Lexden is a suburb of Colchester in Essex, England, lying approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the city centre. It has a public house called the Crown. The parish church of St Leonard's (Church of England) is dedicated to Leonard of Noblac, the patron saint of prisoners.

Lexden was historically a separate village and parish. "Læxadyne" is Old English for "Leaxa's valley"; the name has also been previously recorded as Lessendon, Lassendene and Læxadyne. Lexden gave its name to one of the historic hundreds of Essex, referred to as the "Hundred of Lassendene" in the Domesday Book of 1086. The parish was included in the borough boundaries of Colchester from at least the 14th century.

There are two 400-year-old watermills, (both now private residences), a 100-year-old iron bridge over the River Colne, two local nature reserves and several walks.

The site on which Lexden now stands was crossed by the fortifications of Iron Age Colchester, the remains of the earthen ramparts can be seen at Bluebottle Grove, Lexden Park and alongside Straight Road. A number of burial mounds or tumuli remain, notably Lexden Tumulus in Fitzwalter Road which is reputed to be the burial place of Cunobelinus or Cymbeline, the king of the Catuvellauni. The Lexden Medallion was found when the tumulus was excavated in 1924 and is now in the Colchester Castle Museum. Another tumulus is The Mount in Marlowe Way, in which some fragments of Roman pottery and tiles have been found.

The Domesday Book of 1086 records Lexden ("Lassendene") as being one of the Hundreds of Essex. The hundred was named after the village, which was therefore quite likely the meeting place for the hundred court. However, by the 14th century the parish of Lexden had been removed from the hundred to which it gave its name, and had instead been included within the separate jurisdiction of the borough of Colchester. From the 14th century the borough comprised sixteen parishes, four of which (Lexden, Berechurch, Greenstead, and Myland) were classed as "outlying parishes", covering areas that were more peripheral or suburban to the main part of the town as it then was.

The parish church was founded early in the 12th century and a number of houses of medieval origins survive in Lexden Road (the A1124). Parts of the Sun Inn date from 1542 but it has recently become a private house.

In 1648, Lexden was the headquarters of Lord-General Thomas Fairfax during the Siege of Colchester, and his army camped on Lexden Heath. A Parliamentarian fort was built on Great Broom Heath (now called Hilly Fields) which overlooks the town.

During the 18th century a number of large houses were built including Lexden Park on the corner of Church Road, and the Manor House was rebuilt. The main road became a turnpike in 1707 and a cottage used as a toll house survives. Lexden Heath was a large area of common land used for grazing, horse races and military camps; it was inclosed by Act of Parliament in 1821. This enlarged the estate of the lord of the manor, the Reverend John Rawstorn Papillon, who was an acquaintance of Jane Austen and whose niece married Jane's brother Henry. Straight Road was created at this time to make a way across the new inclosures to the hamlet of Shrub End, which became a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1845.