SHENFIELD, a village and a parish in Billericay district, Essex. The village stands near the Eastern Counties railway, 1 mile NE of Brentwood; and dates from at least the time of Edward the Confessor. The parish comprises 2,397 acres. Post town, Brentwood. Rated property, £7,316. Pop. in 1851, 938; in 1861, 1,149. Houses, 229. The property is much subdivided. The manor of Fitzwalters was formerly held on the tenure of presenting gilt spurs at the king's coronation. Roman antiquities have been found. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £580.* Patron, Countess Cowper. The church is very ancient; was restored in 1863, and enlarged in 1867. National schools were built in 1865. Charities, £3.

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