Great Bentley

Great Bentley is a village and civil parish in the Tendring district of north east Essex, England, located seven miles east of Colchester. The parish includes the hamlets of Aingers Green and South Heath. It is home to the second largest village green in the country, at a size of 43 acres (17 ha), behind Duncan Down and has won 'Essex Village of the Year' and 'Daily Telegraph/Calor Gas Village of the Year' awards. Great Bentley railway station provides the village with frequent rail services along the Sunshine Coast Line to London Liverpool Street, Clacton-on-Sea, Colchester and Walton-on-the-Naze.

Great Bentley is scattered round an extensive level or common, of 43 acres (17 ha), on the eastern side of the vale of a rivulet, seven miles (11 km) east-south-east of Colchester. The parish has an area of 3,188 acres (12.90 km²) and extends southward to Flag Creek, a tidal creek that connects with the Colne, near Brightlingsea. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 2,517.

The village is mentioned as far back as the Domesday Book of 1086, and at that time it was situated amongst large wooded areas. The clearing of these woods began in 1135. In its early days, the village was known as Benetlea, then as Much Bentley, and later as Great Bentley. The first part of the name, "Bent," is thought to refer to a type of grass, and the latter part, "lea," probably derives from the word "ley," meaning land sown with grass, which suggests a direct reference to the green. Great Bentley had a port at Flag Creek, which was used for importing and exporting goods.

In 1557, four Protestant "heretics" from the village, including a young woman named Rose Allen, were arrested, and three were burned at the stake at Colchester Castle (the fourth died in prison). They are commemorated on a small monument alongside the Green. Their story appears in the famous Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Foxe calls the village "Much Bentley".

Queen Elizabeth I once visited Lord Darcy's residence, St Osyth Priory. It is believed she may have arrived at Harwich accompanied by her courtiers and rode via Horsley Cross, Little Bentley, then on to Great Bentley Green before finishing her journey to St Osyth. Great Bentley owes much of its growth to the coming of the railway in 1866, with the railway station being named Bentley Green before being changed to its present title of Great Bentley in 1877.

Two new housing estates were built in the 1960s on either side of the Village Green. This was followed by the development of a trading estate near the railway station, now known as the Plough Road Business Centre. At that time, the village boasted five public houses, a post office, a garage, several small retail shops and businesses, a school and a doctor's surgery. All of these amenities remain to this day, except for the post office and three of the public houses. Also in the 1960s, Great Bentley Parish Council, on behalf of the village, purchased the manorial rights of the 42.5 acres (17.2 ha) of Common Land. A significant portion of the purchase price was raised through voluntary donations from residents and fundraising events. The land was then registered as a village green to protect the Green for the future from encroachment and erosion. The Village Green and its surrounding properties are designated as a Conservation Area. The Parish Council, through the Common Land and Village Green Acts, ensures the protection of the Village Green.

Great Bentley School was built in 1896, and its front façade is a good example of a school built in the late Victorian era. The school retains many of its original features, including wooden parquet flooring and high ceilings in the original part of the building. Several extensions have been added to the school over the years, and the most recent was completed in 2003. In the year 2000, a clock was added to the centre of the original building in commemoration of the new millennium. The school currently has 210 pupils aged between 4 and 11 years. The school is maintained by Essex County Council, and is now called Great Bentley County Primary School. The school's catchment area includes the nearby villages of Thorrington, Frating, Aingers Green and Little Bentley. The 2015 Ofsted report gave the school a rating of 'Outstanding', praising the improvements made since previous inspections to bring about improvements in teaching, learning and assessment.

Great Bentley Football Club was founded between 1895 and 1896, and its original headquarters were the Victory Inn public house (now a hair salon) in Great Bentley. The club now has its own clubhouse and dressing rooms built on the site of an old World War II Nissen hut in 1959. In 2009, new dressing room and bar facilities were completed to replace this, costing £220,000. The new facilities were officially opened by Lord John Bassam of Brighton, who used to play for the club. The club has three senior teams; two of these play in the Essex and Suffolk Border Football League, and the other in the Colchester and East Essex Football League. On 8 August 2009, a friendly was played against Colchester United on the Village Green as part of the grand opening of the new dressing rooms and bar.