Village History

South Hanningfield is over 100 years old.  It’s the smallest of three villages (the other two are Downham and Ramsden Heath) which form the parish of South Hanningfield.  

However, the name of Hanningfield goes back a long way.  It means a portion of cleared forest land which was once owned by the family Hann or Ham, who was thought to be a Saxon tribal leader.  At the Norman conquest the lordship of the manor of Hanningfield was given to the Bishop of Bayeaux and later, in the 16^th century, descended through the Montchesney famly to John, the first baron Petre of Writtle, and has remained in the family to the present day. 

The village was formerly a community where most of the inhabitants worked on the land and allied industries up to the 1940s when the war interrupted its lifestyle.  During the 1950s there was a major upheaval in the village when the Hanningfield Reservoir was constructed.  The village still retains its original appearance.