Cookham has its roots in prehistory you will find two megaliths, the Cookham Stone and the Tarry Stone

Cookham was a crossing point of the river for the Romans on the Camlet Way between Silchester and Verulanium (present day St Albans). A Romano-British site occurred on Gibralter Meadow, at the foot of Winter Hill. It is possible this was a site of a ferry.

One Roman road ran from Braywick to Cockmarsh passing close to Cookham Railway station. Several artifacts were discovered, also a kiln built of chalk and flint. Roman pottery, broches and other items have been found in the area.

Cookham Church was mentioned in a charter as being attached to a monastery in existence in 726. Its actual location is unknown, but it is thought that it was close to the present church.

It is likely that the fort at Cookham was completed by the year 886. Alfred the Great tried to ensure that no part of Wessex was more than twenty miles from a fortified centre.

870 AD the Vikings row up Thames.  There are many names still linking to the Danes in the area. Danesfield off the Cookham Road. 

The present village of Cookham probably grew up around an 8th century Saxon Monastery situated in the parish, probably a twin-house for both monks and nuns. A National Religious Synod once met there. The Saxon Kings also had a Royal Palace here, where the Witan (Saxon parliament) met in 997 held by Ethelred the Unready. Attending the Witan were 1 arch bishop, 3 bishops, 2 aldermen, 3 abbots and numerous lords from West Saxons, Mercians, Danes and English. 

Cookham became a royal manor sometime between 965 and 975, administered by King Edgar from his palace in Old Windsor. Cookham remained crown property until 1818.

By 1166 the original manor of Cookham was broken up into several smaller manors which were held mainly by local gentry. There were six main estates, the manor of Lullebrooke probably being the most important. The Odney Club is built on the site of the original manor house.

Although Cookham is described as a village in 1225 it was described as a borough at the assizes. When a wooden bridge was built across the Thames by 1250 at Maidenhead as part of the London to Bristol main road, Cookham started to lose its status as Maidenhead grew.

1300s

First swan master appointed, which created the activity of swan upping.

1500s

The original Stone House was built by the monks of Bisham and after the dissolution of the monasteries was given to Anne of Cleeves by Henry VIII as part of her divorce settlement. She exchanged it for a mano in Suffolk so it fell into direpair and was dismantled and a building of the same name was built and at one time housed an illicit distillery.

Chequers Inn in Cookham Dean built. Said to be run by the Copas family who still farm in the village.

The Kings Arms was built as a stopping place for the coach running from Reading to Windsor. It was formally the Kings Head and was the home of the widow Martha Spott. In 1668 she minted her own coinage. 

1700s

The Royal Manor of Cookham was held by the Crown until 1818. 

In 1839, the Tarrystone, or Cookham Stone as it was then called was moved from its present position by George Venables when Cookham bridge was started and taken to Mill House Gardens. This reputedly brought a curse on the Venables family. 

1854 Cookham railway line opens from Maidenhead to Wycombe.

St John the Baptist in Cookham Dean was consecrated on 15 May 1845. It contains windows by such famous artists as Lavers & Barraud, Charles Eamer Kempe and Clayton & Bell. The rerodos was carved in 1876. Rev. George Hewitt Hodson was the first incumbent in 1844. The land was given by the Lady of the Manor, Mrs Ann Mary Vansittart, with the consent of the Commoners

1846 A Wesleyan Chapel is built in Cookham Village, later to become the Stanley Spencer Gallery.

1840 a wooden road bridge was constructed across the Thames by Freebody. This soon rotted and Cookham bridge was built in 1867 to replace it. It is constructed of iron to an attractive design. It was a toll bridge and the old toll house can still be seen.

Guglielmo Marconi 1874-1937,pioneer in wireless communication, lived at ‘Hillyers’, Cookham Rise, where he is thought to have conducted experimental transmissions in 1897. 

1894 the Thames broke its banks and it was one of the worst floods on record.

1901 The Reading Room in Lower Road was located to the current Social Club, built by Mr Pinder Brown, to become a Reading Room and Working Men's Club. This was sold to the Social Club in 1947. Women could still not enter, although this was relaxed in the late 1960s when they could enter as guests, although they still could not become members.

1910 the old Fire Brigade building was erected in the Pound, but was sold off in 1929.

1911 The Kings Hall is given to the village by Colonel Ricardo, as a reading room.

1937 Cookham railway opens.

1947 Severe flooding in Cookham takes place.

1945 - 1950 Moor Hall is used by GB Animation financed by J Arthur Rank. The Animaland cartoons were produced there.

1950 the toll over Cookham bridge is stopped. The toll house can still be seen at the entrance to the bridge from Bourne End. 

1964 St Elisabeth's Catholic Church in Lower Road opened

1971 the Chartered Institute of Marketing moves to Moor Hall taking over from ICL.

1994 Cookham twins with St Benoit near Poitiers in France.

1997 Cookham has its first radio station Cookham Summer FM. This was repeated in 1999 and 2006.

2000 July Millennium Celebrations are held on Marsh Meadow.

2002 Flood Alleviation scheme completed 

2002 In April the new library and Parish Office are completed the library is opened in May. The buildings are in the grounds of Cookham Rise School in High Road. In June the Parish Office is opened and the Cookham Time Capsule is buried outside the new library building

2002 Cookham holds Jubilee Celebrations.

2003 Severe flooding in Cookham, the worst since 1947,  despite the Flood Alleviation scheme finished in 2002.