The village was first mentioned between 1280 and 1287 as "Oude watheringhe", and means "old waterway". Oude (old) has been added to distinguish from Nieuwe Wetering.[3] Oude Wetering is a dike village which developed along the eponymous canal which was dug in the 13th century. The village started as a peat excavation settlement.[4]
The Dutch Reformed church is a T-shaped church with ridge turret from the 17th century. In 1843, the neoclassic front was added to church.[4] The Catholic St Jacobus Church was built in 1966 as a replacement of the 1893 church. It burnt down in 1969, and was rebuilt in the same style. It used to have a detached belfry, but the bells were sold to a church in Brielle.[5]
Oude Wetering was home to 622 people in 1840.[5] In 1912, a railway station opened on the Hoofddorp to Leiden Heerensingel railway line. The line closed in 1936, and the building was demolished in 1938.[6] After World War II, Oude Wetering started to form a single urban area with Roelofarendsveen.[4]