About

Hatfield Peverel is a large village and civil parish in the centre of Essex; Hatfield means a 'heathery space in the forest', Peverel refers to the Norman knight of that name who was granted lands in the area by William the Conqueror after the Norman invasion of 1066.

The village is sited on high ground east of the River Ter, on the main A12 road from London to Colchester between Boreham and Witham, and with a mainline railway station to London and Norwich.

There is now a private residence on the site of the priory which was founded by the Saxon Ingelrica, wife of Ranulph Peverel and reputed to be the mistress of William the Conqueror. This was dissolved by Henry VIII, the parish church St Andrew's (Church of England) being the surviving fragment of the norman priory church nave. 

There is a legend in Hatfield Peverel of a ghostly dog. The dog 'Shaens Shaggy Dog' has reputedly haunted the house of the Shaens for two centuries. It is a seemingly quiet dog until it is attacked. The story states that a driver, with his cart and two horses attacked the dog with his whip when they were reduced to smoking ashes...