In the Domesday book Gravenhurst was known as Crauenhest. Originally classed as one village it later divided into Over and Nether Gravenhurst which were renamed later to Upper and Lower Gravenhurst. The name Gravenhurst may derive from the Old English words grafa and hyrst meaning ‘coppice wooded-hill’ or ‘wooded-hill with a pit/trench‘.

At one time Lower Gravenhurst was the most populated but today there are about ten times as many houses in Upper Gravenhurst as there are in Lower Gravenhurst.