The first Hanningfield church was built here in the 7th Century by the local Saxon Chief newly converted to Christianity. The church burnt down in 1883, and only the delapidated cemetary remains. 'Plate 44: East Hanningfield, Parish Church of All Saints', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Essex, Volume 4, South east (London, 1923), www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/essex/vol4/plate-44