The village of Ashcroft was founded in the 1860s which was during the Cariboo Gold Rush, by two English brothers named Clement Francis Cornwall and Henry Pennant Cornwall who were the founders of Ashcroft Ranch. They emigrated to Canada from Ashcroft, at Newington Bagpath in Gloucestershire. The village is sometimes recognized as the "twin" to nearby Cache Creek, which is on the major highway unlike Ashcroft.