsey Abbey. The village was known as Hemmingeford Magna, Emmingeforde Abbatis in the 13th century.

Hemingford Greys was at different times known as East Hemingeford (11th century), Hamicheford (12th), Hemmingeforde Turbervill (13th-14th), Hemmingeforde Parva (13th-14th) and Hemingford Priors (14th-15th).

The villages are home to a number of medieval buildings; Abbots End, the Manor House, Whiteways, Medlands, Abbots Barn, the White Cottage and Rideaway Cottage were all built prior to 1600.