West Hanningfield

West Hanningfield is a small village and civil parish[1] in south Essex, England. It is located approximately 8 km (5.0 mi) south-southeast of the county town of Chelmsford. The village is in the borough of Chelmsford and in the parliamentary constituency of Rayleigh.

West Hanningfield
Village sign
West Hanningfield Location within Essex
OS grid reference	TQ727997
Civil parish	West Hanningfield
District	Chelmsford
Shire county	Essex
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CHELMSFORD
Postcode district	CM2
Dialling code	01277 (and 01245)
Police	Essex
Fire	Essex
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	Maldon

It is located to the north of Hanningfield Reservoir. Surrounding villages include South Hanningfield, Stock, Rettendon and East Hanningfield. It is also close to the Chelmsford suburbs of Galleywood and Great Baddow.

The local public house is known as the Three Compasses. The village also contains a primary school, a village hall and a hairdresser. It is the home of Lord Hanningfield the disgraced Tory Peer and former Conservative leader of Essex County Council.[2]

The Church of St Mary and St Edward is Grade II* listed church in the east end of the village. It is of twelfth-century origin, with considerable alterations made in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It has a weather boarded timber-framed tower, thought to date from the early thirteenth century, with timbers recently dated as being felled between AD 1382–1414. The bells were cast in 1676, and are a rare example of a complete seventeenth-century ring, although not operable for some time. The Church Buildings Council consider them of historic significance. A Whitechapel Bell Foundry report noted that the bellframe was cut to install the bells.[3]