DANBURY, a village and a parish in Chelmsford district, Essex. The village stands on high ground, 4½ miles E by S of Chelmsford r. station; and has a post office under Chelmsford, and a fair on Shrove Tuesday. Its name is a contraction of Danesbury, signifying the "town or castle of the Danes. " The parish includes also Runsell hamlet and part of Bicknacre. Acres, 2, 950. Real property, with the rest of Bicknacre, £4, 243. Pop., 1, 113. Houses, 236. The manor was held, at Domesday, by Geoffrey de Mandeville; passed to the St. Cleres, the Veres, the Greys, the Darceys, and the Mildmays; and belongs now to Sir B. W. Bridges, Bart. Danbury Place, now called Danbury Palace, was the seat of the Rounds; and is now the residence of the bishop of Rochester, having been purchased by the ecclesiastical commissioners, in 1851, for £24, 700. Daubury Hill, at the village, is 700 feet high; and has vestiges of an ancient camp, 680 yards in circuit. The parish is a meet for the Essex Union hounds. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £435.* Patron, Sir B. W. Bridges, Bart. The church has a stone tower and a lofty wooden spire; and contains effigies of the St. Cleres. There are national schools, and charities £44.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))