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Bruton has a museum dedicated to the display of items from Bruton's past from the Jurassic geology right up to the present day. The museum houses a table used by the author John Steinbeck to write on during his six-month stay in Bruton.

The River Brue has a long history of flooding in Bruton. In 1768 the river rose very rapidly and destroyed a stone bridge. On the 28 June 1917, 242.8 mm of rain fell in 24 hours at Bruton, leaving a water mark on one pub twenty feet above the normal level of the river. In 1984 a protective dam was built 1 km upstream from the town.

The Church of St Mary, Bruton was founded by Ine of Wessex in the 7th century.

Bruton was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Briuuetone, meaning 'Vigorously flowing river' from the Old English tor and Celtic briw meaning vigour. The river has been the site of several watermills and in 2003 the South Somerset Hydropower Group installed their first hydroelectric turbine at Gants Mill at nearby Pitcombe.

It was the site of Bruton Abbey, a medieval Augustinian priory from which a wall remains in the Plox close to Bow Bridge. The priory was sold after the dissolution of the monasteries to the courtier Sir Maurice Berkeley (died 1581) whose Bruton branch of the Berkeley family converted it into a mansion which was demolished in the late eighteenth century. The Dovecote which overlooks Bruton was built in the sixteenth century. It was at one time used as a house, possibly as a watchtower and as a dovecote. It is a Grade II* listed building and ancient monument. It is managed by the National Trust. The building was once within the deerpark of the Abbey and was adapted by the monks from a gabled Tudor tower. The conversion to be a dovecote took place around 1780. It has over 200 pigeon holes.

Bruton is referenced in a well-known English folk song, The Bramble Briar. A very rare copy of an Inspeximus of Magna Carta was discovered in Bruton in the 1950s and claimed by King's School, Bruton. The sale of the school's copy to the Australian National Museum paid for a great deal of the building work at the school.

Much of the town's history is exhibited at the Bruton Museum. The museum is housed in the Dovecote Building, in the town's High Street. The building also contains a tourist information office. The Bruton Museum Society was formed in 1989 and involved the community and local schools in the development of the collection of local artefacts. It was initially housed in the basement of the Co-Op and then in a disused Coach House owned by the National Westminster Bank. The museum moved to its current location in 1999 after it was jointly purchased by South Somerset District Council and Bruton Town Council. The time spent in the town by John Steinbeck is commemorated in the museum. They have also organised exhibitions at King's School including one in 2008 of the work of Ernst Blensdorf. In 2010 an anonymous donor agreed to pay the rent on the building, removing earlier doubts about the future viability of the museum.

In December 2012 plans were announced by Hauser & Wirth to open a new gallery and arts centre at a derelict farm on the outskirts on Bruton.