The earliest evidence of human occupation in the neighbourhood of the village is the prehistoric cicular barrow found at Alexander Hill on the western boundary of the parish. The mound was 150 feet in circumference and was composed of earth and stones. This was "excavated" in 1850 mainly for the sale of loose stones which were then broken up and used to repair the highway. A local smith obtained several weapons, articles of bronze and fragments of pottery and bone. By 1903 all this had been dispersed and nothing was known of the finds. Some Saxon remains have been unearthed in Rudding Park, including a gold collar ornament. Some remains, including bones of horses were found at the top of the Garth field and it was thought these might have had a connction with a jouirney made through the district by Oliver Cromwell.

The village is not listed in the Doomsday Book and the earliest documentary evidence of the village occurs in the 12th century in land and tax documents. In 1186 it is recorded that Nicolas, son of Hugh, son of Hippolitus de Braam gave one "toft" - a field where a house or building stood, in Folyfait, to Gilbert, son of Thomas Oysel de Plumpton. Gilbert then donated this property to Fountains Abbey.

In 1203, Henriicus, Parson of Knaresborough, was fined in a York court for some illegality concerning lands at Folifeit. When Kirkby's Inquest was made in 1284, it was noted that a fourth part of Follifoot was held by William de Hartlington, owner of the Manor of Braham, and in 1364, Edward III appointed Thomas de Spaigne custodian of "one Messuage" - a dwelling house - and forty acres of land in Follifoot. Indeed by the time of Richard III the village was large enough to be marked on a 1378 map and for the villagers to be dunned for a substantial sum in poll taxes.

The village continues to be mentioned in similar documents up to more recent times. the spelling of the village name in such papers appears to have been entirely at the whim of the writer. The following variations have been seen in different documents, in the 16th century one paper alone has four variations on the same page!