The station was opened on 1 June 1855 by the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway four years after line had received parliamentary consent to be constructed. A line from Ross-on-Wye to Tewkesbury was authorised by parliament in 1856 but was never built.
The lines to Ross closed in stages. On the Ross and Monmouth Railway passenger services were withdrawn and the section from Lydbrook Junction to Monmouth Troy was closed on 5 January 1959. The remaining section remained open until 1 November 1965 for freight traffic only. The Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway closed to passengers on 2 November 1964 and the line south to the junction at Grange Court closed on 1 November 1965. The line going north to Rotherwas Junction and Hereford Station closed when passenger service were withdrawn in 1964.
The brick built station building has been demolished and the site redeveloped into an industrial estate. The brick goods and engine sheds still stand.
The Severn Valley Railway station at Kidderminster Town is based on the design for Ross-on-Wye even down to the decorative cast roof crestings; the patterns for which were derived from measurement of segments of the original ones.